Fonterra's Whareroa Wins Directors Award
Fonterra's Whareroa site took home the prestigious Directors Award at the co-op's 'Oscars of Manufacturing', while Clandeboye led the way with multiple wins at this year's Best Site Cup.
Canterbury farmer Michelle Pye has been elected to Fonterra’s board for a three-year term.
Sitting director Alison Watters was re-elected. The third candidate, Mike Fleming, chair of Fortuna Group Ltd, was unsuccessful.
Elections were held for two director positions – director Andy Macfarlane retired after completing eight years on the board.
Michelle and her husband Leighton have owned and operated Pye Group, a large-scale agricultural business based in Canterbury, for over 23 years. They farm over 7,000 hectares with dairy, cropping, process vegetable, grazing, transport and contracting operations. Pye Group’s dairy business consists of ten farms producing 4.5 million milk solids with a further three farms to be added to the group next season.
Michelle has recently been re-elected for a second term as a councillor for Timaru District Council. She is also a director of Potatoes NZ and the chair of The Potato Seed Co-op Ltd. Previously Michelle has been a member of the Fonterra Co-operative Council where she was a committee chair. She was also an inaugural member of the Fonterra Sustainability Advisory Panel.
In the Co-operative Council elections, David Beuth and Tom Houston were elected from Northern Bay of Plenty and Eastern Bay of Plenty wards respectively.
In seven other Co-operative Council wards where elections were due, nominees were elected unopposed.
The councillors in these wards are:
Ward 5 – Hauraki - Ryan Burton
Ward 8 – South Waikato - Wynn Brown
Ward 9 – King Country - Paulette Johns
Ward 14 – Coastal Taranaki - Anne Bridges
Ward 15 – Southern Taranaki - Shirley Kissick
Ward 20 – North Canterbury - Patrick Whittle
Ward 23 – Otago - Larry Frost
Kissick and Whittle are new councillors; the remainder of the above group are re-elected incumbents.
Two Canadian spraying experts, Tom Wolf and Jason Deveau, are visiting New Zealand in early August to ensure that arable growers are hitting the target with this key piece of equipment.
Otago Southland Young Farmer Tom Slee has been crowned the Season 58 FMG Young Farmer of the Year after an outstanding performance at the Grand Final in New Plymouth, the first time the event has been held in the region.
New Zealand's red meat sector says it welcomes the Government's focus on trade ahead of the general election in November.
Two year 10 students from Putaruru College and John Paul College in Waikato Bay of Plenty have been crowned the 2026 FMG Junior Young Farmer of the Year at the competition's Grand Final in New Plymouth.
With the New Zealand/India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) dominating political debate here, India Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting New Zealand next week.
Michelle and Tony Roberts didn't inherit the farming business they have today. They’ve built it from the ground up.
OPINION: No one messes around with Winston Peters, more so in a general election year.
OPINION: Staying on Federated Farmers, this week's annual general meeting in Auckland is shaping up to be an interesting one.