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.
Two former Fonterra directors are seeking a reduction in the size of the co-op board.
Greg Gent, a former deputy chairman and Colin Armer, a former director and one of Fonterra's single largest farmer supplier, have put forward a notice of proposal to the co-op's agm in Waitoa next month.
They want shareholder support for a reduction of board members from 13 to nine.
If it is successful their proposal requires the Shareholders Council to conduct an election for all six elected directors in March 2016.
However, the proposal requires 50% support from the Shareholders Council and at least 75% of shareholder votes in favour.
"It's a big hurdle but we've made sure that there are plenty of mechanisms for shareholders to discuss the proposition and its pros and cons before casting their votes," Gent says.
"We all want our cooperative to be more globally competitive and successful with a clear strategy to achieve that. Our farming businesses and livelihoods depend on that.
"We believe that a smaller board is essential to improve the governance and performance of the cooperative. Fonterra has performed well below the expectations the farmers who voted to form it had at the time.
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.
OPINION: The new government has clearly signalled big cuts across the public service.
OPINION: Your canine crusader is not surprised by the recent news that New Zealand plant-based ‘fake meat’ business is in…