Rural Vote Debate on Q&A: Substance or Just Platitudes?
It was billed as a chance for all the political parties to woo the rural vote, but question marks hang over just how effective this was.
The continued upward trend of the Global Dairy Trade auction and the modest increase in the payout announced on Wednesday and now Thursday’s positive earnings result from Fonterra should help dairy farmers feel more confident about the future.
Federated Farmers dairy group chair Andrew Hoggard says although the announcements don’t mean farmers will be seeing “cheques in the mail” any time soon, it does mean they can have confidence in the direction of the industry.
"Farmers own Fonterra, and today’s result shows our co-op is performing strongly on the world stage."
It is particularly positive to see the cost-saving programme undertaken by the company has been effective and company debt has been significantly reduced.
"Fonterra’s profits are eventually returned to farmers, and are spent in the New Zealand economy, so this is positive news for all of us," Hoggard says.
