"Taking an average-sized farm as an example, profitability can vary by up to $200,000 - and most of that difference is down to the skills of management running that farm. It's not just soil and rainfall, but the people."
Anybody can be a better manager with more training, he said.
DairyNZ strategy and investment leader Dr Mark Paine said it was important dairy farms in New Zealand recognise the value of people with the skills to plan appropriately for the risk and volatility that the business and industry was confronting.
"A lot of people are good at adopting farm technologies, but it takes skills training to properly utilise those technologies and innovations and ensure they perform to their best for your business."
Dr Paine said that studies that DairyNZ had previously commissioned tracked economic performance across farms - in particular skillsets - and the single most important thing that separated the top performing farms from the others was the ability to benchmark.
"Top performing businesses are regularly setting targets based on factors such as previous years' performance, and comparing with others in the district and comparing by physical and financial parameters. For example, total pasture grown, total pasture utilisation and keeping farm expenses under $3.50 per kilogram of milksolid."
Primary ITO training adviser Natalya Teahan said the challenging nature of the current dairy industry climate had been reflected in a reduced number of new trainees in the Bay of Plenty for the first quarter of the year - which had fallen by about 16 per cent.
But 42 people had enrolled in the organisation's NZ Apprentice programme - a record number - while 11 others were on track to complete the Diploma in Agri Business Management programme before calving, she said.
Former physiotherapist Thomas Chatfield has been in the dairy industry for four years and said ongoing training was invaluable.
The Whakatane dairy farm manager had high hopes for the future, including farm ownership, and said education played a big factor in that. The 30-year-old had completed level four dairy farming and level five production management.
"I think if you want to progress, you'll need something to make you stand out from the crowd. Those qualifications have given me a good understanding of how to analyse the farm I am on and where there is potential for gains. It's more about how you can improve the farm ... it's kind of the financials and other things that maybe as a farm manager you don't get exposed to. But you need to know all of that if you want your own farming business."
No stranger to a challenge, Mr Chatfield was also the 2016 New Zealand Dairy Industry Dairy Manager of the Year and a former national dairy trainee runner-up.
"I really enjoyed the awards, it is a really good door opener. I entered because I wanted to measure myself against everyone else, I thought I was doing a pretty good job but I wanted an independent review on my performance ... and I got bitten by the bug a wee bit."
About Primary ITO:
* Primary ITO provides NZQA-endorsed qualifications and training to people employed in the agriculture, horticulture, equine, seafood, sports turf and food processing industries.
* It provides leadership in education and training, develops national qualifications, maintains national standards and offers ongoing support for their trainees and employers.
* The training is subsidised by industry and Government.
* For more, visit www.primaryito.ac.nz or call 0800208020.
