Leadership is king.

That was the key takeaway for attendees at the DairyNZ People Expo 2025 in Ashburton.

Over 200 industry leaders and farm owners were at the event last week, hosted at Hotel Ashburton, to learn about the local and global trends affecting the New Zealand dairy industry.

Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub spoke on the importance of enabling our workforce to be more productive.

“The dairy sector, after many decades of strong productivity gains, has stalled,” he said.

While improving our science and technology in the agricultural space was important, it was time to shift the focus towards the worker.

“Business is about making sure it’s a win-win for both the business owner and the people who work.

“I think we’re going to have to look a lot harder at how we think about our people, the real business side rather than the science and farming side.”

“One of the big challenges and opportunities for us is ‘what can we do on our farms?’”

Mid Canterbury sharemilker Jeremy Duckmanton talked about how integrating technology on his farm had helped streamline his farm process.

Something as simple (and free) as messaging apps like WhatsApp could be used for group staff communications and to record data, like calving information.

He said new technology had to positively benefit everyone involved, including farm staff.

Singletree Dairies farmers Kim and Will Grayling shared their experience about how productivity increased on their farms with good management.

Nuffield scholar and AgFirst director James Allen spoke on his research around the integration of technology on farms worldwide - from here to the UK to America.

“I think Ashburton’s really well-placed to embrace [technology].

“The beauty of it is you can dip your toe in the water, and try to understand how it’s going to change what you do, before committing in any major way.”

He said it was important to be curious about emerging agtech, and said at the end of the day, “good people will always be in demand.”

“There’s always going to be challenges, but how do we use tech and smart people to create that magic we need to go forward.”

DairyNZ’s senior people specialist Jane Muir emceed the event, and said there’d been a “good energy” in the room.

She echoed the sentiment about putting your people first, before new gadgets or tools, to raise productivity.

“Technology is one path, but leadership will always trump technology.

“There’s no point putting the tech in place if there’s no leadership to come with it.”

Two more People Expo 2025 events are scheduled for this year - one in Hāwera, in Taranaki, and the last one in Hamilton.

By Anisha Satya