Fonterra unveils first electric refrigerated truck
Fonterra has unveiled the first refrigerated electric truck to deliver dairy products across Auckland.
Fonterra and the Rural Support Trust (RST) have announced a three-year partnership to support rural New Zealanders by improving access to wellbeing and resilience services for farming families who are doing it tough.
The first priority for the partnership is to develop a rural specific national strategy, which is expected to be in place early next year.
Farm Source group director Richard Allen says for generations the RST has been standing by rural communities and have a long history of showing up and helping when times are tough.
“Fonterra has worked successfully with the RST for some time but more action is needed and this new partnership will help strengthen our wellbeing support throughout the country,” he says.
“Developing a national, long-term strategy with clear objectives and actions that address mental health and other rural challenges is simply the right thing to do.
“Farming is an animal and produce business, but it’s also very much a human business. It’s right to show up for communities during events and emergencies, but the partnership also recognises an ongoing need for support of, and commitment to, New Zealand communities.”
Neil Bateup, chair of the National Council of RSTs, says Kiwi farmers and growers run pretty special businesses, but the businesses are vulnerable to a bunch of significant external factors – many of which are out of their control.
“A good example is the extreme weather and flooding experienced across parts of New Zealand recently.
Farmers are also feeling increasing pressures due to things like rising on-farm costs, the labour pinch and increasing compliance obligations.
“We’ve come a long way in the last decade or so, in that there’s more recognition that mind health is just as important as physical wellbeing, but we know there’s still a lot of work to do in this area.”
Fonterra has unveiled the first refrigerated electric truck to deliver dairy products across Auckland.
Research and healthcare initiatives, leadership and dedication to the sector have been recognised in the 2025 Horticulture Industry Awards.
Virtual fencing and pasture management company Halter says its NZ operations has delivered a profit of $2.8 million after exclusion of notional items.
Manuka honey trader Comvita slumped to a $104 million net loss last financial year, reflecting prolonged market disruption, oversupply and pricing volatility.
The Government has struck a deal with New Zealand's poultry industry, agreeing how they will jointly prepare for and respond to exotic poultry diseases, including any possible outbreak of high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI).
The conversion of productive farmland into trees has pretty much annihilated the wool industry.
OPINION: Milking It reckons if you're National, looking at recent polls, the dream scenario is that the elusive economic recovery…
OPINION: Sydney has a $12 million milk disposal problem.