Open Country opens butter plant
When American retail giant Cosco came to audit Open Country Dairy’s new butter plant at the Waharoa site and give the green light to supply their American stores, they allowed themselves a week for the exercise.
OPINION: Your canine crusader reckons the so-called lovefest between our very woke PM Jacinda Ardern and her equally woke Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau isn’t worth a pint of sour milk.
That is especially in the case of the NZ dairy sector, where Canada still imposes high tariffs on dairy imports – even though it is a member of the CTPP trade partnership.
This means that NZ dairy exports are effectively locked out of Canada.
One would think if Ardern and Trudeau were such good, left-wing, bosom buddies – who even share plane rides together to UN talkfests – then they could negotiate an end to NZ dairy products being locked out of Canada.
However, it seems – like most things our PM is associated with – she is all mouth and no trousers when it comes to achieving anything in the real world.
Farmer confidence has taken a slight dip according to the final Rabobank rural confidence survey for the year.
Former Agriculture Minister and Otaki farmer Nathan Guy has been appointed New Zealand’s Special Agricultural Trade Envoy (SATE).
Alliance Group has commissioned a new heat pump system at its Mataura processing plant in Southland.
Fonterra has slashed another 50c off its milk price forecast as global milk flows shows no sign of easing.
Meat processors are hopeful that the additional 15% tariff on lamb exports to the US will also come off.
Fears of a serious early drought in Hawke’s Bay have been allayed – for the moment at least.

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