Misguided campaign
OPINION: Last week, Greenpeace lit up Fonterra's Auckland headquarters with 'messages from the common people' - that the sector is polluting the environment.
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.
On the eve of his departure from Federated Farmers board, Richard McIntyre is thanking farmers for their support and words of encouragement during his stint as a farmer advocate.
A project reducing strains and sprains on farm has won the Innovation category in the New Zealand Workplace Health and Safety Awards 2025.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ), in partnership with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and other sector organisations, has launched a national survey to understand better the impact of facial eczema (FE) on farmers.
One of New Zealand's latest and largest agrivoltaics farm Te Herenga o Te Rā is delivering clean renewable energy while preserving the land's agricultural value for sheep grazing under the modules.
Global food company Nestle’s chair Paul Bulcke will step down at its next annual meeting in April 2026.
Brendan Attrill of Caiseal Trust in Taranaki has been announced as the 2025 National Ambassador for Sustainable Farming and Growing and recipient of the Gordon Stephenson Trophy at the National Sustainability Showcase at in Wellington this evening.
OPINION: Last week, Greenpeace lit up Fonterra's Auckland headquarters with 'messages from the common people' - that the sector is…
OPINION: Once upon a time the Fieldays were for real farmers, salt of the earth people who thrived on hard…