Buttery prize
OPINION: Westland Milk may have won the contract to supply butter to Costco NZ but Open Country Dairy is having the last laugh when it comes to cashing in on NZ grass-fed butter.
NZ’s second-biggest dairy processing company says it is taking a pragmatic and cautious approach, as it deals with the impact of COVID-19.
In the latest TalkMilk newsletter to shareholders, Open Country Dairy (OCD) chairman Laurie Margrain says the company’s balance sheet is in an ‘extremely conservative position’ and it will continue to preserve capital.
However, he says this does not mean OCD will not consider investments that will ‘enhance the future capacity of the business to perform strongly and pay suppliers well’.
Margrain adds that the company’s approach has always been to value capital highly and only invest when it can see clear and obvious benefits to all stakeholders – including its farmer suppliers.
“That being the case, we are taking a very cautious approach to the investment plans we currently have,” he explains. “We have continued to make all the required preparations for those investments, but we are being cautious for now.”
Margrain says paying farmer suppliers earlier than other dairy companies remains the company’s paramount focus.
“We were pleased to do so again in late March,” he wrote. “Your financial health is important and working to benefit your cash flows is our priority.”
Meanwhile, Margrain told farmer supplier it was pointless trying to predict the timeframe and steps of the current COVID-19 situation.
“We can only control what we can, have belief in the fact we will come out of this and do your best for New Zealand.”
He says dairy farmers may even get to enjoy the fact that the sector is now getting more credit for the positive aspects of its importance to New Zealand.
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.
DairyNZ says its plantain programme continues to deliver promising results, with new data confirming that modest levels of plantain in pastures reduce nitrogen leaching, offering farmers a practical, science-backed tool to meet environmental goals.
'Common sense' cuts to government red tape will make it easier for New Zealand to deliver safe food to more markets.
OPINION: Should cows in NZ be microchipped?
OPINION: Legislation being drafted to bring back the controversial trade of live animal exports by sea is getting stuck in the…