For Dairy Farmers

Compare Your Farm’s Performance with Your Neighbour's
Ask your accountant how Figured Benchmarking can show how your business performance stacks up against thousands of verified NZ dairy farms — revealing the gaps you couldn’t see alone.
  • Verified benchmarks from 2,000+ NZ dairy farms.
  • Filtered by region, supplier, and ownership type.
  • Available through accountants on Figured Insights.
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FIGURED DAIRY BENCHMARKING

2026 season data is here. See how your farm compares while there’s time to act.

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A good season doesn’t tell the whole story

Your results show how your farm performed. Benchmarking shows how it performed against similar farms, helping you and your adviser recognise strengths and spot areas you might otherwise overlook.

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Benchmark before your next big decisions

Review the latest season’s performance before setting your next budget or committing to spending. With Figured’s 2026 data available now, you can use what you learn while those decisions are still taking shape.

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Relevant farms vs. Your numbers

Figured uses verified data from over 2,000 NZ dairy farms, with comparisons by region, milk supplier and ownership type. Your adviser can put your existing Figured results directly alongside the benchmark.

Advisers Offering Dairy Benchmarking

Find a Partner to Benchmark Your Farm

The Figured partners below offer dairy benchmarking services. Explore their approach, see what's included and enquire directly about a review.

Rural Specialists

Sidekick Rural

The world's first Xero Platinum Partner, now a leader in farming accounting alongside Figured and PaySauce.

View Partner Profile

Chartered Accountants

CooperAitken

Benchmarking trusted by Waikato dairy farmers. For more than four decades, CooperAitken has been helping Waikato dairy farmers understand their performance through meaningful benchmarking data.

View Benchmarking service

Chartered Accountants

Accounted4

A well-respected Cambridge practice supporting the local business and farming community with accounting and business advice.

View Partner Profile

Chartered Accountants

BDO Taranaki

A local team of 30 helping Taranaki farmers make the most of their agribusiness, with someone always on hand to help.

View Partner Profile

Agri Accountants

CMK

An experienced team of consultants who have worked alongside farmers for almost 70 years.

View Partner Profile

Farm Accountants

FARMit

Founded by Brett and Kerry Bennett out of a passion for the rural sector and a belief that farmers deserve more from their accountant.

View Partner Profile

Chartered Accountants

Hammond & Moir

Established in Te Awamutu in 1979, with a team who've worked on-farm and advice in plain English, from farm budgets and cash flow to ownership structures.

Visit Website

Chartered Accountants

Malloch McClean +MORE

No one should have to go it alone. Malloch McClean +MORE supports businesses from start-up to established, helping them achieve more.

View Partner Profile

Chartered Accountants

McCallum & Dallas

Every client is different, so McCallum & Dallas take a personal, client-centred approach to accounting and advice.

View Partner Profile

Chartered Accountants

McCulloch & Partners

A long history in the primary sector, going beyond the numbers to the drivers of a farm business: production, feed and people.

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Trusted by New Zealand Farmers

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35,000+ Farms on Figured
A dairy farmer and his adviser sharing a laugh in a paddock, herd grazing behind
Over $5 Billion in Farm Revenue Managed
A dairy farmer and two advisers talking together in a paddock, herd around them
Nationwide network of over 95% of NZ's Agri Accountants
Sound Familiar?
“The season felt good, but we’ve got no idea how we compare to other farms like ours.”

Even when you talk to other farmers regularly, if you’re measuring farm performance in isolation, it’s hard to tell how you stack up.

It can look like costs are trending up despite your best efforts, but actually on the regional level you’re outperforming everyone else. Or the alternative — like-for-like comparisons show you that there are some real cost optimisations to be made.

That’s the power of Figured Benchmarking.

What You’ll Get From Figured Benchmarking

Regional Benchmarks

Compare Your Farm to Thousands of Verified Peers

Figured’s National Dairy Benchmark Report draws insight from over 2,000 verified NZ dairy farms, which your accountant can filter by region, ownership structure, and supplier. You’ll be able to see how your income and expenses compare not just to dairy farmers generally, but those whose operations most accurately reflect your own.

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Top-Quartile Data

See Where Your Farm Sits Against the Best in Your Category

Top-quartile farms (top 25% by operating surplus per kgMS) show how your own operation compares to the best in your region. When your costs or operating surplus sit materially away from that benchmark, you and your accountant have something concrete to plan against: “How do we get there too?”

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Finding Benchmarking

Available Through Your Figured Accountant

Figured Benchmarking data is available through any NZ agri accountant subscribed to Figured Insights. There’s no set-up required at your end other than using Figured normally for production tracking, reconciliation, and planning.

Unlike many other dairy reports, which pull out estimates, Figured Benchmarking data compares regional benchmarks with the same financial data your accountant already works with in Figured. What you see is based on your real farm numbers, and those of your closest peers.

