Winston Peters calls Fonterra vote result 'utter madness'
New Zealand First leader and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has blasted Fonterra farmers shareholders for approving the sale of iconic brands to a French company.
OUTSPOKEN SOUTH Canterbury farmer Leonie Guiney has been elected to the Fonterra board.
Fonterra shareholders have also retained sitting directors John Monaghan and David MacLeod. Three candidates – Grant Rowan, Gray Baldwin and Gary Reymer - missed out; director voting figures are not released by the co-op.
Guiney lives and farms near Fairlie where she is director of four dairy farming companies. She has previous experience as a consulting officer, dairy production lecturer and has studied overseas cooperatives in the Netherlands and Ireland. Guiney was the 2014 winner of the low-input Dairy Business of the Year.
A passionate supporter of Fonterra's co-op model, she was vocal during the TAF process, speaking out against selling share units to investors. TAF was passed by 64% of Fonterra shareholders.
Guiney will join the board at Fonterra's annual meeting in Palmerston North tomorrow.
Shareholders Murray Holdaway and Philip Wilson were elected unopposed as members of the Directors' Remuneration Committee.
In the Shareholders Council elections, Penny Smart, Malcolm Piggott, Wilson James and Ellen Bartlett were elected.
Acclaimed fruit grower Dean Astill never imagined he would have achieved so much in the years since being named the first Young Horticulturist of the Year, 20 years ago.
The Ashburton-based Carrfields Group continues to show commitment to future growth and in the agricultural sector with its latest investment, the recently acquired 'Spring Farm' adjacent to State Highway 1, Winslow, just south of Ashburton.
New Zealand First leader and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has blasted Fonterra farmers shareholders for approving the sale of iconic brands to a French company.
A major feature of the Ashburton A&P Show, to be held on October 31 and November 1, will be the annual trans-Tasman Sheep Dog Trial test match, with the best heading dogs from both sides of the Tasman going head-to-head in two teams of four.
Fewer bobby calves are heading to the works this season, as more dairy farmers recognise the value of rearing calves for beef.
The key to a dairy system that generates high profit with a low emissions intensity is using low footprint feed, says Fonterra program manager on-farm excellence, Louise Cook.