DairyNZ board chair Tracy Brown says the organisation got it wrong when it asked farmers to chose one of two levy rises.
Where there’s muck there’s grass
Asking farmers whether they wished to maintain current science and research, at between 4.4 cents and 4.6 cents per kg of milk solids, or expand investment in science and research, at 4.7 cents to 5 cents, had created some confusion and angst, Brown said.
“In hindsight we should have had a third option to make that clearer,” Brown said.
Brown, who is also a Waikato dairy farmer, told The News the organisation had not raised its levy from 3.6 cents per kg of milk solids since 2009.
The options consulted on will increase the milksolids levy payment by at least $800 per 100,000 kilograms of milk solids and be as much as $1400 per 100,000 kilograms of milksolids.
“If they were to choose 3.6 cents, they are choosing to further downsize DairyNZ, and stop doing a lot more work,” Brown said.
DairyNZ budgeted for $67,790 of levy income in 2025, and a total revenue of $81,773. Expenditure is budgeted at $85,252.
Government funding had decreased from about $14 million to about $4 million in the last decade, Brown said.
Tracy Brown
Te Awamutu dairy farmer and DairyNZ board member Chris Lewis said dairy farmers were able to comment on the options as they voted.
“We have had 10 or 12 consultation meetings on this, and I have been to about half, and it was not a very good turnout,” he said.
He had reviewed around 1500 pieces of feedback.
Waikato Federated Farmers president Keith Holmes said DairyNZ had made “a bad assumption” that dairy farmers accepted that DairyNZ needs an increase in levy.
There was no “no increase option” nand suggested the decision makers were “dancing with the fairies”.
Ōhaupō dairy farmer and Waikato Federated Farmers vice president Andrew Reymer agreed.
“While they have lots of justification for putting the levy up, they have a declining milk pool, and it makes sense. But if the farmers are not feeling the love on the ground, then it’s a hard sell. People are saying Dairy who? I don’t think there’s a lot of support to put the levy up.”
