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.
FORMER FONTERRA director Greg Gent is confident the co-op will continue to be a major player on the international dairy market.
Gent says New Zealand is not Fonterra's key market and it has to shine in the international markets.
"We are only 10% of Nestle," he told Dairy News. "Out there in the international market, we are competing with the big boys. And we have to remain a major global player."
Gent – who along with chairman Henry van der Heyden – joined the Fonterra board at its inception 10 years ago, says it was time to step down.
"Ten years is a long time," he says.
Gent spent 18 years as a dairy company director – including chairman of Northland Dairy and then chairman of Kiwi Dairy after it merged with Northland.
Van der Heyden says Gent is "one of the best farmer directors" he has served with.
"Greg's understanding of the global dairy business is very good. He also always put the dairy industry and Fonterra before his interests. This is always easier said than done."
Gent received a standing ovation from Fonterra shareholders at its annual meeting in Whangarei last week.
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).
OPINION: Last week, Greenpeace lit up Fonterra's Auckland headquarters with 'messages from the common people' - that the sector is…
OPINION: Once upon a time the Fieldays were for real farmers, salt of the earth people who thrived on hard…