A fresh view of dairy

Welcome to the first two-monthly, new-look Dairy Exporter magazine.

Welcome to the first two-monthly, new-look Dairy Exporter magazine.

We have made some significant changes to the magazine – and we hope you will like them.

We are always talking with our readers and evaluating their feedback on what they want from their favourite farming magazine. We’ve also been thinking about the unique, premium position both our subscription magazines hold in the rural media sector and asking ourselves if we are match-fit for the future.

Just as you have seen sharp cost inflation onfarm, we have borne the brunt of huge cost increases in paper, printing and postage, and rather than pass them on to you, we have in effect bundled two issues, delivered them together and given you more time in between deliveries to read the great content.

We have taken on board your wish for more depth, analysis and insight along with feedback from readers who want us to expand our content beyond the farm gate to explore the opportunities and challenges further along the value chain and in our rural communities.

We’re stepping up our engagement with readers through our digital channels too. We’ve hired an experienced digital specialist to guide our move deeper into digital publishing, and you can expect to see more from us in the form of podcasts and videos as well as our weekly e-newsletters.

Alongside our move to six issues each year for both magazines, we will continue to publish our Cream of the Crop special edition each April and our Dairy Management Solutions special issue later in the year, ahead of the run of regional field days each year.

This means you’ll receive six standard subscriber editions of NZ Dairy Exporter, plus the two ‘extra’ publications, a total of eight magazines each year.

In this first magazine we are welcoming new Milking Platform columnists and have spread our wings to provide two special reports per issue.

In the first we look at the latest from the NZ Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC) conference, including messages from Rodd Carr and Simon Upton and the latest on where the research pipeline is up to (pg66).

Our other special report is all about staffing and the overriding message is that if you can’t attract the people, you have to change the conditions or the job. Economist Shamubeel Eaqub says New Zealand’s workforce is shrinking – and there’s no way that will change – nor will it be fixed with immigration (pg90). And we have to stop churning and burning 40% of our new workforce every few years.

Anne Hardie took a look at the success of Westland Milk Products since the takeover by Yili and talks to West Coast farmers who are enjoying the fruits of the move to higher value products (pg18).

Phil Edmonds asks if it is time to have a grown-up conversation about the genetic modification issue and sees where other countries’ policymakers and consumers stand on the topic (pg 32).

Take a moment to consider joining the Farmer Time programme, where you and your farm can be connected with a classload of town kids to tell them about our amazing industry (p42).

I think this magazine is a great read – if you think so too, please tell a friend – they could be in to win an UBCO farm bike if they subscribe now,