"Our" business?
OPINION: One particular bone the Hound has been gnawing on for years now is how the chattering classes want it both ways when it comes to the success of NZ's dairy industry.
Fonterra's partnership with Chinese company Beingmate was celebrated in style last week.
A ceremony in Beijing was attended by Prime Minister John Key, New Zealand ambassador to China John McKinnon, Fonterra chairman John Wilson and chief executive Theo Spierings, and representatives of Beingmate, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Tsinghua University.
A plaque was unveiled to mark the first phase of the NZ-China Environment Cooperation Project and the Fonterra-Beingmate deal.
Spierings says the event marked progress in building an integrated business in China.
"Part of this is building partnerships to sustainably develop the dairy industry and to bring safe, high quality dairy nutrition to Chinese consumers," he says.
The three-year NZ-China Environment Cooperation Project was launched by the Chinese and NZ governments, with support from government agencies and Fonterra. The project explored ways to use stock effluent as a fertiliser to maintain crop productivity, improve soil health and protect water quality.
Fonterra and Beingmate signed an agreement to extend their partnership in maternal and infant nutrition and the Anmum brand in China.
Beingmate chairman Wang Zhentai signed on behalf of Beingmate.
"There has been a strong start to our partnership and we look forward to continuing to build on this. Today's celebration reflects our joint ongoing commitment to Chinese consumers and I believe sets a strong example of win-win cooperation for our two nations," says Wang.
Fonterra and Beingmate started their partnership in August 2014, and formalised it in March 2015 when Fonterra bought 18.82% of Beingmate. The two companies then signed a distribution agreement for Beingmate to sell Fonterra's Anmum-branded products in China and jointly own Fonterra's factory at Darnum, Australia.
Phoebe Scherer, a technical manager from the Bay of Plenty, has won the 2025 Young Grower of the Year national title.
The Fencing Contractors Association of New Zealand (FCANZ) celebrated the best of the best at the 2025 Fencing Industry Awards, providing the opportunity to honour both rising talent and industry stalwarts.
Award-winning boutique cheese company, Cranky Goat Ltd has gone into voluntary liquidation.
As an independent review of the National Pest Management Plan for TB finds the goal of complete eradication by 2055 is still valide, feedback is being sought on how to finish the job.
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