Divestment means Fonterra can focus on its strengths
OPINION: Fonterra's board has certainly presented us, as shareholders, with a major issue to consider.
WITH POLLS closing on Monday, November 4, Fonterra shareholders are being urged to vote in this year's board elections.
At least one new director will be elected to the co-op board this year and Fonterra Shareholders Council chair, Ian Brown, is urging farmers to take part in the poll and elect the best-qualified people to govern their business.
Six director candidates -Gray Baldwin, Leonie Guiney, David MacLeod, John Monaghan, Garry Reymer and Grant Rowan are vying for three seats at Fonterra's top-table, with voting closing at 10.30am on Monday, 10 November.
Brown says it is vital that shareholders take the responsibility to make an informed decision that benefits us now and the next generation of Fonterra farmers in years to come.
"This means electing to our board the candidates with the mix of governance skills, ability and experience that will enable Fonterra to continue to succeed in the global marketplace in which it operates."
Voting information
• Voting for the directors' and the Shareholders' Council elections closes at 10.30am on Monday, 10 November 2014 with the results announced later that day.
• Shareholders can vote by internet, fax or post, using the Single Transferable Vote system.
• Three seats on the Fonterra board will be contested.
• The director candidates are: Gray Baldwin, Leonie Guiney, David MacLeod, John Monaghan, Garry Reymer, and Grant Rowan.
• Four seats on the Shareholders' Council will be contested in wards: 2 Central Northland, 7 Piako, 14 Eastern Bay of Plenty and 22 Northern Manawatu.
Meat co-operative, Alliance has met with a group of farmer shareholders, who oppose the sale of a controlling stake in the co-op to Irish company Dawn Meats.
Rollovers of quad bikes or ATVs towing calf milk trailers have typically prompted a Safety Alert from Safer Farms, the industry-led organisation dedicated to fostering a safer farming culture across New Zealand.
The Government has announced it has invested $8 million in lower methane dairy genetics research.
A group of Kiwi farmers are urging Alliance farmer-shareholders to vote against a deal that would see the red meat co-operative sell approximately $270 million in shares to Ireland's Dawn Meats.
In a few hundred words it's impossible to adequately describe the outstanding contribution that James Brendan Bolger made to New Zealand since he first entered politics in 1972.
Dawn Meats is set to increase its proposed investment in Alliance Group by up to $25 million following stronger than forecast year-end results by Alliance.