Fonterra Cuts 2026/27 Milk Price Forecast to $9.25
Fonterra has reduced its forecast 2026/27 Farmgate Milk Price.
Fonterra is cutting up to 300 jobs in its New Zealand corporate offices to save about $65 million a year.
The co-op has had a hiring freeze since February, so about 50 roles potentially affected by the review of its support services in New Zealand are already vacant. Fonterra employs 17000 people globally.
Consultation is starting with employees on the proposed changes which chief executive Theo Spierings says are designed to enable Fonterra to deliver its growth strategy.
"While we are investing in growth, we have to make sure our people are working on the right things and that we are spending our precious capital on the right priorities," says Spierings.
"The review has identified potential opportunities for us to deliver a range of corporate services centrally, reducing duplication and removing layers of management."
Spierings says the proposed changes, which will potentially lead to the loss of 300 positions, will be applied only to positions in Fonterra's corporate offices in New Zealand.
If implemented, the changes would provide on-going savings of $65 million a year, before restructuring costs. Most of these savings would be reinvested to support Fonterra's growth priorities. These savings would be additional to the $60 million in cost savings Fonterra has already committed to deliver this year.
Fonterra has reduced its forecast 2026/27 Farmgate Milk Price.
New Zealand dairy farmers are set to be the first in the world to receive access to a new digital physical milk pricing tool that enables them to fix the price for their physical milk.
State farmer Pāmu is opening its farm gates this summer in an effort to give the rural sector the opportunity to see how large-scale, multi-system farming is delivering productivity and profitability across New Zealand.
A five-year study has found that the cost of reducing emissions without technology may be significant and unsustainable for Northland dairy farmers.
DairyNZ says Waikato farmers need certainty on Plan Change 1, but they say that certainty must be matched with practical, workable rules and a clear transition that doesn't get ahead of the new resource management system currently under review.
While the Government has moved quickly to make commercial hauliers' lot easier during the current fuel crisis, they appear to be stuck in the creep box when it comes to the agricultural industry.

OPINION: Central Hawke's Bay farmer Mark Warren recently told the Hawke's Bay Times it's time for a conversation about allowing…
OPINION: A nation that relies as heavily as NZ does on functional global shipping lanes will have to do its…