KIRSTI Keightley says if the Federal Government can achieve the trifecta of sealing trade deals with Korea, Japan and finally China, it would go a long way in growing the Australian dairy industry.
The New Zealand expatriate moved from her home country 18 years ago, selling up her dairy farm to buy in Australia.
Today, she is the director and HR consultant for Conwalla Pastoral, near Heywood, which milks 1100 cows across two sites.
“It was initially an investment opportunity to sell the farm in NZ,” she told the Australian Dairy Farmer Investment Forum in Melbourne this week.
“I was able to buy five times the amount of land in Australia with the same capital.”
After she made the move, Mrs Keightley expected to see a flurry of foreign investment in Australian dairies, but it didn't happen.
“Australia got hit by drought, and people got nervous,” she said. “And I don’t believe the dairy industry was promoting itself.”
She said NZ dairy industry had the support of its Government, while the Australian Government was focused on the mining boom.
“The fact we haven’t got an FTA with China and NZ has had had one for seven years proves that,” she said.
Simply put, she said NZ has had the access to that market, and Australia was paying too much in tariffs.
But this was changing, and she said the recent support of the Australian Government would make a huge difference.
“I see a lot of growth over the next five years,” she said.
And while many Australian farmers were busy looking over the ditch to see why NZ farmers appeared to be getting a better deal, Mrs Keightley advised other people considering the move to look at what Aussie farmers were good at.
"NZ farmers are great at growing grass, and Australia is good at that too, but they also know how to utilise supplementary feed," she said.
"You need to make sure you know your core costs, and margins.
"The top 10 per cent of Australian dairy farmers are doing great."
She said if they industry focused on profitability, it would grow.
