Editorial: No need to worry
OPINION: What goes up must come down. So, global dairy prices retreating from lofty heights in recent months wouldn’t come as a surprise to many farmers.
Westland Milk has reaffirmed its commitment to pay farmer suppliers 10c above Fonterra farm gate milk price for the following two seasons.
Chief executive Richard Wyeth says the announcement will give certainty to their 400 farmer suppliers.
"There was some conjecture about payment and we've put that to bed," he told Dairy News.
Westland has been paying 10c above Fonterra's farm gate milk price for the past few seasons. The deal will now extend until the 2025-26 season.
Another milk processor, Synlait, faces the risk of farmer suppliers switching their supply to other processors like Westland and Fonterra.
Wyeth says they aren't actively advertising for suppliers.
"But i there are new suppliers interested in supplying Westland, our milk supply team will be happy to talk to them."
When American retail giant Cosco came to audit Open Country Dairy’s new butter plant at the Waharoa site and give the green light to supply their American stores, they allowed themselves a week for the exercise.
Fonterra chair Peter McBride says the divestment of Mainland Group is their last significant asset sale and signals the end of structural changes.
Thirty years ago, as a young sharemilker, former Waikato farmer Snow Chubb realised he was bucking a trend when he started planting trees to provide shade for his cows, but he knew the animals would appreciate what he was doing.
Virtual fencing and herding systems supplier, Halter is welcoming a decision by the Victorian Government to allow farmers in the state to use the technology.
DairyNZ’s latest Econ Tracker update shows most farms will still finish the season in a positive position, although the gap has narrowed compared with early season expectations.
New Zealand’s national lamb crop for the 2025–26 season is estimated at 19.66 million head, a lift of one percent (or 188,000 more lambs) on last season, according to Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s (B+LNZ) latest Lamb Crop report.