Fonterra, Sharesies join to make share trading easier
Fonterra is teaming up with wealth app provider Sharesies to make it easier for its farmer shareholders to trade co-op shares among themselves.
Farmers already under the pump in trying to meet the requirements of the Government’s impending Zero Carbon Bill legislation will soon be hit soon by even more compliance costs.
With new freshwater standards to be announced in the next few weeks, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor told TVNZ’s Q&A programme that he expects farmers’ costs in meeting new freshwater rules will be about “1-2%.”
O’Connor conceded that even more costs are not something farmers want, yet he expects them to “absorb” them.
While the minister claimed the Government opposes laying even more compliance costs on businesses, he said “some extra costs are essential” and “improved water quality across the country is wanted and necessary”.
Meanwhile, in the interview O’Connor also put the boot into Fonterra’s former board and management for the dairy co-op’s current woes.
“Crazy decisions made over the years are now coming home to roost,” he told Q&A.
But he says the “new” board and management is now being upfront and honest with farmers in its writedowns of the value of the co-op’s investments.
O’Connor was quick to point the finger at Fonterra’s “old” management and governance, saying it was “a good thing” former chief executive Theo Spierings is now gone. He also labelled Spierings’ $4.7 million exit payment as “ridiculous”.
“That is something the old board would have to answer for,” he said.
On the upcoming Dairy Industry Restructuring Act (DIRA) revision, O’Connor said the bill coming before Parliament is “about right”. He claims it will provide Fonterra a bit more protection.
“It means Fonterra [won’t] have to pick up all new milk supply and imposes new environmental and animal welfare requirements on farmers.”
But the minister says he has an open mind about making changes arising from the work of the parliamentary select committee.
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.