Eric Watson aims at US milk market

Businessman Eric Watson is taking aim at the United States milk market using New Zealand farming practices.

A business Mr Watson is developing in the United States wants to raise up to US$150 million ($200.5m) for the initial roll-out of the dairy business, The Dominion Post reported.

A trial of a pastoral system adapted from New Zealand methods has been carried out on a 40.4ha farm in the state of Georgia during the past two years.

Cullen Agricultural Technologies, a subsidiary of Mr Watson's Cullen Agricultural Holdings Corp, has identified 16,187ha in and around Georgia for the rollout.

The new operation hopes to gain a sizeable chunk of the US$60m a month milk market on the US eastern seaboard between Boston and New Orleans, using systems from this country including free-ranging cows fed on pasture instead of grain.

- NZPA