Editorial: Punching Above Our Weight
OPINION: With 10,500 dairy farms, New Zealand continues to punch above its weight around the world.
Two former Fonterra directors have been elected to the Cooperative Business New Zealand board.
Nicola Shadbolt and Greg Gent will join two others - Mike Brown of Marlborough Grape Growers Cooperative and Matthew Washington of Mitre 10 on the board.
Shadbolt has extensive governance experience and is an experienced advocate of the co-operative model.
A professor of farm and agri business management at Massey University, she is the current chair of Plant and Food Research Institute and a Climate Change Commissioner.
Gent, a Northland dairy farmer, joins with board with an extensive careeer in governance, spanning several decades across multiple sectors.
He is chairman of Southern Cross Health Society and is a past chair of Farmers' Mutual Group, past director of Fonterra, and works as a dairy farmer in Ruawai.
NZ Co-op Business chief executive Roz Henry says the combined experience of the new directors will be a great help to members.
"Their combined experience, knowledge and skills, covering a range of sectors and specialist knowledge will prove invaluable and greatly assist in pursuing the interest of our members, in particular working alongside our government and educators to support New Zealand member-owned business."
Signing up to a benchmarking tool is not about competition, but about improving collectively, says Ximena Puig and Alvaro Luzardo who are 50-50 sharemilkers at a 164-hectare (effective) dairy farm in Eketāhuna in the Lower North Island.
A leading British farming politician says he's impressed with the positive attitude of New Zealand farmers that he met during his recent trip here.
OPINION: With 10,500 dairy farms, New Zealand continues to punch above its weight around the world.
The Southern Dairy Hub (SDH), which runs a demonstration farm for South Island farmers, has a new general manager.
Esther Guy-Meakin has been announced as the new chief executive of the New Zealand Meat Board (NZMB).
According to a progress report on the Aotearoa Horticulture Action Plan (AHAP), New Zealand's horticulture sector is making real progress on the big issues facing growers.
OPINION: The Irish dairy sector is facing a new dilemma - maintaining year-round fresh milk supplies.
OPINION: Could beef cows play an increasingly important role in improving profitability and resilience on hill country farms?