Minister for Primary Industries and Water
The Tasmanian Government welcomes the announcement of the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) $6.5 million partnership with Dairy Australia to deliver Stage 2 of the Dairy HIGH (High Integrity Grass-Fed Herds) project.
The partnership has been facilitated by the Tasmanian Government’s $3 million contribution to upgrade the TIA Dairy Research Facility at Elliott, in partnership with the University of Tasmania.
The partnership between TIA and Dairy Australia recognises the importance of the dairy industry in Tasmania to our economy, and confirms we are on track to grow the value of Tasmania’s entire agriculture sector to $10 billion a year by 2050 – driving investment and creating local jobs when our State needs them most in our recovery from COVID-19.
Producing some 950 million litres, the dairy industry is the largest contributor to Tasmania’s farm gate value in Tasmania, worth $458 million per annum (2018-19) rising to $713 million once processed.
The partnership will enable delivery of targeted dairy productivity research and extension services, helping to drive Tasmanian dairy farm profitability and sustainability.
The five-year work program builds on the current (Stage 1) Dairy HIGH project (2019-2020), and the previous Dairy on PAR (2015-2018) and More Milk From Forage (2012-2014) projects.
The research focus areas of Dairy HIGH 2 includes growing more pasture using less synthetic nitrogen fertiliser, the management of dairy calves to support social license and animal welfare, and extension activities focusing on the sustainable and long-term growth of pasture based farming systems.
