Fonterra Suppliers Confident in Mainland Dairy Future
Fonterra's 460 milk suppliers in Australia, who will switch to Lactalis end of this month, are unfazed with the impending change.
Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell has told co-op employees that more work is needed to turn the business around.
“We are making good progress on our plan to turn our business around: we’re not there yet,” he said in an email to staff last week.
“Some tough calls are still needed to put us on the right path.”
Fonterra employees won’t be paid bonuses for the 2018-19 year. No salaried staff earning over $100,000 will get a pay rise in 2019-20.
A remuneration review will still occur for salaried employees earning under $100,000. Waged employees who are part of a collective agreement aren’t impacted.
Hurrell says this has been a tough call, but it’s also the right one.
“Together as a cooperative we must do what’s right, working together to reset our business and get us back to a position where we can be proud of our financial performance.”
He thanked staff for their hard work in helping lift performance and reset the business.
Matt McRae, a farmer from Mokoreta in Southland who runs a sheep, beef and dairy support business alongside a sheep stud, has been elected to the Beef +Lamb NZ Board as a farmer director.
Ravensdown's next evolution in smart farming technology, HawkEye Pro, was awarded the Technology Section Award at the Southern Field Days Farm Innovation Awards in February 2026.
While mariners may recognise a “dog watch” as a two-hour shift on a ship, the Good Dog Work Watch is quite a different concept and the clever creation of Southland siblings Grace (9) and Archer Brown (7), both pupils at Riverton Primary School.
Philip and Lyneyre Hooper of the Hoopman Family Trust have tonight been named the Taranaki Regional Supreme Winners at the Ballance Farm Environment Awards.
We are not a bunch of sky cowboys. That was one of the key messages from the chairperson of the NZ Agricultural Aviation Association (NZAAA) Kent Weir, speaking at an education day at Feilding aerodrome for 25 policymakers and regulators from central and local government and other rural professionals.
New Zealand's dairy and beef industries say they welcome the announcement that the Government will invest $10.49 million in the Dairy Beef Opportunities (DBO) programme.

OPINION: Election years are usually regarded as the silly season, but a mate of the Hound reckons 2026 is shaping…
OPINION: If farmers poured just a few litres of some pollutant into a stream, the Green Party and the wider…