Buyer for VLG assets
The New Zealand Rural Land Company (NZL) says it has entered conditional agreements to buy assets from the Van Leeuwen Group (VGL), which went into receivership last week.
The owners of one of New Zealand's largest dairy operations, the Van Leeuwen Dairy Group, say the operation is alive and well.
Adriaan and Wilma van Leeuwen told Dairy News by email from overseas that the South Canterbury business is not in receivership, as rumoured.
They also had heard this rumour, on RNZ National radio, but say it is "false". The group has 12 holdings and 12,000 dairy cows, and is the world's largest robotic milking farm. Last year it expanded by installing 24 Lely robots in three barns of 500 cows each.
Adriaan and Wilma also made the Rich List last year with wealth estimated at $65 million.
The closure of the McCain processing plant and the recent announcement of 300 job losses at Wattie’s underscore the mounting pressure facing New Zealand’s manufacturing sector, Buy NZ Made says.
Specialist agriculture lender Oxbury has entered the New Zealand market, offering livestock finance to farmers.
New research suggests Aotearoa New Zealand farmers are broadly matching phosphorus fertiliser use to the needs of their soils, helping maintain relatively stable nutrient levels across the country’s agricultural land.
Helensville farmers, Donald and Kirsten Watson of Moreland Pastoral, have been named the Auckland Regional Supreme Winners at the Ballance Farm Environment Awards.
Marc and Megan Lalich were named 2026 Share Farmers of the Year at last night's Canterbury/North Otago Dairy Industry Awards.
William John Poole, a third year Agribusiness student at Massey University, has been awarded the Dr Warren Parker and Pāmu Scholarship.