Misguided campaign
OPINION: Last week, Greenpeace lit up Fonterra's Auckland headquarters with 'messages from the common people' - that the sector is polluting the environment.
Fonterra farmers want a smaller board, says co-op chairman John Wilson.
Wilson says that's the message he got from taking part in farmer meetings around the country during the director election campaign.
He says Fonterra board and Shareholders Council will soon embark on a major consultation process with shareholders
"We will have a discussion on the capability of the board and the mix between elected and appointed directors," says Wilson.
He says a lot of ground work has been done over the past three years.
The review committee will be made up of board and council members; outside consultants may be engaged as part of the review.
A discussion document will be released January; a special shareholders meeting will be called around June next year.
The Colin Armer/Greg Gent proposal to reduce the board to nine members was supported by 53.8% of farmers. However, the proposal needed 75% support to enable changes to the co-op constitution.
About 65% of shareholders, producing 73% of the co-op's total milk solids, turned out to vote
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford says the 2025 Fieldays has been one of more positive he has attended.
A fundraiser dinner held in conjunction with Fieldays raised over $300,000 for the Rural Support Trust.
Recent results from its 2024 financial year has seen global farm machinery player John Deere record a significant slump in the profits of its agricultural division over the last year, with a 64% drop in the last quarter of the year, compared to that of 2023.
An agribusiness, helping to turn a long-standing animal welfare and waste issue into a high-value protein stream for the dairy and red meat sector, has picked up a top innovation award at Fieldays.
The Fieldays Innovation Award winners have been announced with Auckland’s Ruminant Biotech taking out the Prototype Award.
Following twelve years of litigation, a conclusion could be in sight of Waikato’s controversial Plan Change 1 (PC1).