Farmers' call
OPINION: Fonterra's $4.22 billion consumer business sale to Lactalis is ruffling a few feathers outside the dairy industry.
Eight Fonterra Shareholders Council members have been returned unopposed for another three-year term.
They are Penny Smart, Central Northland, Julie Pirie, Hauraki / Coromandel, Grant Wills, Matamata, Kevin Ferris, Te Awamutu, Rob Poole, Egmont Plains, Charles Whirehead, Ashburton, Ad Bekkers, Otago and Vaughan Templeton, western Southland.
However, an election is required in four seats.
For the Eastern Bay of Plenty, Gerard van Beek and Wilson James will battle it out. Northern Taranaki is also a two-way battle between Mark Hooper and Kevin Turnbull.
In Hawke's Bay, four candidates are registered - Eliot Cooper, David Hands, Andrew Hardie and Ivan Knauf.
The Tasman / Marlborough election will feature Sue Brown, Neil Sixtus and Wayne Langford.
Nominations for the elections closed yesterday.
The candidates for the Fonterra board of directors' election will be announced on Tuesday, 13 October 2015 following the completion of the Candidate Assessment Panel (CAP) process.
The returning officer, Warwick Lampp, confirmed there will be no election required for the Directors' Remuneration Committee, as shareholders David Gasquoine and Stephen Silcock have been elected unopposed.
Voting Packs, containing candidate profiles, will be mailed to eligible shareholders on Friday, 30 October 2015.
Shareholders can vote by internet, fax or post, using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system.
The voting period is from Friday, 30 October until 10.30am on Monday, 23 November 2015 with the results being announced later that day. Fonterra's annual meeting will be held at Waitoa on November 25.
Academic Dr Mike Joy and his employer, Victoria University of Wellington have apologised for his comments suggesting that dairy industry CEOs should be hanged for contributing towards nitrate poisoning of waterways.
Environment Southland's catchment improvement funding is once again available for innovative landowners in need of a boost to get their project going.
The team meeting at the Culverden Hotel was relaxed and open, despite being in the middle of calving when stress levels are at peak levels, especially in bitterly cold and wet conditions like today.
A comment by outspoken academic Dr Mike Joy suggesting that dairy industry leaders should be hanged for nitrate contamination of drinking/groundwater has enraged farmers.
OPINION: The phasing out of copper network from communications is understandable.
Driven by a lifelong passion for animals, Amy Toughey's journey from juggling three jobs with full-time study to working on cutting-edge dairy research trials shows what happens when hard work meets opportunity - and she's only just getting started.
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