Another record result for Westland
Not all milk processors in New Zealand are struggling; just look at Westland Milk Products on the West Coast.
Lincoln University hosted senior management from both Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group and its subsidiary Oceania Dairy last week.
The purpose of the visit was to begin discussions and build on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Lincoln University and Yili, signed in 2014.
Dr Xiaopeng Huang, deputy director of Yili's Innovation Centre, and Shane Lodge, quality and compliance manager of Oceania Dairy, headed the group.
Talks covered a range of topics, with a particular emphasis on value chains. The visit also included presentations and demonstrations on Lincoln University's 'paddock to plate' research.
"The outcomes from discussions held with key departments within Lincoln were extremely encouraging and revealed that the organisations are very much in tune regarding preferred outcomes from the MOU," says Lincoln University business development manager, Samuel Yu.
"We both share similar ambitions concerning the dual challenge of raising productivity and reducing environmental impacts through precision agri-technologies and on-farm best practice, as well as a shared desire to explore ways to enhance brand value via food safety and the development of new high-nutrition products.
"These topics are very much in the hearts and minds of consumers when they purchase foods; not just in China or New Zealand, but all over the world."
"We're extremely pleased to be working with a world leading food manufacturer such as Yili, and we see it as recognition of Lincoln University's global relevance as an important player in the primary sector," says Yu.
Pan Gang, chairman of Yili Group and the Vice-Chancellor of Lincoln University, Dr Andrew West signed MOU in front of President Xi Jinping of China and Prime Minister John Key, during the President's visit to New Zealand in November 2014.
Rural trader PGG Wrightson has revised its operating earnings guidance, saying trading conditions have deteriorated since the last market update in February.
It's been a bumper season for maize and other supplements in the eastern Bay of Plenty.
Leading farmers from around New Zealand connected to share environmental stories and inspiration and build relationships at the Dairy Environment Leaders (DEL) national forum in Wellington last month.
AgriZeroNZ, a joint venture fast-tracking emissions reduction tools for farmers, is pouring $5 million in a biotech company to develop a low emissions farm pasture with increased productivity gains.
Fonterra is teaming up with wealth app provider Sharesies to make it easier for its farmer shareholders to trade co-op shares among themselves.
Te Awamutu dairy farmers Doug, Penny, Josh and Bayley Storey have planted more than 25,000 native trees on the family farm, adding to a generations-old native forest.