Strategic Priorities
Dairy NSW’s mission is to maximise the impact of investment in research, development, extension and education to advance the dairy industry throughout its region by:
- Understanding the needs of dairy farmers and others in the industry:
Dairy NSW has a critical role in understanding the current and anticipated needs of dairy farmers and other industry stakeholders (what is relevant, important etc). This better understanding of regional needs and differences drives Dairy NSW and its investments, and ultimately informs Dairy Australia and other industry stakeholders in their investments. It enables collective action activities to focus on outcomes and end-results from a farmer’s perspective. Mechanisms and processes for identifying trends and issues are required to adequately bring together and understand regional needs.
- Obtaining/leveraging funding for activities to meet regional needs:
A key role of Dairy NSW is to increase resources available to the industry for collective action. The Australian Dairy Industry Council (ADIC) review of RD&E and subsequent RDP reviews acknowledged that one of the strengths of the RDP model was their ability to increase investment in regionally focussed issues by attracting and/or influencing funding from a range of sources other than Dairy Australia.
Dairy NSW must also sustain its funding and operations through being fully aware of its governance and management obligations and effectively meetings these requirements.
- Co-ordinating, implementing and promoting collective activities in the region:
Dairy NSW is an effective mechanism for developing and implementing regional activities within the dairy industry – enabling the industry to deliver these programs with maximum impact and optimum efficiency. The development and implementation of these activities requires high levels of collaboration at both a regional and national level.
The challenge in providing the right projects at the right time for maximum impact lies in having effective criteria for selecting and funding programs at a regional level. An additional challenge lies in consistently introducing more farmers to understanding what programs are developed from their collective investment, and increasing their participation in these programs.
- Providing recognised and respected regional leadership:
Dairy NSW provides a focal point for regional industry activity and maintenance of industry relationships across the region eg between RDPs, Dairy Australia, NCDEA, NSW Farmers’ Association etc. Its regional knowledge and networks places it in a key role to provide leadership at a regional level and as recognised and respected information source to the wider regional community.
Dairy NSW helps Dairy Australia and other organisations to recognise key people and capability within a region and provides the ability for the dairy industry to grow and utilise that capacity. Within Dairy NSW, it requires appropriate talent to accomplish its goals, both at Board and management levels, through recruiting, developing and retaining the right mix of people.
Dairy NSW has a major and distinctive role in effectively co-ordinating and promoting collective action within its region. Aligned with this is a responsibility as an effective and essential agent in the promotion of agreed industry levies. To fulfil this role, it must understand strategic direction, role and function of Dairy Australia broadly, and across Dairy Australia’s three key strategic areas. There is also a requirement to appropriately communicate the intent of Dairy Australia programs and the benefits of collective action to a range of key stakeholders.
