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.
Fonterra is closing a milk powder blending and packaging site in Hamilton, a move that will affect 120 jobs.
The co-operative says the closure of the Canpac site follows its decision to focus on higher value ingredients such as advanced proteins and medical nutrition.
The plant currently packs up to 4,000 metric ton of powders per year, less than 1% of the co-op's total product volume.
Fonterra's chief operating officer Anna Palairet says the co-op is committed to supporting the impacted employees.
The co-op is working through a consultation process, including exploring potential redeployment opportunities before operations are planned to come to an end on July 31.
Palairet says low product volumes and increasing complexities in production has created challenging economic conditions for the facility.
"It's been a tough day for all the team at the site. Making decisions like this is never easy.
"Our strategy is about creating end-to-end value and growing total returns for our farmer shareholders.
"We believe the best way to achieve this is to focus on our strengths and scale in ingredients and foodservice, and we are prioritising our investment on the parts of our operations that are better suited to this."
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.
New Zealand's persimmon season will kick off early this year, with fruit set to hit shelves soon.
Ireland and NZ have concluded a deal to extend a joint research programme on climate change.