The World Dairy Summit, the largest gathering of its kind in the world, officially opened in Auckland on Monday.

The focus of this year’s summit is the long term sustainability of the industry.

Agriculture Minister David Carter has addressed the conference and has continued with the sustainability line.

Mr Carter says the summit will give world dairy leaders the chance to work together on the issue.

“Food security over the next 40 years is in my opinion the world’s biggest challenge.

"Those issues have to be grappled with in a sustainable way and I believe that by working collaboratively internationally the scientists will find the solutions to many of these challenges far more quickly than if the world is not prepared to work in a collaborative fashion”