Friday, 12 April 2019 11:37

Restraints on Fonterra's growth

Written by  Pam Tipa
Fonterra director Brent Goldsack. Fonterra director Brent Goldsack.

Growth has been debated at the Fonterra board table and the directors’ view now is that the co-op will not see the huge growth of the past, says director Brent Goldsack.

Environmental constraints could be the limiting factor.

“Things around water and nutrients: we will get a very good handle on that,” he told the Northland Dairy Development Trust’s annual meeting in Whangarei last week. 

“But as we look at gases – whether methane or nitrous oxide -- that’s much harder.” 

Methane may be a little easier but generally it gets harder, Goldsack said.

Over 35 years production has increased threefold but the co-op won’t be getting that growth in the future, he says. With genetics and science he is confident farming will consistently improve. 

“As a board I think we are saying [growth] is probably going to be relatively flat — certainly for the foreseeable future.”

Goldsack says he is worried at the prospect of a payout of $7/kgMS or better next year because at that price people start getting ahead of themselves and do things they later regret.

“The Europeans, the Americans… they would much rather be where we are today and this is our third year in the mid $6/kgMS. It’s been a nice spot for the co-op over the last three years.”

More like this

Winston's crusade

OPINION: A short-term sugar hit. That's what NZ First leader Winston Peters is calling the proposed sale of Fonterra's consumer and associated businesses.

Featured

AgriSIMA 2026 Paris machinery show cancelled

With the current situation in the European farm machinery market being described as difficult at best, it’s perhaps no surprise that the upcoming AgriSIMA 2026 agricultural machinery exhibition, scheduled for February 2026 at Paris-Nord Villepinte, has been cancelled.

NZ tractor sales show signs of recovery – TAMA

As we move into the 2025/26 growing season, the Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA) reports that the third quarter results for the year to date is showing that the stagnated tractor market of the last 18 months is showing signs of recovery.

National

Machinery & Products

New pick-up for Reiter R10 merger

Building on experience gained during 10 years of making mergers/ windrowers, Austrian company Reiter has announced the secondgeneration pick-up on…

Krone EasyCut B1250 fold

In 2024, German manufacturer Krone introduced the F400 Fold, a 4m wide disc front mower, featuring end modules that hinge…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Microplastics problem

OPINION: Microplastics are turning up just about everywhere in the global food supply, including in fish, cups of tea, and…

Job cuts

OPINION: At a time when dairy prices are at record highs, no one was expecting the world's second largest dairy…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter