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LIC board chairman Murray King.
Farmer cooperative LIC has delivered a solid half-year result with revenue up 4% to $170 million.
LIC reported $60 million in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. The company’s net profit was up 10.4%, sitting at $33.4 million compared to $30.3 million in the same period last year.
Board chair Murray King says the cooperative is balancing profit with focused R&D and technology investment for the long term.
“We are investing in the areas where LIC has unique capability to maximise the value LIC’s customers generate from their livestock and their produce, providing technology and services to make farmers’ lives easier,” King says.
He says this includes investment in key areas like genetics and research and development.
King says the highlight of the result was farmers’ growing confidence in LIC’s genomic selection with around 1.4 million inseminations from genomic sires this year, up from 400,000 in 2017.
“Genomic science and genomic sequencing technology is generating markedly increased productivity and health traits for dairy cows and better returns for dairy farmers.
“LIC is now a world leader in pastoral dairy genomic science thanks to the foresight of LIC’s board and shareholders.”
He says the cooperative has invested $78 million into genomic science over the last 30 years to speed up genetic gain in dairy herds.
King says the half-year result is pleasing considering the disruption of the second Covid-19 lockdown and he paid tribute to the cooperative’s management and staff.
“Our people have had to overcome significant challenges to ensure business continuity and uninterrupted service for LIC’s 10,000 New Zealand customers and their dedication, resilience and effort is very much appreciated.”
LIC chief executive David Chin says meeting the revised methane reduction targets will rely on practical science, smart technology, and genuine collaboration across the sector.
Opening a new $3 million methane research barn in Waikato this month, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay called on the dairy sector to “go as fast as you can and prove the concepts”.
The Government has announced it has invested $8 million in lower methane dairy genetics research.
The first calves of a new crossbred dairy-beef offering are now on the ground at a Pamu (Landcorp) farm near Taupo.
Academic and former Fonterra director Nicola Shadbolt has been elected as LIC director.
The Ashburton-based Carrfields Group continues to show commitment to future growth and in the agricultural sector with its latest investment, the recently acquired 'Spring Farm' adjacent to State Highway 1, Winslow, just south of Ashburton.
New Zealand First leader and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has blasted Fonterra farmers shareholders for approving the sale of iconic brands to a French company.
A major feature of the Ashburton A&P Show, to be held on October 31 and November 1, will be the annual trans-Tasman Sheep Dog Trial test match, with the best heading dogs from both sides of the Tasman going head-to-head in two teams of four.
Fewer bobby calves are heading to the works this season, as more dairy farmers recognise the value of rearing calves for beef.
The key to a dairy system that generates high profit with a low emissions intensity is using low footprint feed, says Fonterra program manager on-farm excellence, Louise Cook.
Rural retailer Farmlands has reported a return to profitability, something the co-operative says shows clear progress in the second year of its five-year strategy.
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