Make the right decision, Peters urges Fonterra farmers
New Zealand First leader and Foreign Minister Winston Peters is ratcheting up pressure on Fonterra farmers as they vote on divesting the co-operative’s consumer and related businesses.
While no official statement has come yet from Fonterra Co-operative Council, Milking It understands that for the first time ever, there are only three candidates for board elections.
And they are sitting directors - chairman Peter McBride, John Nichols and Leonie Guiney - all retiring by rotation and seeking re-election.
With three vacancies and three candidates, an election will still need to take place as rules stipulate that a candidate must get at least 50.01% of the votes to be elected.
But with no one challenging the status quo, it seems farmers shareholders are happy with the direction of their co-op.
This also bodes well for the capital structure revamp, spearheaded by McBride, It will need 75% support from voting farmers at the co-op's AGM next month to pass.
Agriculture and Forestry Minister, Todd McClay is encouraging farmers, growers, and foresters not to take unnecessary risks, asking that they heed weather warnings today.
With nearly two million underutilised dairy calves born annually and the beef price outlook strong, New Zealand’s opportunity to build a scalable dairy-beef system is now.
Graduates of a newly-updated Agri-Women’s Development Trust (AWDT) course are taking more value than ever from the programme, with some even walking away calling themselves the “farm CFO”.
Meet the Need, a farmer-led charity, says food insecurity in New Zealand is dire, with one in four children now living in a household experiencing food insecurity, according to Ministry of Health data.
Applications have now opened for the 2026 Meat Industry Association scholarships.
Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) says it is backing aspiring dairy farmers through a new initiative designed to make the first step to farm ownership or sharemilking easier.