NZ Dairy Faces Its Precision Fermentation Reckoning

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a thousand times, dairy is a sunset industry and there will be a day coming that crashes the backbone of this economy…
Precision fermentation is the bullet aimed at NZ dairy
Lab-grown meat and dairy: Futurist sees threats, opportunities for New Zealand farmers
Itβs early days but, as it gets better and cheaper in years to come, does lab-grown food pose an existential threat to New Zealandβs beef and lamb and dairy industries?
βThe existential threat is ingredients that are already on the market, made in these precision fermentation vats,β futurist Melissa Clark-Reynolds said.
βIngredientsβ is the operative word. Synthesising whole milk thatβs bioidentical to human breast milk has so far proved too tricky, but key elements have been developed.
…The danger, as TDB has been pointing out for years is again this is a sunset industry and the millisecond those big manufactured food players can make a synthetic dairy ingredient, the entire industry will go belly upβ¦
The dairy industryβs biggest export success may also be the cause of its greatest future concern, as whole milk powder can now be copied and replaced by precision fermentation methods, research shows.
Anna Benny, technical account manager at The Kellogg Rural Leadership Scheme, said in a recent paper that the dairy industry was ripe for disruption because it was over reliant on exports of whole milk powder.
Whole milk powder could be replaced by proteins produced from precision fermentation, that in future would be cheaper and more climate friendly.
…we are economically dependent on an industry that is about to become a taxi in the age of Uber.
There are better ways for us to be advancing dairy but all the industry wants is the cheap option that causes huge pollution and is relying on their political muscle Β to never have to change.
By selling off so many of our dairy brands we are now just a bulk exporter of basic b!tch milk powder which is mostly used as an ingredient filler in fast food. The idea that the industry would demand organic milk powder for their fat-drenched, salt-drenched, sugar-drenched heart attack food is simply a joke.
The millisecond they can buy synthetic milk powder cheaper than the real thing, they will dump NZ.
NZ dairy wonβt adapt until the cliff edge is under its feet
My bet is that the same shit will keep happening right up until the breaking news headlines that researchers have a synthetic version of our milk powder and the entire country has a share market plunge that is a Depression-era-level meltdown.
And when that happens, oh sweet Jesus wonβt the farmers scream then!





βThe back bone of the economyβ. Really?
I find it hard to comprehend how some on the Left seem to want the demiss of successful enterprises and make everyone as poor as those represent rather than help them to a better life. It show envy
Why can’t our Dairy farmers see what is obvious to many out there? Are they hoping they will be spared or have moved on when Dairy collapses? We have many wonderful farmers who have moved with the times and diversified into farming industries, focusing on soil health, biodiversity and resilience over heavy fertilizers. E.g. Kiwi berries, Ginger, Shiitaki Mushrooms, Microgreens, Goji & Elderberries, Hops, Bamboo Shoots, Saffron etc. They will, and deserve to survive the imminent Dairy changes.
Because a dollar in their hand is the most important thing to them and they expect to be protected in the future because of their political links. It’s easy to ignore the environment and the physical and mental health of the cows and consumers of their products when they are making profits from the current system.