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.
OPINION: You're never as good as when you're dead, and with due respect to Theo Spierings' family, the Hound can't let the death of the former Fonterra CEO pass without mentioning the parlous state he left Fonterra in when he exited in 2018 - having pocketed well north of $30 million over seven years.
To be fair, about the same time he resigned, advisory firm TDB had calculated that the 'mega merger' that formed Fonterra delivered dairy farmers less than 2.5% annual compound growth in revenue - well short of the 15% industry leaders had pitched to cockies pre-2001.
However, when Spierings departed, with nary a word, but with full pockets, the co-op faced a 20% drop in share value and a $196m loss for 2018, plus a forecast loss for 2019 that turned out to be a massive $605m loss.
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.

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