Understanding Market Needs in the New Zealand Dairy Industry

Abstract

The New Zealand dairy industry has a long history of innovation. The industry has embraced on innovation to improve dairy farming and processing activities over the past decades. New Zealand dairy has been at the forefront of a number of key innovations and is one of the world leaders in improving dairying technologies. To maintain and improve its position as a world leader for dairy, constant innovation and technological advancement will be a major factor for the industry’s future performance and success. This research has aimed to understand market needs of the New Zealand dairy industry, which firstly entails the understanding of what strategies, are effective in uncovering market vneeds and secondly, what are the unmet needs in the dairy industry. The collection of qualitative data in conjunction with academic and industry sources has helped to understand the current issues and the market trends within the industry. Subsequently, this information has enabled the researcher to articulate current and future needs. The main findings of this research emphasised that being attentive to regulatory trends and innovating accordingly is an important practice in the dairy industry, as there are many dynamic environmentally related policies that regulate the practice of dairying. Communicating with professionals in the industry is effective for information sourcing. A specific strategy is the scenario based probing technique used for effective questioning during communication. Unmet needs in the dairy industry can be segmented into three categories: needs of the dairy animal, needs of the pasture, and needs of the milking shed. Firstly, there is a need for dairy cows to have a better nutrition to complement a higher milk production. There is also a need to better monitor and prevent livestock diseases to decrease added dairying costs. Secondly, the industry is in need of a better grass that is higher in energy content and less reliant on fertilisers. Thirdly, more smart technologies are needed for the milking shed to further improve total farming efficiency and better monitor and manage dairy farming.