Organic dairy co-op files for liquidation
A co-operative touted as New Zealand's only 100% farmer-owned organic milk producer has gone bust.
This year's KPMG Agribusiness Agenda fires a timely shot over the bows of the NZ primary sector.
The key word is "complacency", a word somewhat akin to "she'll be right".
The report makes it clear that the world, like our sevens rugby team, has caught up with us and in some cases has overtaken us.
We have often joked and laughed about Irish and French farmers living the life of Riley on EU subsidies while we perform better. Now the joke's on us, as report author Ian Proudfoot points out: "Gallic passion has come into play and they -- not us -- are connecting more effectively with customers".
The report rightly challenges the governance of our primary industry organisations, with board members coming on via the old boy or girl networks. Proudfoot's model of a future thinking, highly skilled board to run organisations and a representative body to have oversight is good.
However, the latter needs to be more pitbull terrier than lapdog which is, sadly, the case of the Fonterra Shareholders' Council: good idea, dreadful result.
Representative scrutiny has to be seriously independent and not there to curry favour. Governance in some farmer organisations is pretty average and the boundary between governance and management is often blurred or overstepped.
The report highlights what Landcorp is doing and shows the SOE is a role model for how companies should act in turbulent, disruptive times and focus on adding value.
Making depressing reading is the dumbness of the bureaucracy in its management of science funding. It's a longstanding issue which needs urgent ministerial intervention.
Scientists, and the primary sector as a whole, have every reason to feel aggrieved at the overheads being stolen from good science money because of convoluted bureaucratic bidding processes.
KPMG and Ian Proudfoot, in particular, are to be congratulated for showing real leadership and insight into the future NZ is facing; they tell it as it is.
If primary sector organisations, and New Zealanders as a whole, don't buy into what KPMG is saying, we can only blame ourselves for any resulting mess.
South Waikato farm manager Ben Purua’s amazing transformation from gang life to milking cows was rewarded with the Ahuwhenua Young Maori Farmer award last night.
Bankers have been making record profits in the last few years, but those aren’t the only records they’ve been breaking, says Federated Farmers vice president Richard McIntyre.
The 2023-24 season has been a roller coaster ride for Waikato dairy farmers, according to Federated Farmers dairy section chair, Mathew Zonderop.
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) director general Ray Smith says job cuts announced this morning will not impact the way the Ministry is organised or merge business units.
Scales Corporation is acquiring a number of orchard assets from Bostock Group.
Family and solidarity shone through at the 75 years of Ferdon sale in Otorohanga last month.