Fonterra Settles Greenpeace Claim Over Anchor Butter Labelling
A day after selling its consumer businesses, Fonterra has settled a civil claim, filed by Greenpeace, out of court.
Dairy farms in Northland, Hawke’s Bay and the Coromandel Peninsula remain cut off, says Fonterra.
However, access is improving and the co-operative will be making fresh attempts to collect milk from these farms in the coming days.
Paul Phipps, general manager national transport & logistics told Rural News that they are still unable to safely access a number of farms mostly in Northland.
“Many roads are significantly disrupted and ensuring the safety of our tanker operators and other teams is paramount.
“Access is improving however and we were able to get to more farms in Northland last night. The situation is still challenging though.”
On the Coromandel Peninsula, access is still severely restricted given the state of the roads there.
Today the co-operative will be attempting collection from all suppliers in the region.
“Trucks will be going up without trailers to give us the best possible chance to access farms,” says Phipps.
In the Hawkes Bay, Fonterra has been unable to collect milk from the majority of farms north of Waipukurau.
“Our transport team is working closely with local authorities to assess road conditions,” says Phipps.
“We are doing everything we can to minimise the impact and are working through the logistics.
“Aside from collections, one of the biggest challenges we are facing is pressure on the supply chain as the knock on effects of closed ports and rail put a squeeze on what is already a highly strained national network.”
With arable farmers heading into the busy planting season, increasing fuel and fertiliser prices, driven by the Iranian conflict, are a daily and ongoing concern.
OPINION: After two long years of hardship, things are looking up for New Zealand red meat farmers.
A casualty of the storm that hit the Bay of Plenty recently was the cancelation of a field day at a leading Māori kiwifruit orchard at Te Puke.
Michael Wentworth has joined the team at Mission Estate Winery, filling the "big shoes" of former Chief Executive Peter Holley, who resigned in September last year, after almost 30 years running the storied Napier venue.
Some arable farmers are getting out of arable and converting to dairy in the faced of soaring fuel and fertiliser prices on top of a very poor growing season.
The New Zealand seed industry has reached a significant milestone with the completion and approval of the new seed certification system.

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