Misguided campaign
OPINION: Last week, Greenpeace lit up Fonterra's Auckland headquarters with 'messages from the common people' - that the sector is polluting the environment.
Fonterra is set to lose two more executives.
The co-op's president greater China and managing director Asia Middle East Africa, Johan Priem, will retire next month.
Jacqueline Chow, newly-appointed chief operating officer global consumer and foodservice, will leave in early 2017 to return to Australia.
The departures herald a smaller seven-member executive group, says chief executive Theo Spierings. They will focus on achieving the co-op's ambition, he says.
"This is the right step in our evolution. We're keeping farmers at the heart of our co-op while focusing on our global customers and consumers."
Coming to the fore are managing director Oceania Judith Swales and group director cooperative affairs Miles Hurrell.
Swales, who led the streamlining of the co-op's Australian business, is the new chief operating officer velocity and innovation. Hurrell is now chief operating officer Farm Source.
Spierings says Chow, due to leave in early 2017, had been "instrumental in driving our transformation agenda [but] clear about her intention to retire from executive life". Until then "our co-op stands to benefit greatly from her wealth of consumer and business experience".
Swales will manage the co-op's transformation and disruption agenda, and all R&D and technology.
"With Judith heading up velocity and innovation we will get an end-to-end view of our efforts to drive efficiency... and a strategic view of game changing business models."
Meanwhile Alex Turnbull will continue to head Fonterra's Latin American business as part of the global consumer and foodservice business unit but will leave the executive team.
Kelvin Wickham, previously managing director of global ingredients, whose role and position remains unchanged, is now chief operating officer NZMP.
Robert Spurway, previously managing director global operations, is now chief operating officer global operations.
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford says the 2025 Fieldays has been one of more positive he has attended.
A fundraiser dinner held in conjunction with Fieldays raised over $300,000 for the Rural Support Trust.
Recent results from its 2024 financial year has seen global farm machinery player John Deere record a significant slump in the profits of its agricultural division over the last year, with a 64% drop in the last quarter of the year, compared to that of 2023.
An agribusiness, helping to turn a long-standing animal welfare and waste issue into a high-value protein stream for the dairy and red meat sector, has picked up a top innovation award at Fieldays.
The Fieldays Innovation Award winners have been announced with Auckland’s Ruminant Biotech taking out the Prototype Award.
Following twelve years of litigation, a conclusion could be in sight of Waikato’s controversial Plan Change 1 (PC1).
OPINION: Last week, Greenpeace lit up Fonterra's Auckland headquarters with 'messages from the common people' - that the sector is…
OPINION: Once upon a time the Fieldays were for real farmers, salt of the earth people who thrived on hard…