Milk price certainty
Westland Milk has reaffirmed its commitment to pay farmer suppliers 10c above Fonterra farm gate milk price for the following two seasons.
The proposed sale of Westland Milk to Chinese company Yili is causing alarm among social media users.
Questions are also being posed about the Government’s $10 million soft loan to Westland Milk.
Yili will pay $588 million for dairy co-op Westland Milk, it was announced overnight.
Late last year, Westland Milk secured a $9.9 million loan from the Government to help build a new plant in Hokitika as part of the Government’s Provincial Growth Fund. Some farmers and politicians considered the loan to be using taxpayers as a bank.
It was revealed this month that the Treasury argued against the Government loan. One reason being that the dairy co-op was having problems obtaining a loan from its bank on acceptable terms and the Government would then be acting as a lender of last resort.
On Twitter the reaction to a co-op being sold off to a foreign company is being questioned.
Megan Hands described the Westland-Yili deal as awkward.
Well this is a bit awkward given Shane Jones just gave Westland a taxpayer funded loan... https://t.co/t3zoPS84Xd
— Megan Hands (@HandsMegan) March 18, 2019
On Facebook, Allen Collinson asked, "So what happens to the 10mill of tax payers money Shane Jones gave them??"
Dairy farmer Alexander Rentoul said he hoped the loan would be paid back with interest.
Another dairy farmer, Matthew Herbert, noted that the guaranteed minimum payout matching Fonterra could be a drawcard for Westland suppliers, who he says have often been paid 50c to a dollar less per kgMS than if they supplied Fonterra.
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford is claiming “some real success” on the 12 policy priorities it placed before the Coalition Government.
Federated Farmers is throwing its support behind the Fast-track Approvals Bill introduced by the Coalition Government to enable a fast-track decision-making process for infrastructure and development projects.
The latest report from ANZ isn’t good news for sheep farmers: lamb returns are forecast to remain low.
Divine table grapes that herald the start of a brand-new industry in Hawke’s Bay have been coming off vines in Maraekakaho.
In what appears to be a casualty of the downturn in the agricultural sector, a well-known machinery brand is now in the hands of liquidators and owing creditors $6.6 million.
One of New Zealand’s deepest breeder Jersey herds – known for its enduring connection through cattle with the UK’s longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II – will host its 75th anniversary celebration sale on-farm on April 22.