Farmers' call
OPINION: Fonterra's $4.22 billion consumer business sale to Lactalis is ruffling a few feathers outside the dairy industry.
That’s the message from new Group Director of Fonterra Farm Source, Anne Douglas.
Speaking to Dairy News two months after taking over the role, Douglas says her team is here to help Fonterra farmers, who are facing rising farm input costs and regulatory challenges.
“Our team is passionate to get alongside and supporting our farmers and making sure they do the best they can do,” she says.
“Our job is to understand their challenges, find solutions and create tools so that our farmers can continue to operate efficiently and profitably.”
Farm Source runs 66 stores throughout the country and has a team of sustainability and farm management experts providing everyday advice to farmers.
Douglas says both the stores and team of experts go hand-in-hand.
“We have a wide range of experts, alongside the retail offering: both are so important in this day and age.
“I think one cannot exist without the other: farmers just don’t want to only buy a product anymore.”
Douglas says their job is help make farmers’ businesses work effectively and supporting them to achieve their aspirations.
In her interactions with farmers, Douglas says she finds rising input costs are their “real challenge”.
She points out that Farm Source is also under pressure with input costs rising on average 15% across the board.
“We find there’s a material shift across the board and this is having an impact on products farmers are buying.”
Douglas doesn’t expect the situation to change anytime soon.
“Our belief is that will continue for some time.”
She points out that Farm Source has been working in this challenging environment for some years.
“We’re putting lot of effort into how we run our operations efficiently, whom we’re partnering with and de-risking the supply end: all to take some sting out.
“We are also trying as much as possible to swallow costs; we are sourcing products from where we’re getting best deals.”
She says solutions put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic to deal with logistics issues are also working for Farm Source today.
Douglas believes labour shortages and looming regulatory changes are also on top of the mind of farmers.
On the bobby calves issue, Douglas says the co-op went out to farmers early last year and the vast majority of Fonterra farmers already comply with the changes.
Passionate About Dairy
Anne Douglas says while she’s not a dairy farmer, she is passionate about the dairy sector.
She has worked at Fonterra for eight years.
Her grandfathers were both dairy farmers and she can trace back her family roots to Northern Ireland where they still farm on the family land bought in the 1600s.
“So, I still feel very connected to the land and the sector and am very passionate about dairy farming.”
