Milk price certainty
Westland Milk has reaffirmed its commitment to pay farmer suppliers 10c above Fonterra farm gate milk price for the following two seasons.
Westland Milk Products (WMP) butter range is continuing to win awards.
Its Westgold’s salted and unsalted butters won gold medals at the Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards recently.
The wins follow a winning streak for the company’s salted butter. Last year saw it win its fourth gold medal at the New Zealand Champions of Cheese awards which have not included a butter section for 2023.
Westgold’s Garlic & Parsley Infused Butter was also a winner, taking home bronze.
Hamish Yates, WMP’s general manager sales and marketing, says the company always knew that its butter was special. The three butters winning awards simply reinforce that.
“The awards demonstrate the excellence of our product, right from our farmer suppliers providing creamy delicious milk to our master butter makers who carefully craft Westgold,” Yates says.
He says he is proud of what Westgold is achieving as a producer of high-quality butter.
“Our Westgold story is a great story to tell. It centres around milk sourced from cows grazed on grass on a small number of farms below the majestic Southern Alps,” Yates says.
“The fresh cream is traditionally churned and crafted by our master butter makers, using the traditional Fritz Churn method. Some of them have been doing that craft for many years and the results of their skills are very tangible.”
Judges praised the two gold medal winning butters, entered in the dairy category of the awards, describing Westgold Salted Butter as good quality and “creamy and tasty with a nice spreadable texture and gloss”.
They said Westgold Unsalted butter had a “clean, fresh flavour”. It was not too dense and spread nicely, while its aroma was “true and creamy”.
“The 2023 entries of this, the seventh year of our awards, was one of the most satisfying arrays to judge to date,” said Lauraine Jacobs who led the team of 25 experienced food judges that assessed the 290 locally harvested, grown, and made food and drink award entries over two days.
New Zealand dairy processors are welcoming the Government’s commitment to continuing to push for Canada to honour its trade commitments.
An educational programme, set up by Beef + Land New Zealand, to connect farmers virtually with primary and intermediate school students has reported the successful completion of its second year.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has welcomed a resolution adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly to declare 2026 International Year of the Woman Farmer.
Waikato herd health veterinarian Katrina Roberts is the 2024 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says New Zealand has no intention of backing down in a trade dispute with Canada over dairy products.
Horticulture NZ chief executive Nadine Tunley will step down in August.
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OPINION: It seems every bugger in this country can get an award these days.