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Data Quality

Verified Data You Can Rely On

Figured’s benchmarks are built on verified actuals from NZ dairy farms actively managed in Figured. Eligibility criteria are strict: farms must have at least nine months of kgMS data, generate at least 60% of revenue from milk income, and have an active connection to both platforms.

Every benchmark group requires a minimum of 50 farms, outliers are removed using statistical methods, and the full methodology is published in each report’s appendix. When your accountant brings these comparisons to your review, you’ll know they stand up to scrutiny.

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See where your dairy farm sits against 2,000+ NZ operations

Find a Figured-certified accountant to get started.
Find an Adviser

Now with Figured, it has absolutely shifted our whole outlook on the business. I just can’t wait to be using the reports to analyse and approve decisions — we’ve never had time to do that before, we’ve been too busy just getting the information.

Tracey McNeil
Tracey McNeil McNeil Farming

The beauty of Figured is that it helps you look forward. It gives you a picture, and it might be six to 12 months down the road of where you’re going. If you don’t like that picture, you’ve got that time to change. It’s just better than looking back at last year’s numbers when it’s a bit late to make a change.

Doug Kelly
Doug Kelly Paistex Pastoral Co.

I didn’t have a lot of confidence in my spreadsheet and my formulas. Whereas with Figured, I know they’re all over that. It gives me a lot more confidence to know that the actual figures being pulled through are correct — and they’re getting pulled through in real time.

Pru Lynch
Pru Lynch Farmer

Integrations

Figured Works with the Software You Already Use

Figured doesn't replace your existing software — it plugs in on top, pulling live data from Xero, QuickBooks Online, or MYOB, and integrates with the apps you already use to manage the farm.

Explore All Integrations
Xero Accounting MYOB Accounting QuickBooks Online Accounting AgriWebb Farm Management Agworld Farm Management FarmIQ Farm Management
Trev Farm Management Farm Source Dairy Processors Synlait Dairy Processors Open Country Dairy Processors Miraka Dairy Processors Westland Dairy Processors

See Figured in Action

Sidekick Rural + Neer EnterprisesIncludes a video
Case Study

Sidekick Rural + Neer Enterprises

Read the Story
Kaituna Pastures and Stem Rural AccountantsIncludes a video
Case Study

Kaituna Pastures and Stem Rural Accountants

Read the Story
Clovalley FarmsIncludes a video
Case Study

Clovalley Farms

Read the Story
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Find a Figured Adviser

Not Sure Where to Start? Work with a Certified Figured Adviser

Our network of Figured-certified agri accountants and advisers can help you get set up, manage your farm financials, and make better decisions — year-round.

Find Your Adviser

Partnered with NZ's top agri advisory firms

Resources

Discover More Figured Insights

View all articles
How One Dairy Farmer Ensures His Hard Work Matters Each Day

How One Dairy Farmer Ensures His Hard Work Matters Each Day

Read Article
Discovering the Value-Adding Power of Connected Data | The Findex Story

Discovering the Value-Adding Power of Connected Data | The Findex Story

Read Article
How Diprose Miller Is Redefining What NZ Farmers Should Expect From Their Accountant

How Diprose Miller Is Redefining What NZ Farmers Should Expect From Their Accountant

Read Article

Questions

Figured for Farm Benchmarking — FAQ

Figured’s National Dairy Benchmark Report is currently available for NZ dairy operations only. It covers all five NZ dairy ownership types, including farm owner, farm owner with sharemilker, farm owner with contract milker, sharemilker, and contract milker.

Goat and sheep dairy farms are excluded to keep the comparison consistent across the dataset.

If you’re not on a dairy operation, your Figured accountant can discuss what reporting and comparison tools are available for your farm type instead.

The report compares your farm's P&L income and expense categories against other farms in your benchmark group, filtered by region, supplier, and ownership type. National averages and top-quartile results are included for every category.

Key metrics include operating surplus per kgMS, income per kgMS, and expense categories such as feed costs, wages, and animal health. Results are available on an accrual or cash basis, using Figured's standardised categorisation so the numbers are comparable across farms.

All benchmarking data is fully anonymised and aggregated. No individual farm or person is identifiable in any Figured Benchmark Report. The strict eligibility criteria also mean you’re only being compared against farms with complete and reliable data.

Benchmarking is only available through a Figured accountant set up on Figured Insights. If your farm runs on Figured and meets the eligibility criteria, they can pull the report directly from the Figured side with no extra setup required from you.

Don’t have an adviser? Check out our trusted partners: Find an Adviser

Figured’s dairy benchmarks are built on current-season verified actuals, updated each season and available 12 months or more ahead of any other NZ benchmarking source.

Benchmarking is included with Figured Insights, which is a premium product for your accountant. If your farm and accountant are already on Figured, ask them whether Figured Insights is part of their subscription.

Find the Gaps Between Your Farm and NZ Dairy’s Top Performers

Ask your accountant about Figured Benchmarking to see how your farm’s numbers stack up against similar operations across New Zealand.
Find a Figured Adviser Download the Free Guide