Fonterra Whareroa sets cheese record, wins top award
Fonterra Whareroa wrapped up a successful season with a record-breaking cheese production volume and several gongs at the co-op's annual Best Site Cup awards.
The Dairy Workers Union says redundancies at a Fonterra packaging plant in Waikato will come as a heavy blow to those affected and the union will be doing everything it can to support workers.
Fonterra are proposing 114 positions - of which approximately 80 are Dairy Workers Union members' positions - are made redundant at its Canpac packing operations facility in Hamilton.
"This announcement is the start of a consultation phase and we will be talking to our members and with the company to create good options for affected workers," says Dairy Workers Union national secretary Chris Flatt.
"Dairy Workers Union members at the site are covered by a collective agreement, and we are using the processes set out in the agreement to protect workers as much as possible."
"A consultative committee will now be established to minimise the impact on workers. We are working with the company on options like redeployment inside the business and in the wider Fonterra group as well as voluntary redundancies."
Dairy Workers Union members at Canpac have redundancy compensation provisions in their collective agreement.
Fonterra plans to realign its packing operations at Canpac, in the Waikato, to focus more on paediatric nutritionals.
The proposal would see Canpac move to operating 24 hours a day, Monday-to-Friday, instead of the current seven days a week operation. The plant employs 330 people.
A technical lab manager for Apata, Phoebe Scherer, has won the Bay of Plenty 2025 Young Grower regional title.
Following heavy rain which caused flooding in parts of Nelson-Tasman and sewerage overflows in Marlborough, the Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme (IFSO Scheme) is urging homeowners and tenants to be cautious when cleaning up and to take the right steps to support claims.
Newly elected Federated Farmers meat and wool group chair Richard Dawkins says he will continue the great work done his predecessor Toby Williams.
Hosted by ginger dynamo Te Radar, the Fieldays Innovation Award Winners Event put the spotlight on the agricultural industry's most promising ideas.
According to DairyNZ's latest Econ Tracker update, there has been a rise in the forecast breakeven milk price for the 2025/26 season.
Despite the rain and a liberal coating of mud, engines roared, and the 50th Fieldays Tractor Pull Competition drew crowds of spectators across the four days of the annual event.
OPINION: It's official, Fieldays 2025 clocked 110,000 visitors over the four days.
OPINION: The Federated Farmers rural advocacy hub at Fieldays has been touted as a great success.