Organic dairy co-op files for liquidation
A co-operative touted as New Zealand's only 100% farmer-owned organic milk producer has gone bust.
The head of global agri for KPMG, Ian Proudfoot says he has concerns that the apparent fast recovery in dairy prices is leading to complacency which is a problem.
He has found in recent year a strong correlation between better prices and complacency and he says farmers need to keep watch on their cost of production or be caught out financially.
Proudfoot says because of the fast recovery, some farmers who had been planning changes suddenly put these on hold.
And he says the dairy industry faces new challenges caused by the breakdown of the relationship between the US and Mexico and further uncertainty caused by Donald Trump’s election.
“Mexico was the largest buyer of American skim milk but they now appear to have reduced their buying which will mean the US will have to find different markets for some of that product and SE Asia is one of the potential markets.
“This means they would compete with New Zealand products destined for that market so we could see changes here in NZ quickly over the next couple of GDT auctions,” he says.
Proudfoot says NZ doesn’t have a special trading relationship with Mexico, but was relying on the TPP to deliver that which he doesn’t believe will happen. He says NZ now needs to urgently work on building special trading relationships with Mexico and Japan.
Meanwhile Proudfoot says overall American milk production is up and there are no signs of a reduction in Europe.
Meanwhile he’s not sure NZ milk production will be down as much as predicted a year ago. Though some farmers are suffering from drought and wet, many had a better November and December and this may reduce the drop in production.
Meat processor Alliance Group is asking farmer shareholders to inject more capital in order to remain a 100% co-operative.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Dairy
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.
Telco infrastructure provider Chorus says that it believes all Kiwis – particularly those in the rural areas – need access to high-speed, reliable broadband.
World Veterinary Day falls on Saturday 27 April.
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