Pierre Venter: Massey is best placed to tackle dairy industry’s problems

Speaking to Dairy News, Venter described a longstanding relationship between Massey and the Dairy Research Institute (DRI), followed by collaboration with Fonterra. The university’s work with Fonterra reaches its 60th anniversary in 2027. The dairy company’s principal research and development centre stands opposite Massey’s campus on the edge of Palmerston North. Venter said the university and DRI had developed alongside one another, maintaining close links throughout their history.

Venter’s own career has included both academic research and dairy-industry management. He comes from a rural South African background and specialised in the microbiology of food safety before moving to Fonterra in 2011. His last position at the company was director of global research and development. For part of his time there, he also held an adjunct professorship at Massey.

Over the past century, Massey has developed dairy-sector innovations independently and alongside partners including DRI. Its current research includes Whenua Haumanu, a collaboration with the Ministry for Primary Industries financed through the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund. Based at the university’s No.1 dairy farm, the project examines regenerative agriculture through a programme described in the article as the most comprehensive of its kind in New Zealand’s history.

Venter said Massey’s responsibility to the primary sector required close industry connections and an understanding of the problems businesses face. Its support needed to extend across the value chain, taking account of New Zealand’s exports to international markets. He said the institution performed that role exceptionally well, and noted that many dairy-industry researchers also held adjunct professorships in its food-technology department.

Industry education includes a postgraduate diploma that Venter said was widely used by dairy businesses, particularly employees at processing facilities. Participants can study part-time while remaining in employment, attending the university for scheduled teaching blocks. Massey also contributes to Fonterra’s graduate development programme and teaches the company’s locally employed personnel in China through its institutes there. Venter highlighted the university’s extensive, influential alumni network and the importance of people to its work across primary production, processing and food.

Another contribution comes from Massey’s sleep laboratory, whose work Venter linked to conditions on dairy farms. He identified fatigue as the greatest threat to farmers during calving. The laboratory’s researchers study fatigue and how it is affected by sleep and nutrition, expertise he described as particularly important during certain periods of the farming year.

Venter said Massey had entered a period of growth after carefully managing its finances through difficult conditions, including the covid pandemic. The university would now concentrate on putting its new strategy into practice, with value creation as its focus.