Data sharing initiative wins national award for saving farmers time
The work Fonterra has done with Ballance Agri-Nutrients Ltd, LIC and Ravensdown to save farmers time through better data connections has been recognised with a national award.
Fonterra farmers are emotional but realistic about losing some iconic business units — notably Tip Top, says Fonterra Shareholders Council chairman Duncan Coull.
“No denying there are some emotions out there although deep down there is realisation that hard calls need to be made,” Coull told Dairy News.
He says Fonterra needs to change fundamentally, not just around the edges.
The co-op last week confirmed it was talking to several potential buyers for its ice cream business Tip Top.
Taranaki dairy farmer Matthew Herbert started an online petition three months ago to block the sale of Tip Top; it has garnered over 15,000 signatures so far.
Herbert says Tip Top ice cream is an important link between fresh milk from Fonterra farmers and the city dwellers consuming the products.
Chief executive Miles Hurrell says the co-op must sell some assets to reduce its debt by $800 million by the end of this financial year. Tip Top is one of three assets up for immediate sale; a final decision on its sale will be made before July 31.
Fonterra has already bought back the 51% stake in its Darnum plant in Victoria that it had sold to the Chinese company Beingmate.
The co-op is mulling the sale of its 19% stake in Beingmate, bought in 2014 for $750 million but since written down by $405m due to the company’s poor performance.
And the co-op last week said its portfolio review had also raised questions about DFE Pharma, a 50/50 joint venture set up in 2006 with the Dutch co-op FrieslandCampina.
Hurrell says Fonterra has told FrieslandCampina that it has started a process to sell its 50% share of DFE Pharma.
“Together with our partner, we have grown DFE Pharma from relatively small beginnings into a significant and successful business. While DFE continues to perform well, our ownership of it is not core to our strategy.”
Federated Farmers is joining major industry-good bodies in not advocating for the Government to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.
Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.
Within the next 10 years, New Zealand agriculture will need to manage its largest-ever intergenerational transfer of wealth, conservatively valued at $150 billion in farming assets.
Boutique Waikato cheese producer Meyer Cheese is investing in a new $3.5 million facility, designed to boost capacity and enhance the company's sustainability credentials.
OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.
Compensation assistance for farmers impacted by Mycoplama bovis is being wound up.
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