How New Zealand built its dairy empire on billions of dollars of debt | Milk and Money | Episode 1

Re: Journalist Baz Macdonald speaks to Southland dairy farmers Scott and Ewen Mathieson, economist Peter Fraser and Fonterra CEO Miles Hurrell.

Made with the support of NZ on Air.
00:00 - Introduction
02:10 - How the NZ dairy industry works
04:25 - History of Agriculture in NZ
06:35 - The growth of dairy
07:57 - Post-boom
11:43 - Peak cow
13:00 - Fonterra
16:45 - Young people and dairy
19:00 - The true cost of dairy

[BritaDellaBarca]

Wow, Mr. Miles Hurrell CEO really just said a whole lot of nothing, didn't he? Loved hearing what everyone else had to say. As an urban NZer who grew up rural this was really eye opening and everyone should be seeing this. Fantastic doco! Looking forward to watching the rest of the series.

[shaunswneybro]

Impressed by the extent of the research, ka pai cuz! Dare I say you've made me much more empathetic to the farmers plight, and it's so awesome to see older generations willing to embrace change but knowing the realities of the industry.

[bellablow]

That's so freaking sad for farmers - like he really wants to do something more sustainable and not work his guts out milking twice a day but he can't afford to change ... And he knows he's killing the land and waterways and he feels horrible about it 😭 I know this is crazy But fuck 3 waters The government should pay off farm debt and keys do something innovative and sustainable ... something farmers can really get excited about ....it would fix EVERYTHING Iwis, & Māori wouldn't be pushing for co-governace - because the only reason they fighting so hard is to stop farmers and councils polluting and killing the land .... Bailing out councils water debt Doesn't fix the divide between Maori & council water use, they both want two completely different things ...and yeah some people might say why reward pākehā polluting farmers by giving them billions of dollars But I'm cool with that - it's kinda like we ALL just won the lotto Lol 😂 I'm babbling But I'm not crazy right? Like it could actually work

[ElricAzarai]

Really interesting! Thanks for all the good mahi!

[cowwhisperer]

It's a real shame You frame it so negative in the end...

[tonymckeage]

Great Video, Much of the south island and central north island was converted on the basis of three things, Rotary Cowsheds, poor returns for sheep farmers and Irrigation, Thanks for sharing

[docimma]

Do you have information concerning adaptations for dairy farms to reduce impact? Are there examples of such farms? Considerations for changing part of farm to orchards, vineyard? Any info on the waterfront Coromandel dairy high tech farm?

[Storm]

We are not actually in the midst of a climate crisis, especially in New but we should certainly look to protect our waterways, and things have been and are being done in that regard. The problem is that you have a generation who have only ever had one source of information, and what's more they don't realise that a lot of the climate change policies come from think are financed by large are not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts.

[Steve_Steve]

I come from a dairy region the land can only support intensive dairying as the rates we pay to the local council, regional council is so high it can only support this type of land

[chrisjury]

There is a lot of talking and a lot of angles being played out. I guess the hope is one or two idea's might stick. The reality is you are young. You had to be around as an young adult at least in the early 1980's to understand the immediate why. At that time, you could hardly have hoped for much in NZ. Land down far South was so cheap then .. $1000 or less an acre and certainly many could afford to take it all but no one really wanted to live in the deep south. Dairying has now made the land more valuable, at the same time Shadbolt has made Southland more amenable. Now it is relatively more expensive to acquire land, and of course you need to have production on the land to afford the cost of owning it. The young farmer's woes would disappear as soon as the landholding has been returned to the Iwi from whence it came. Then at the every least the farmer can enjoy the benefit of kaititangi. They could enjoy the use of the land while not owning it - this the future we want to advance across Aotearoa, your free title in exchange for kiatitangi. We would ask only for a a fair compensation for the value of the productive ability of the land, and that is better than interest paid to a foreign bank.

[michaelwalsh]

The minute I heard climate change I gave up, why don’t you do a piece on the real polluters that are never mentioned because they can pay off people? For instance councils directly pumping raw sewage into streams and rivers but less s blame the farmers instead, plenty other big companies doing the same but it’s all swept under the carpet and the farmers are an easy target even though they have to abide by mounds of regulations.

[Frank-rxch]

Co. & Corp. Pushing beyond understanding. The environment NZ live in is a responsibility to be respected

[bennygeorge]

Dairy farming is part of NZ but there are to many dairy farms in new Zealand just like there was to many money hungry house buying immigrants and unmanaged immigration made the NZ housing Crisis

[KumarBhandari-nj]

Hello Sir Iam Kumar I have 17Years Dairy field Work Experience inSaudi Almarai Company .Now iam Looking Job .Any chance to join yours Company .please Reply .

[shreekrishnabhandari]

I want to work on your farm, please sponsor me, i have good experience in working at farm 😊

[coopsnz]

Government crooks my uncle & aunty Bavin used to own 3 farms in South island before labor party got in power 2017

[Alexanderschtegenburg]

i still drink milk, such a informative series too! btw pollution water and rivers etch farmers should consider about potty train the cows, is nice to also hear other dairy farmers opinnion about the enviroment of their concern, as well we should concern more about the climate change

[davidtavares]

A lot of noncense and lies on this video

[philm]

Soon the drones with 1080 pellets will fly good bye cows 😂

[pinkiepinkster]

And now everyone is switching to plant based milks.