Fonterra unveils divestment plan
Fonterra is exploring full or partial divestment options for its global Consumer business, as well as its integrated businesses Fonterra Oceania and Fonterra Sri Lanka.
2017 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year Jessie Chan-Dorman says her involvement in many organisations is about giving back.
Arriving in Canterbury, she got her first leadership role -- policy manager for Federated Farmers. She was asked to join and be a delegate, becoming sharemilkers’ chair in Canterbury and sharemilkers’ national vice-chair. That led to Fed’s dairy chair for mid Canterbury then joining the national dairy executive.
“From there – this is the wonderful thing about the industry – I got a lot of upskilling and leadership training.” She took part in Kellogg’s Rural Leadership Course, travelling to China to look at their primary industries. She also went through the Fonterra governance development programme.
“There are great opportunities in the ag sector to upskill yourself and those upskilling opportunities led to other positions such as becoming a director of the Ashburton Trading Society and Ruralco which is the brand face of ATS.”
She joined the Fonterra shareholders council recently. “It has been a journey; it always starts with a small seed and grows.”
She is open to where it takes her now. Her son Adam is four so Chan-Dorman is conscious of needing to spend precious moments with him; but in this day and age it is possible to do both, she says.
Hayden and the Dorrie community are very supportive. She will step down from Feds in June and continue with Ruralco and the ATS board.
She has spent eight years in Feds and “it is time to let someone else come up through the ranks”.
“We should grow ourselves and commit to serving in different positions but we must also be conscious that at some point we’ve got to step back to let others grow and come through.
“When I was in Wellington in a desk job I never imagined where I would be; I went from living in an apartment in Cuba St and walking to work on The Terrace to living in Dorie. I never imagined I would be living in Dorie and dairy farming with Hayden, but it has been a great part of the journey and there is still plenty to come.”
She hopes as Dairy Woman of the Year she will be able to help inspire other young leaders coming through and keep giving back and growing her knowledge. There is a great opportunity with the $20,000 scholarship prize to undertake a professional/business development programme.
“There is an old saying ‘the more you learn the more you realise how little you know’. I am always eager to learn more.”
Chan-Dorman is a member of the Institute of Directors and New Zealand Asian Leaders, and has been in DairyNZ, Environment Canterbury, the Land Use Futures Board, Land and Water Forum and Ballance AgriNutrients as a judge for its farm environment awards.
Bankers have been making record profits in the last few years, but those aren’t the only records they’ve been breaking, says Federated Farmers vice president Richard McIntyre.
The 2023-24 season has been a roller coaster ride for Waikato dairy farmers, according to Federated Farmers dairy section chair, Mathew Zonderop.
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) director general Ray Smith says job cuts announced this morning will not impact the way the Ministry is organised or merge business units.
Scales Corporation is acquiring a number of orchard assets from Bostock Group.
Family and solidarity shone through at the 75 years of Ferdon sale in Otorohanga last month.
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has informed staff it will cut 391 jobs following a consultation period.
OPINION: This old mutt well remembers the wailing, whining and gnashing of teeth by former West Coast MP and Labour…
OPINION: Your canine crusader gets a little fed up with the some in media, union hacks, opposition politicians and hard-core…