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Former Fonterra director Leonie Guiney at the co-op’s annual meeting in Hawera.
Former Fonterra director Leonie Guiney left the co-op in controversial circumstances.
Guiney says she made herself available for re-election via the independent nomination process but wasn’t endorsed by a key board sub-committee. Here’s what she told shareholders at Fonterra’s annual meeting this month:
It says ‘it starts here’ on all our supply numbers in Fairlie. It’s especially poignant for me that we should be in Hawera today because my life working with dairy farmers began here in 1991.
South Taranaki farmers taught me how to farm a pasture curve for cash. That inspired my entire career in dairying, I developed a particular passion for what is done with that cash, to secure the long term future of New Zealand dairy farming.
Thank you for your support in giving me a mandate to serve on our cooperative and for your investment in me in the last three years. I have poured myself into our cooperative, as I have into the industry I love, for 26 years.
The co-op is greater than any one individual, and what matters most is that we never forget why the co-op exists. It was formed to give us competitive market strength offshore; the risk of becoming a price-taking peasant is real, but easy to take for granted when we have known nothing but a strong co-operative.
Value can be added anywhere along the supply chain, but the question of who captures that is the reason we need to own and control it.
Fonterra’s milk supply depends on shareholders trusting the stewardship of their capital. We need to be sure, not to surrender our business sense at corporate governance level.
I was committed to the desire to see Fonterra management allocate time and capital in proportion to where we can best compete and succeed. As a shareholder -- one of many who has built capital from profitable farming of cows -- I remain committed to that.
However, the greatest competitive strength of our co-operative -- which competitors can’t match -- is the loyal supply that comes as a result of trust in a collective purpose. That depends on the trust being reciprocated, on people on the board believing they can entrust farmers with bad news as well as good.
Farmers need to be confident that the board is asking the same the questions they (the farmers) would ask if they had access to all the information the (board) has, and that is where our now-undemocratic election creates a risk.
Forthrightness and candour with shareholders is not a Fonterra strength yet. An election system that gives a committee of the board the tools to remove their colleagues has implications over time for courage, bluntness and honesty on a board.
I congratulate the new directors and genuinely look forward to your contribution.
We do have a champion; retaining farmer control of that is in shareholders’ hands.
We have a very bright future, if we stay focussed on why we exist and for whom; you can be reassured we have high quality and very committed staff and senior management in Fonterra.
It is in shareholders’ hands to elect governors who can give a clear steer to management on why we exist. We need to be careful not to surrender our business sense to corporate slogans.
OPINION: There is zero chance that someone who joined Fonterra as a lobbyist, then served as a general manager of Fonterra's nutrient management programme, and sat on the board of Export NZ, a division of lobbyist group Business New Zealand, doesn't understand that local butter (and milk and cheese) prices are set by the international commodity price.
Kiwis love their butter, and that's great because New Zealand produces some of the best butter in the world. But when the price of butter goes up, it's tough for some, particularly when many other grocery staples have also gone up and the heat goes on co-operative Fonterra, the country's main butter maker. Here the co-op explains why butter prices are so high right now.
An A$2 billion bid for Fonterra's Oceania business would be great news, according to Forsyth Barr senior analyst, equities, Matt Montgomerie.
The world's largest dairy company may be in pole position to acquire Fonterra's Australian assets.
Over 85% of Fonterra farmer suppliers will be eligible for customer funding up to $1,500 for solutions designed to drive on-farm efficiency gains and reduce emissions intensity.
Kiwis love their butter, and that's great because New Zealand produces some of the best butter in the world. But when the price of butter goes up, it's tough for some, particularly when many other grocery staples have also gone up and the heat goes on co-operative Fonterra, the country's main butter maker. Here the co-op explains why butter prices are so high right now.
DairyNZ chair Tracy Brown has waded into the debate around soaring butter prices, pointing out that the demand for dairy overseas dictates the price to farmers and at the supermarket.
Farmers are welcoming new Government proposals to make farm health and safety rules more practical and grounded in real-world farming.
Missing fresh mozzarella cheese made at home in Bari, southern Italy, Massimo Lubisco and his wife Marina decided to bring a taste of home to New Zealand.
An A$2 billion bid for Fonterra's Oceania business would be great news, according to Forsyth Barr senior analyst, equities, Matt Montgomerie.
Irish meat processor Dawn Meats is set to acquire a 70% stake in Alliance Group, according to a report in The Irish Times.
