Westpac NZ Becomes First Bank to Accept Zespri Shares as Lending Security
Westpac NZ has become the first New Zealand bank to receive approval from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) to secure and leverage kiwifruit growers' Zespri shares.
Fonterra’s board is backing Zespri chairman Peter McBride, and Maori agribusiness leader Jamie Tuuta in the 2018 board elections.
Sitting director Ashley Waugh has also won nomination from the Fonterra board after being recommended by the independent selection panel.
This means two sitting directors- former chairman John Wilson and Nicola Shadbolt- will leave the board after the annual general meeting in Waikato on November 8.
Returning Officer Warwick Lampp announced the three nominations this morning.
He says the three candidates were nominated by the Fonterra board after being recommended by the independent selection panel.
The Fonterra Shareholders Council is also supporting the three candidates.
The directors’ election process includes two nomination options: the independent nomination process and the self-nomination process.
The self-nomination process, where farmers can stand as a candidate for the board with the support of 35 different shareholders, is now open. Nominations close on Thursday, 20 September 2018.
The full list of candidates for the Fonterra board elections will be announced on September 24.
Voting Packs, containing candidate profiles, will be mailed to eligible shareholders on Monday, 15 October 2018. Shareholders can vote by internet or post, using the first past the post, majority system. Voting closes at 10.30am on Tuesday, 6 November 2018 with the results being announced later that day.
McBride, who became Zespri chairman in 2013, has invested in the kiwifruit and dairy industries.
Tuuta was appointed Moari TV chairman in May this year. He was previously chair of the Parininihi ki Waitōtara Incorporation, the largest farmer in Taranaki and one of the largest milk suppliers to Fonterra.
New Zealand dairy farmers are set to be the first in the world to receive access to a new digital physical milk pricing tool that enables them to fix the price for their physical milk.
State farmer Pāmu is opening its farm gates this summer in an effort to give the rural sector the opportunity to see how large-scale, multi-system farming is delivering productivity and profitability across New Zealand.
A five-year study has found that the cost of reducing emissions without technology may be significant and unsustainable for Northland dairy farmers.
DairyNZ says Waikato farmers need certainty on Plan Change 1, but they say that certainty must be matched with practical, workable rules and a clear transition that doesn't get ahead of the new resource management system currently under review.
While the Government has moved quickly to make commercial hauliers' lot easier during the current fuel crisis, they appear to be stuck in the creep box when it comes to the agricultural industry.
Waikato farmers have been told that the Government’s new planning system legislation and the region’s Plan Change 1 (PC1) “won’t mesh together very well”.
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OPINION: Staying on Federated Farmers, this week's annual general meeting in Auckland is shaping up to be an interesting one.