"Our" business?
OPINION: One particular bone the Hound has been gnawing on for years now is how the chattering classes want it both ways when it comes to the success of NZ's dairy industry.
Fonterra farmers have elected Canterbury farmer John Nicholls to the board.
Nicholls received 53% support in the second director election; the other candidate Jamie Tuuta received 37% support.
Nicholls’ election means Fonterra farmers have only elected one of the three candidates recommended by Fonterra directors and the Shareholders Council this year.
The outcome also raises questions on the independent candidate assessment panel (CAP), which interviews potential candidates and recommends them to the board and council.
Outgoing Zespri chairman Peter McBride is the only successful candidate recommended by the CAP process and backed by the board and councillor.
McBride was successful in the first election along with Leonie Guiney, who like Nicholls, self-nominated with the backing of farmer shareholders.
Former Fonterra director Ashley Waugh, who was unsuccessful in the first election, and Tuuta were recommended by the CAP process and Fonterra’s board.
The first election saw only two successful candidates declared forcing the council to run a second election to fill a third vacancy on the board.
Returning Officer Warwick Lampp, of electionz.comLtd, declared the final result of the second 2018 election today.
The voting return was 64.10% by milk solids, being 5,324 votes cast from 9,347 shareholders of which 79.19% voted via the internet and 20.81% voted by post.
Nicholls was a previous Fonterra Shareholders Councillor and is currently chair of MHV water, NZ’s largest inter-generational irrigation co-operative providing water to 50,000ha in Ashburton District.
He takes up his position on the board immediately.
Claims that some Southland farmers were invoiced up to $4000 for winter grazing compliance checks despite not breaching rules are being rejected by Environment Southland.
According to the most recent Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey, farmer confidence has inched higher, reaching its second highest reading in the last decade.
From 1 October, new livestock movement restrictions will be introduced in parts of Central Otago dealing with infected possums spreading bovine TB to livestock.
Phoebe Scherer, a technical manager from the Bay of Plenty, has won the 2025 Young Grower of the Year national title.
The Fencing Contractors Association of New Zealand (FCANZ) celebrated the best of the best at the 2025 Fencing Industry Awards, providing the opportunity to honour both rising talent and industry stalwarts.
Award-winning boutique cheese company, Cranky Goat Ltd has gone into voluntary liquidation.
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