It was, he said, the biggest opportunity for New Zealand in terms of the knowledge economy.

"What knowledge that we have that is really valuable? That knowledge is how to turn grass into protein. We do that better than anyone in the world."

Exporting New Zealand's farming knowledge was a growing industry and while people quickly understood the idea, putting it into practise was difficult because farming was a conservative long-term business.

Dairy SolutioNZ got its foot in the door for its business because it is an integrater and did not directly compete with individual primary export companies selling its products on the global market.

"Nobody has really played that role. So when we find an offshore opportunity, we are not trying to push our own products, were instead trying to push the best team from New Zealand and no-one's really played that role."

The company was progressing extremely well and Dairy SolutioNZ has staff in Ecuador, Pakistan, Australia, USA, Hawaii and Colombia.

Success in the latter has seen Dairy SolutioNZ along with Colombian government support establish a dairy farm late last year showcasing New Zealand farm systems and genetics.

Those dairy genetics are on display among the small herd of cattle at his lifestyle block just south of Hamilton where he lives with his wife and two children.

He points to the large dairy bull in the paddock. Although black and white, its hairless coat gives away its senepol genetics. The senepol is a Caribbean-based cattle breed known for its high heat tolerance and hairless coat.

"That's my boy," Fairweather proudly said.

"It's my pride and joy."

Sharing the paddock with the bull is a small herd of jersey-senepol cross in-calf heifers.

"When they were born, they were all wrinkled, they looked like a mole rat. You think 'wow that's weird'."

The bull is unique in the world, combining New Zealand dairy genetics and the heat tolerance from the senepol breed to create dairy cattle capable of thriving in tropical countries that use pasture-based dairy systems.

It will play a major role in the years to come in developing these cattle.

Moves are under way to establish a similar farm using the Colombian model in Ecuador and another in Hawaii within a private sector partnership.

"When you get unique technology and intellectual property that bridges the gap between New Zealand grass systems and tropical grass systems - that's the prize."

Fairweather has headed Dairy SolutioNZ since 2013 after spending nine years as founding chief executive of the Waikato Innovation Park. Before that, he worked for eight years as a consultant for multinational firm Ernst and Young in the UK and New Zealand. The innovation park offered his family a lifestlye they'd been looking for after returning to New Zealand from the UK.

"We have the best of both worlds here. We're on the fringe of the city and yet we are part of a rural community."

Dairy SolutioNZ began as a subsidiary to the innovation park and Fairweather played a significant role in its creation.

His tenure as innovation park chief executive coincided with the dairying boom in New Zealand. The next step for Dairy SolutioNZ is to secure capital for a fund to invest in these farms that use New Zealand pasture-based farm systems. This global fund could co-invest in these farms alongside mutual partners in the host countries and accelerate the farm's development.

They would also continue to identify and fill technology gaps in pasture-based systems in tropical countries. The heat tolerant dairy cows were an example of this technology, but there were similar technologies coming on board, he said.

"That's what we are doing for the next five years, we'll just keep doing what we are doing in terms of developing farms and acting as New Zealand Inc."

Agriculture was viewed as a "sunset industry" when Fairweather started out.

Today it is seen as part of the country's future and he was pleased to see it once again rising on the national agenda where it was becoming centre stage again.