State owned farming enterprise Landcorp expects to be getting more than half its revenue from dairy farming in five years.
The country's biggest farmer has been steadily expanding its dairy operations and its annual report says it aims to double milk production within three years.
The increased production will come mainly from the 16 former Crafar farms Landcorp is now managing on behalf of new Chinese owner Shanghai Pengxin, and large scale dairy conversions underway on former forestry land in the central North Island.
It is managing those properties for corporate farm owner Wairakei Pastoral.
Landcorp owns about 100 of the 137 properties it farms but new chief executive Steven Carden says its role as a farm manager is growing.
He says there will be a major change in the capital distribution in farm ownership structure over the next decade and it is a tremendous opportunity for Landcorp to change its model from having to own the land it farms to being prepared to farm on behalf of others.
Mr Carden says it is an opportunity for Landcorp to leverage the intellectual property it has on farm management in partnership with iwi and Maori, with potential foreign investors and with other capital owners in New Zealand who want to have exposure to what is a very dynamic sector.