Failed milk plant not so happy in the valley
The company behind a failed milk plant project in Otorohanga faces de-registration in New Zealand next week.
After struggling for years to secure capital, a proposed greenfield milk plant project in King Country has collapsed.
The Happy Valley Nutrition board went into voluntary administration last week.
Advisory and restructuring firm McGrathNicol says the Happy Valley board has appointed Andrew Grenfell and Kare Johnstone as voluntary administrators.
It says the administrators are undertaking an urgent review of HVNL. Further updates will be provided in due course.
The first statutory meeting of creditors is expected to take place on July 18.
"A meeting notice setting out the time and location for the first meeting of the creditors will be distributed to HVNL's creditors over the coming days," it says.
HVNL was set up in 2016 to develop the milk plant.
While the company had acquired land at Otorohanga and had obtained resource consents from the Otorohanga District Council and Waikato Regional Council, it failed to secure funding for the project.
One of the HVNL founders and key backers Randolph van der Burgh, who resigned from the board in May, wouldn't comment.
"I am no longer an HVN director and therefore I am not able, nor authorised, to comment," he told Dairy News.
Farmlands says that improved half-year results show that the co-op’s tight focus on supporting New Zealand’s farmers and growers is working.
Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ) says that discovery of a male Oriental fruit fly on Auckland’s North Shore is a cause for concern for growers.
Fonterra says its earnings for the 2025 financial year are anticipated to be in the upper half of its previously forecast earnings range of 40-60 cents per share.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is having another crack at increasing the fees of its chair and board members.
Livestock management tech company Nedap has launched Nedap New Zealand.
An innovative dairy effluent management system is being designed to help farmers improve on-farm effluent practices and reduce environmental impact.
OPINION: Australian dairy is bracing for the retirement of an iconic dairy brand.
OPINION: Another sign that the plant-based dairy fallacy is unravelling and that nothing beats dairy-based products.