For more than four decades, we have been helping Waikato Dairy Farmers make better business decisions through meaningful benchmarking. Built from actual cash trading data across a large pool of Waikato Dairy Farming businesses, our annual benchmarking reports have become a trusted resource for farmers seeking greater insight into their farm’s performance.

We are in the process of finalising the analysis for the 2025/26 season, so the latest Waikato Dairy Farming Benchmarking Reports will be available soon.

While the numbers are still being collated and reviewed, anticipation is already building. Dairy Farmers have navigated another season of changing conditions, opportunities, and challenges, making it more important than ever to understand how their results compare across the wider Waikato region.

Why Benchmarking Matters

Benchmarking is about much more than comparing numbers. It provides valuable context around how your business is performing relative to similar farming operations and helps identify opportunities for improvement, efficiency, and growth.

Whether you’re reviewing profitability, assessing on-farm spending, planning future investment, considering succession, or exploring expansion opportunities, benchmarking provides an independent perspective that supports informed decision-making.

Our reports allow farmers to:

• Compare their performance against similar Waikato Dairy Farming businesses.
• Identify strengths and opportunities within their operation.
• Track performance trends over time.
• Gain confidence in business and financial decisions.
• Understand what drives success across the industry. [

Built on Real Waikato Farming Data

One of the key strengths of our benchmarking reports is the quality of the data behind them.

The reports are compiled from actual cash trading information from CooperAitken Dairy Farming clients throughout the Waikato, creating a practical and relevant snapshot of regional farm performance. This data pool allows us to develop meaningful benchmarks that farmers can confidently use within their own businesses.

The reports include analysis across four key farming groups:

• Farm Owner Operators
• Farm Owners with 50/50 Sharemilkers
• 50/50 Sharemilkers
• Farm Owners with Contract Milkers

This level of detail enables farmers to compare their business against others with similar operating structures, making the insights more relevant and actionable.

A Valuable Planning Tool

The most successful farming businesses are often those that regularly measure, review, and adapt.

Benchmarking helps separate assumptions from facts by providing a clear picture of where a business sits compared to industry peers. It highlights areas that may warrant further investigation and can help validate management decisions already being made on-farm.

For many farmers, the benchmarking reports have become an important annual planning tool, providing valuable insight when preparing budgets, evaluating performance, and setting goals for the season ahead.

Coming Soon

The 2025/26 Waikato Dairy Farming Benchmarking Reports will be available shortly.

Whether you’re a long-time user of the reports, included in the data pool or accessing them for the first time, we believe they are one of the most valuable tools available for understanding farm performance through a Waikato lens.

Keep an eye out for our upcoming data release event, and our website for your free copy.

To learn more about our benchmarking reports or discuss tailored benchmarking and budgeting for your farming business, get in touch with our team.