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 director Malcolm Bailey says there is a "clear 50/50 split" among shareholders on the issue of governance.
Bailey, who chairs the board's governance review committee, was speaking at the annual general meeting in Waitoa today.
His comments came as early results saw 54.4% support for a resolution to reduce the board to nine members- six elected and three appointed.
Shareholders at the meeting are yet to cast their votes so the final result is still a few hours away.
The motion, moved by former directors Greg Gent and Colin Armer, is unlikely to get 75% support needed to change the constitution.
Bailey says both Gent and Armer are well regarded in the co-op.
"It's no surprise that they have received strong support," he says.
Fonterra chairman John Wilson will be commenting on the voting result soon.
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).