Adopting New Zealand Dairy Farm Principles in Argentina: an Empirical Research on Dairy Systems

New Zealand dairy farm systems are internationally known for their competitiveness without the presence of subsidies. Though Argentine dairy farmers have been attracted to NZ systems for more than 40 years and despite the fact that the NZ knowledge appears to be beneficial to Argentine farms, NZ practices have been rarely adopted. This seemingly fruitless effort in extending this technology shapes the research question of the present study: Can Argentine dairy farmers benefit from adopting New Zealand dairy farm principles and practices? The data used in this research was collected from seven Argentine dairy farmers, which were selected as case studies because of their awareness of NZ dairy systems. Through interviews, farm physical and economic records, and field visits to the farms, ten NZ innovations were defined. Results revealed that higher levels of adoption of NZ innovations by a group of Argentine dairy farms were associated with higher levels of return on investment (ROI); this was mainly due to a higher utilization of the main asset and most limiting production factor of Argentine and New Zealand dairy farms, the land.