"Our" business?
OPINION: One particular bone the Hound has been gnawing on for years now is how the chattering classes want it both ways when it comes to the success of NZ's dairy industry.
New Fonterra director Peter McBride says he is overwhelmed with the response in the election.
“I want farmers to know I will do my very best and I will work hard for them,” he told Dairy News.
“It was a good result. I was quite surprised at the outcome with only two people making it through but I guess that is the system.”
He says going into the election he was concerned the farmers may “just see me as a kiwifruit guy”.
“But I think when they got to meet me in person and heard what I had to say then they understood I had something to offer”.
He says his first priority on the board will be to listen. “When you go onto boards you have got to be really careful just to take your time,” he says.
“My main plan is to try and get my head around the business. It is a very large complex business so my aim is to just to spend time with the senior executive and get as much insight into the business as I possibly can. And just contribute wherever I can.
“In the first six months you have got to do a lot of listening, not a lot of talking.”
McBride will step down as chairman of Zespri in February and retire as a Zespri director at the annual general meeting in July next year.
Asked if he would be ready for the Fonterra chairmanship if the directors wanted him to, he said it was too premature to even talk about it.
Phoebe Scherer, a technical manager from the Bay of Plenty, has won the 2025 Young Grower of the Year national title.
The Fencing Contractors Association of New Zealand (FCANZ) celebrated the best of the best at the 2025 Fencing Industry Awards, providing the opportunity to honour both rising talent and industry stalwarts.
Award-winning boutique cheese company, Cranky Goat Ltd has gone into voluntary liquidation.
As an independent review of the National Pest Management Plan for TB finds the goal of complete eradication by 2055 is still valide, feedback is being sought on how to finish the job.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand has launched an AI-powered digital assistant to help farmers using the B+LNZ Knowledge Hub to create tailored answers and resources for their farming businesses.
A tiny organism from the arid mountains of mainland Greece is facilitating a new way of growing healthier animals on farms across New Zealand.
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