2025 Investment Advice
Muka Tangata provides advice to TEC on investment in vocational education to influence funding decisions that considers industry needs, to help match skills and workforce demands with supply.
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$25.4bGenerated by export revenue year ending March 2023
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34%Of all Dairy products exported to China year ending March 2023
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44,100Individuals worked in the Dairy Farming industry across 2021
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6,750Learners enrolled in the Dairy related programmes/qualifications in 2021
Overview
In 1814, Samuel Marsden brought the first dairy cows to Aotearoa for mission stations in the Bay of Islands. All settlements eventually had dairy cows, but in the early days butter was the only dairy product with any value, often bartered for other food or farm tools. In 1880, Aotearoa began exporting butter and cheese to Australia, and in 1882 Aotearoa sent the first export of frozen butter to London, United Kingdom.
Āpirana Ngata was an integral part of Māori farming in the 20th century, encouraging landowners to form trusts or incorporations to run farms. This gave them more access to funds for land development, through the Māori Land Development Scheme. Dairy farming (alongside sheep farming) subsequently expanded on the East Coast. In 2010, Aotearoa’s first Māori-owned milk processing company was started, with shareholders including multi-generational Māori landowners.
Most of the country’s dairy produce is now sold overseas, and today the Dairy industry is the country’s largest export earner, generating about $25 billion in revenue as of March 2023. In 2021, we counted 44,100 people in the dairy workforce. The industry is also a significant contributor to the Māori economy, with an estimated 11% of dairy businesses being Māori-owned, and 14% of the workforce identifying as Māori.
Like other industries, Dairy Farming is currently facing some significant challenges, including climate change, climbing interest rates and a chronic labour shortage, all of which are making dairy farming increasingly difficult. The industry is already playing a proactive role in planning for future workforce needs with the development of The Great Futures in Dairying Plan – Dairy NZ.
Find out about our work to assess the quality of programmes delivered by providers for this industry here.
A snapshot of the Dairy Farming workforce development plan is available for download here. Please note that this reflects a point in time (July 2024). The most up to date information is on the workforce development plans website.
Trends and Analysis
This section provides information about the workforce, industry and Vocational Education and Training (VET) provision and performance. It shows data and research focused on key aspects of Muka Tangata industry groups and learners. This section is expected to feature regular updates to the data and trends being showcased.
Industry
Insights for Industry about trends in economic performance indicators.
Workforce
Insights on the workforce, including; size, ethnicity, age, regional distribution, and gender.
Learners and Providers
Insights about learners, including trends in enrolments and mix of provision.
Projects
Our engagement with the Dairy industry has identified a number of opportunities, including a desire for shorter, targeted, and more flexible training to meet the technical skills required for each role on the farm. Due to the existing vocational education system not being flexible enough to accommodate and keep up with the rate of change in the industry, non-formal and informal training takes precedence. The Dairy industry has a high reliance on manual labour and is not retaining enough people with the right skills to fill the jobs. This is compounded by industry concern that financial pressures are causing increased stress for farmers. Many farmers continue to suffer from mental health challenges, with both burnout and suicide rates being ongoing concerns for the industry. The wellbeing of the workforce remains front of mind for industry.
This is our plan to address the vocational education and training opportunities that arose from our engagement, research and analysis. It includes real projects that we are committed to delivering, with most of these spanning across some or all Muka Tangata industries. Our Projects have replaced our previous “Roadmap Actions” and present a consolidated view of our mahi. Some of the previous roadmap actions have been completed or closed out following a review of our work programme and engagement with industry on the priority of these actions.
Delivery and Assessment for the 21st Century
Agriculture qualifications development project
Māori Leadership Development Framework
Entry Level qualifications development project
Residential Group Training Research
Highlights
Attraction and RetentionDelivery and AssessmentQualificationsSkills
Attraction and RetentionDiversity and InclusionMental Health and WellbeingNon-Formal LearningPastoral CarePathwaysSkills
SkillsSustainability
Delivery and AssessmentProvision of Learning
Attraction and RetentionNon-Formal LearningPathwaysQualificationsSkills
Diversity and Inclusion