The sniff test — Editorial
Former Prime Minister John Key said, at the start of the Level 4 Lockdown, that businesses should be concerned about their reputations.
New Zealand's newest dairy plant, making infant formula for the Chinese market, was opened yesterday.
The $220 million Yashili plant at Pokeno, north Waikato, will make 52,000 tonnes of formula. The product will be sent to China in cans and in 25kg bags.
Yashili is majority owned by China's largest dairy player Mengnui Dairy; European Dairy players Arla Foods and Danone are also shareholders.
Mengniu chief executive and chairman of Yashili International Holdings Ltd Sun Yiping attended the opening. Prime Minister John Key was the chief guest.
Yashili New Zealand begins a new chapter of Chinese offshore infrastructure development, says Yiping.
"With ever-increasing levels of urbanisation, and an increase in consumer demand for dairy products, China is the fastest growing dairy market in the world. The Mengniu-Yashili plant is creating an elite team based in New Zealand to embody a blending of cultures with an international vision and integrated ability," she says.
With food safety the utmost priority, the production plant was designed to operate under strict quality controls and testing will be conducted by AsureQuality.
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.
Two major red meat sector projects are getting up to a combined $1.7 million in funding from the New Zealand Meat Board (NZMB).
Angus Barr and Tara Dwyer of The Wandle, Lone Star Farms in Strath Taieri have been named the Regional Supreme Winners at the Otago Ballance Farm Environment Awards in Dunedin.
OPINION: The distress that the politicians and bureaucrats are causing to the people of Wairoa and the wider Tairāwhiti is unforgivable.
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.