Data sharing initiative wins national award for saving farmers time
The work Fonterra has done with Ballance Agri-Nutrients Ltd, LIC and Ravensdown to save farmers time through better data connections has been recognised with a national award.
Outgoing Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings says the normal tenure of a global chief executive is between five and seven years.
Spierings, who will complete seven years at Fonterra in September, says he will be working towards “a high quality handover”.
Discussing his exit from Fonterra was “an awkward moment that doesn’t happen too often in life”.
But he says in big companies it was very normal to look at succession plans.
“When I came I said I see really Fonterra as the envy of the dairy world; actually that’s what it is.
“We are the highest paying co-op in terms of cash payout in the world and I’m extremely proud of it.”
Spierings admits not everything has gone according to plan over the last seven years.
The controversial Beingmate investment in China remains an issue for the co-op.
Spierings says choosing Beingmate was the right decision.
He noted that when Fonterra chose Beingmate in 2014, it was the leading local infant nutrition brand in China; founder and majority shareholder Xie Hong had been named entrepreneur of the year.
“Yes, that was the right decision but we have certainly learnt lessons since then.
“China evolves very quickly; to have 18.8% stake in a publicly listed company in China with regulations increasing pretty quickly is not easy, to say it mildly.”
He says Beingmate and its founder were also slow to embrace e-commerce.
But he says Fonterra is not looking for a new partner in the infant formula sector in China.
Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.
Within the next 10 years, New Zealand agriculture will need to manage its largest-ever intergenerational transfer of wealth, conservatively valued at $150 billion in farming assets.
Boutique Waikato cheese producer Meyer Cheese is investing in a new $3.5 million facility, designed to boost capacity and enhance the company's sustainability credentials.
OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.
Compensation assistance for farmers impacted by Mycoplama bovis is being wound up.
Selecting the reverse gear quicker than a lovestruck boyfriend who has met the in-laws for the first time, the Coalition Government has confirmed that the proposal to amend Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) charged against farm utes has been canned.
OPINION: Years of floods and low food prices have driven a dairy farm in England's northeast to stop milking its…
OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content…