Alex Turnbull Appointed CEO of Yili Oceania Division
Former Fonterra executive Alex Turnbull has been appointed CEO to lead all five Yili Oceania Business Division companies in New Zealand.
Redundancies are on the cards at Hokitika-based independent milk processor, Westland Milk Products.
The co-op is conducting a review of staff roles throughout Westland Group- made up of Westland Milk, Westland Shanghai and EasiYo.
It says the review is part of an overall programme to gain efficiencies and reduce costs to help restore the company to an industry competitive position and provide shareholders with sustainable returns.
Westland chief executive Toni Brendish says current payout predictions, while higher than for the last two seasons, are still not where shareholders need them to be.
“For some, we will still not be sustainable. We need to get our Group back to returning top value to shareholders.”
The review is likely to result in some staff redundancies but Brendish said she was not going to speculate on how many, or what positions might be affected, until it is complete and any affected staff informed. The review is scheduled for completion by the end of February.
“Westland Group has the capital investment, technical expertise, quality products and resources to recover from last year’s loss and get back to paying shareholders a competitive payout,” Brendish says. “But our current structure, including staff roles, is not set up in the best way to deliver the results we want to achieve.”
Westland says it will not be making any further statement until the review is complete and any impacted staff informed.
Matt McRae, a farmer from Mokoreta in Southland who runs a sheep, beef and dairy support business alongside a sheep stud, has been elected to the Beef +Lamb NZ Board as a farmer director.
Ravensdown's next evolution in smart farming technology, HawkEye Pro, was awarded the Technology Section Award at the Southern Field Days Farm Innovation Awards in February 2026.
While mariners may recognise a “dog watch” as a two-hour shift on a ship, the Good Dog Work Watch is quite a different concept and the clever creation of Southland siblings Grace (9) and Archer Brown (7), both pupils at Riverton Primary School.
Philip and Lyneyre Hooper of the Hoopman Family Trust have tonight been named the Taranaki Regional Supreme Winners at the Ballance Farm Environment Awards.
We are not a bunch of sky cowboys. That was one of the key messages from the chairperson of the NZ Agricultural Aviation Association (NZAAA) Kent Weir, speaking at an education day at Feilding aerodrome for 25 policymakers and regulators from central and local government and other rural professionals.
New Zealand's dairy and beef industries say they welcome the announcement that the Government will invest $10.49 million in the Dairy Beef Opportunities (DBO) programme.