Waikato regional economic profile - Waikato Regional Council

In May 2009, DairyNZ launched the Strategy for New Zealand Dairy Farming, whichguides the investment and activities of the industry until 2020. The strategy has fivedesired outcomes:Increasing farm profitability.Talented people are attracted to, and retained by, the industry.An internationally competitive milk supply maximises return to farmers.Industry reputation enhanced locally and globally.Achievement of shared goals through genuine partnership between industry,government and the wider community. 45DairyNZ considers that the industry could make an even bigger contribution to NewZealand’s economy by earning greater market returns through higher value productsand producing more milk to a higher standard, with a lower environmental footprint at acost-competitive price.3.3.2 Livestock and cropping farming 46There were 515,358 beef cattle in the Waikato region as at June 2011, accounting forapproximately 13.4 per cent of New Zealand’s total, the third-highest regional totalnationally behind Manawatu-Wanganui (593,632 beef cattle) and Canterbury (517,760)according to the Statistics New Zealand Agricultural Production Census. There werealso more than 1.8 million sheep (5.9 per cent and the sixth-highest regional total),76,961 deer (7.1 per cent and the fifth-highest regional total) and 43, 941 pigs (13.4 percent and the second-highest regional total behind Canterbury, which had 176,693pigs).The Waikato region accounted for approximately 5.3 per cent of New Zealand’s totalhorticultural land area in 2007, the seventh-highest region nationally according to theStatistics New Zealand Agricultural Production Census. The major regions wereHawke’s Bay, Marlborough, Canterbury and Bay of Plenty. The major crops in theWaikato region were onions (32.2 per cent of area planted nationally), asparagus (22.8per cent), potatoes (20.1 per cent), berryfruit (13.6 per cent), cucumber (28.9 per centof square metres indoor nationally), tomatoes (28.4 per cent) and flowers, bulbs etc(15.8 per cent). 47Livestock or crop farming directlycontributes 1.4 per cent of GRP,2.5 per cent of employmentincluding owner-operators and 1.3per cent of exports. A significantproportion of exports of foodproducts originate in this sector.The Waikato and Waitomo districtsare the largest producers andexporters of livestock and croppingoutput, as shown in figure 20.Figure 20: Livestock & cropping exports byterritorial authority ($m 2007)45DairyNZ et al (2009, p.5).46Livestock and cropping includes sheep, beef and deer farming, and cropping (ANZSIC codes A014, A015, A018 andA019).47New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Ltd (2011, p26-27).Page 24 Doc #: 2069885