Coutts appointed chair-elect of Mainland Group
Fonterra has named Elizabeth (Liz) Coutts the chair of Mainland Group, the proposed divestment entity of the co-operative’s consumer business.
Two Bay of Plenty farmers have been slapped with fines totalling $28,000 for effluent management breach.
Farm owner Francis Nettleingham, and his son John Nettleingham, the farm manager, pleaded guilty at the District Court of Tauranga last week to discharging dairy shed effluent to land where it entered a tributary of the Aongatete estuary.
Bay of Plenty Regional Council prosecuted the two men for the effluent discharge of dairy shed effluent that occurred on at their Aongatete farm on 13 October 2021. The farm operates as a small calf-rearing enterprise, milking about thirty cows to feed the calves. Both men were fined $14,000 each.
Judge David Kirkpatrick says in his ruling that a relatively simple system for diverting stormwater and cowshed effluent to appropriate destinations was not operated properly.
“There does not appear to have been any fault or problem with the elements of the system, only with the way in which the defendants used it.”
BoP Council compliance manager, Alex Miller, notes that the Aongatete estuary has high cultural and ecological values.
“Everybody has duties and responsibilities to manage their dairy shed effluent to avoid unwanted pollution entering the environment.
“Regardless of the scale of the farm and the dairy operation, farmers need to put the design, operation, maintenance and inspection of their effluent management systems at the forefront of their work,” Miller says
Federated Farmers supports a review of the current genetic technology legislation but insists that a farmer’s right to either choose or reject it must be protected.
New Zealand’s top business leaders are urging the US Administration to review “unjustified and discriminatory tariffs” imposed on Kiwi exporters.
New tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump signal an uncertain future, but New Zealand farmers know how to adapt to changing conditions, says Auriga Martin, chief executive of Farm Focus.
A global trade war beckons, which is bad news for a small open economy like New Zealand, warns Mark Smith ASB senior economist.
Carterton's Awakare Farm has long stood as a place where family, tradition and innovation intersect.
Fonterra says the US continues to be an important market for New Zealand dairy and the co-op.
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