{"id":420297,"date":"2026-05-10T02:33:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T02:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/420297\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T02:33:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T02:33:14","slug":"2026-new-zealand-dairy-industry-awards-in-rotorua-celebrating-powerhouse-of-the-new-zealand-economy-on-the-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/420297\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards in Rotorua: Celebrating \u2018powerhouse of the New Zealand economy\u2019 \u2013 On The Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

The stage became a familiar walk for the Mackereths<\/a>, who contract-milk 1400 cows across 464ha at Edendale for the Fortuna Group.<\/p>\n

Their first merit award was the DairyNZ People and Culture Award \u2013 the category Stacey Mackereth said she wanted most.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has made the hours and hours of talking about grass worth it,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Scott Mackereth called it the \u201cmost important\u201d award because strong farm performance depended on people feeling \u201cengaged\u201d and \u201cmotivated\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about how they feel day to day … do they feel respected? Included in making progress?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

They implemented the Te Whare Tapa Wh\u0101 holistic M\u0101ori health model and focused on their team\u2019s wellbeing, allocating half an hour to all of their staff every week to fill in a reflection journal.<\/p>\n

The couple were back on stage minutes later to receive the Federated Farmers Leadership Award, and then again to collect the Trelleborg Sustainable Pasture Award.<\/p>\n

Scott Mackereth said pasture was \u201cthe backbone of what we do\u201d and one of the biggest competitive advantages, with few countries able to produce milk predominantly off grass.<\/p>\n

The judges were impressed by his journey to bounce back after Covid-19 disrupted his business ventures in the United States. <\/p>\n

The pair\u2019s motto is \u201cgo fast alone or go far together\u201d and their progress in the industry was proof of that, they said.<\/p>\n

Former Share Farmer of the Year Jim van der Poel<\/a> was recognised for more than four decades of service to the dairy industry.<\/p>\n

Van der Poel was described as \u201cinstrumental\u201d in the merger that created Fonterra and, as chair of DairyNZ, helped steer the sector through some of its \u201cmost turbulent and defining periods\u201d.<\/p>\n

That included navigating volatile commodity prices, growing public scrutiny, tighter environmental regulations and mounting pressure for reform around freshwater quality, greenhouse gas emissions and animal welfare.<\/p>\n

Van der Poel addressed the young farmers in the room, telling them the industry was about \u201ctaking the baton from those who went before us\u201d.<\/p>\n

He could already see the next generation stepping up and carrying that responsibility forward.<\/p>\n

Rotorua MP and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay told attendees the industry was \u201cthe powerhouse of the New Zealand economy\u201d.<\/p>\n

McClay acknowledged it had been a \u201cvery hard year\u201d, with \u201cweather coupled with international uncertainty\u201d, but said farmers continued to be innovative.<\/p>\n

Export revenue reached $28.5 billion in the past 12 months \u2013 up 9% for the first time.<\/p>\n

McClay said farm production and dairy processing created 54,000 jobs, making up 15% of the food and fibre sector workforce.<\/p>\n

Farmers around the world were \u201cenvious\u201d, the minister said.<\/p>\n

\u201c[They] want to protect and stop our products getting in there, to back their farmers, who just want to be like you.\u201d<\/p>\n

McClay had \u201cnothing but admiration\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said dairy farmers get up \u201creally early\u201d in the morning to milk the cows so people in towns and cities can have their expensive lattes with \u201cthe best milk in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Annabel Reid<\/a> is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke\u2019s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The stage became a familiar walk for the Mackereths, who contract-milk 1400 cows across 464ha at Edendale for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2246,10779,6928,7224,219,78,2454,117,111,43,139,69,1118,90,105605,1327,223,810,80],"class_list":["post-420297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-2246","tag-awards","tag-celebrating","tag-dairy","tag-economy","tag-in","tag-industry","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-on","tag-powerhouse","tag-rotorua","tag-the","tag-up","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}