Agriculture in New Zealand

New Zealand is one of the world’s most efficient agricultural economies, with a
reputation for producing internationally significant research, agriculture practices and products.
New Zealand has a temperate climate and fertile soil, making the country ideal for
agricultural production.

Fast facts:
 New Zealand’s major agricultural exports include dairy products, meat and wool.
 With annual exports in excess of $11 billion, the dairy industry is New Zealand’s biggest
export earner
 The dairy sector exports over 4 million kilograms of butter a year (2009) and over 2 million
kilograms of cheese a year (2009).
 More than 13 billion litres of milk are produced annually on New Zealand's 13,500 dairy
farms.
And now I will talk about the agriculture in different regions from New Zealand.

 Northland/Auckland: With a sub-tropical climate and its proximity to Auckland, New

Zealand’s largest city, Northland is New Zealand’s fourth largest dairy producing region.
 Central North Island: This region is New Zealand's major area of production forests. The
land closer to the coast is an important dairying area and well known as the premier kiwifruit
producing region.
 East Coast of the North Island: The relatively dry climate from here makes the region an
excellent producer of sheep, cattle and grower of grapes.
 Hawkes Bay: The region is dominated by sheep and beef farming, and is New Zealand's
premier pipfruit and summerfruit production area.
 Nelson/Marlborough: This region is an important fine wool producer, and New Zealand's
second most important horticultural region. It is the only region in New Zealand producing
hops. It is also an important forestry and fishing region.

Dairy industries: New Zealand is one of the top five dairy exporters in the world which
supply around 90 percent of dairy products traded on the international market. The New
Zealand dairy industry began in 1814, when two cows and a bull were imported. In 1871 the
first cooperative dairy company was formed to make cheese. Historically, New Zealand’s
agriculture developed to fulfill the demands of the United Kingdom market, with the first
refrigerated shipment of butter to Britain in 1882. Over time the industry has adapted to
meet the needs of diverse markets around the globe.
Early innovations included the introduction of cream separators in 1884 and mechanical
milking machines in the 1890s.
Pastoral farming involves the raising of sheep, cattle, and more recently other animals
such as deer and goats.
 After pastoral farming, the next most important type of farming is horticulture, the
growing of fruits and vegetables. New Zealand's climate is suitable for a large variety of fruit
ranging from temperate fruit such as apples, pears, peaches, plums, and cherries to
subtropicals such as avocados, passionfruit, grapes, and kiwifruit. In terms of area planted
and exports sales, the 2 most important of these in recent years have been apples and
kiwifruit. The latter were rebranded from Chinese gooseberry when New Zealand producers
started commercial production, and then controlled most of the world supply of this fruit in
the early 1980s. Since that time, many other countries have started growing kiwifruit, and the
New Zealand industry had a difficult time in the 1990s with problems of oversupply and low
world prices (at least compared to the 1980s).
Another important and rapidly growing part of the horticultural industry is grape
growing, especially for production of wine. Favored grape varieties include cabernet
sauvignon, merlot, pinot noir, and chardonnay, but New Zealand has become best known for
its sauvignon blanc. The most important destinations for New Zealand wine are the United
Kingdom and Australia.

Future of New Zealand agriculture

There are two main views on the immediate future of New Zealand agriculture. One is that,
due to fast-rising consumer demand in India and China, the world is entering a golden age for
commodities, and New Zealand is well placed to take advantage of this. The other view is
that New Zealand will only gain limited rewards from this boom because of increasing
production competition from developing countries. For New Zealand to remain competitive,
farmers will either have to intensify production to remain commodity producers (increasing
stock and fertiliser per hectare) or, instead, become producers of higher value, more
customised products.

New Zealand's largest Crown Research Institute believes that new technologies will allow
New Zealand farmers to double their output by 2020, while simultaneously reducing
greenhouse-gas emissions and other detrimental environmental impacts associated with
farming practices.