Divestment means Fonterra can focus on its strengths
OPINION: Fonterra's board has certainly presented us, as shareholders, with a major issue to consider.
Two Fonterra cheeses have won silver awards at the international Cheese Awards held recently at Nantwich, UK.
Among the most important events in the global cheese calendar, the awards attracted a record 5685 entries in categories that ranged from traditional farmhouse to speciality Scandinavian.
Cheeses from the smallest boutiques to the world’s largest brands vied for top honours.
NZ Milk Products Vintage Cheddar won second place in the Vintage Cheddar Cheese Class (over 18 months), open to non-UK creameries. This is made at Fonterra’s Lichfield, Waikato site and is matured for up to 24 months before release.
NZMP Noble Cheddar won silver for Best in New Zealand Cheese Class. It is made at Fonterra’s Hautapu, Waikato site.
Plant manager Hautapu Cheese, Ross Burdett, and Fonterra process project manager and cheesemaker Iain O’Donnell from the Lichfield site, agree on the honour of having their work recognised on the world stage.
Burdett says the team is proud to receive the silver for Best in New Zealand Cheese award, an “acknowledgement of the hard work and care they take to make consistently great cheeses”.
O’Donnell says the Vintage Cheddar Cheese is one “we are really proud of and enjoy making. It is great to be recognised globally for it.”
Fonterra dairy foods category director Casey Thomas says coming up against their European counterparts allows them to “receive independent affirmation that we produce some of the world’s best cheddar cheeses”.
Established in 1897, the International Cheese Awards at Nantwich is the biggest cheese show in the world, attracting entries from 50 different countries, including USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Visitors sample and buy the cheeses on display and watch cheese-making demonstrations and celebrity cooking shows.
Meat co-operative, Alliance has met with a group of farmer shareholders, who oppose the sale of a controlling stake in the co-op to Irish company Dawn Meats.
Rollovers of quad bikes or ATVs towing calf milk trailers have typically prompted a Safety Alert from Safer Farms, the industry-led organisation dedicated to fostering a safer farming culture across New Zealand.
The Government has announced it has invested $8 million in lower methane dairy genetics research.
A group of Kiwi farmers are urging Alliance farmer-shareholders to vote against a deal that would see the red meat co-operative sell approximately $270 million in shares to Ireland's Dawn Meats.
In a few hundred words it's impossible to adequately describe the outstanding contribution that James Brendan Bolger made to New Zealand since he first entered politics in 1972.
Dawn Meats is set to increase its proposed investment in Alliance Group by up to $25 million following stronger than forecast year-end results by Alliance.
OPINION: Voting is underway for Fonterra’s divestment proposal, with shareholders deciding whether or not sell its consumer brands business.
OPINION: Politicians and Wellington bureaucrats should take a leaf out of the book of Canterbury District Police Commander Superintendent Tony Hill.