While Ireland’s dairy industry is now moving through its months of peak milk production, almost all dairy cows in New Zealand are dried off for the winter in the southern hemisphere.

New figures released on Tuesday by New Zealand’s dairy industry (DCANZ) show that milk production in the island nation fell by 76m litres for the 2019/20 milking season, which ran from June 2019 to May 2020.

In total, New Zealand milk production for the 2019/20 milking stood at just over 21bn litres, which was back 0.4%, or 76m litres, on the previous milking season.

It’s likely that New Zealand has now reached peak milk production. If anything, New Zealand milk supply is likely to shrink over the coming years, with the New Zealand government set to introduce wide ranging environmental regulations for the sector.

Fonterra

Separately, New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra has announced it will pay a sustainability top-up on farmgate milk prices to farmer suppliers who meet new criteria for sustainable milk production. Fonterra said it would pay a top-up of 10c/kg of milk solids (0.5c/litre) from the start of next season if the supplier meets Fonterra’s on-farm sustainability and value targets.