Worldwide the milk production has decreased sharply. The demand and therefore the prices have increased comparatively. Those ‘shooting up’ milk prices - and consequently the butter and cheese prices - ensure that it is raining dollars here. In spite of the fact that our dollar is listed far too high and therefore costs excessively abroad.

Nice bonus
It so happens that some years ago the basic land prices were still very reasonable here. The grassland for sale was not too productive, but could be bought for a couple of hundred dollars per hectare. As dairy farmer the costs were not too high anyway. In the majority of the country, cattle never have to go in stables and if you have enough grassland you can easily grow your own supplementary food. Indeed, the costs for the farmer are very reasonable. Thus for most of the farmers this is a net-payment.
“I am sure hat the farmers are happy with the extra money”. Fonterra-president Henry van der Heyden says, “This year the farmers will make an excellent profit”. I thought so.
Of course, the farmers express themselves more carefully. Their President Frank Brenmuhl pointed out the rising prices for fuel and fertilisers. But he - reluctantly - admits that they probably could manage a bonus this year. Perhaps a new tractor, he says, or a new vacuum cleaner.

Small thanks
There still is another nice bonus for the farmers. Dairy cattle are a large producer of detrimental exhaust gases such as CO² and especially methane. Cows are responsible for almost the entire methane emission. Now New Zealand has ratified the Treaty of Kyoto, here too the processing of the methane waste must be organised.
The farmers don’t want to hear of a levy. “The world is much better off with food from New Zealand”, Brenmuhl say. “because meat and milk from New Zealand cost less energy than the same products that are produced in other parts of the world”. Transport to the other side of the world is not much extra.
And what has the government arranged for her farmers? They are exempted from paying a levy for methane waste before… 2011! Up to that time the average New-Zealanders pay for their farmers. Now, the Dutch government could use this as an example!

In the lift
And it is still getting better. At the start of this year the expected price for a kilo milk powder was four dollars per kilo of solid milk substances, e.g. milk powder. This year the allowance is at least NZ$6.90 and for next year a price of more than eight dollars per kilo is to be expected. Especially if the dollar falls back to its normal value, the percentage of extra profit could go up.
Therefore if you love cows and are looking for a plot of land, come to New Zealand quickly. Before the farmers were ‘milked dry’, now they switch on their methane gases with effortlessly earned expensive dollars. Make sure you are part of it!

The Dutch version of this article is published in the March/April 2008 edition of Holland Focus.
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