increase font size
Former Fonterra director Leonie Guiney and husband Kieran at the co-op’s AGM in New Plymouth this month.
Departing Fonterra director Leonie Guiney is urging the next generation of co-operative farmers to step up and be there to lead in future.
Speaking at the co-op's annual meeting in New Plymouth this month, the Canterbury farmer notes that Fonterra's future is dependent on the efforts of its farmer shareholders.
She also urged Fonterra leaders to be humble or risk losing the good work done in the past few years to turn the co-op around.
"I will flag a risk, to both board and management. Recent performance has been very good. Often success is the hardest thing to manage forward.
"The day any of us considers ourselves individually responsible for good outcomes, we risk running aground," Guiney says.
She points out that domestic competition shouldn't distract the co-op from a focus on its global exposures and opportunities.
"The competition will eat our lunch if our overheads aren’t further reigned in, and if farmers don’t retain their ability to ride the cycles with a competitive position on the global cost curve.
“But enough good brains with business acumen and experience and the right reasons for being there – which is to serve – will help management get the most important decisions right for the owners.
“To that end I encourage the next generation of farmers to step up and be there to lead in future. Fonterra’s future is dependent on its business- savvy suppliers, with skin in the game, being prepared to determine your own future.”
Guiney, who served nine years on the board, is the first and only incumbent in Fonterra’s history to be removed by any means other than a farmer vote. She served between 2014 to 2017 but then failed to gain approval to stand again through the co-op’s selection process. However, the following year, she stood again and was elected by farmer shareholders. Guiney finished her tenure at the coop’s annual meeting this month.
Guiney says she’s not worried about Fonterra’s future.
“Not in this wonderful temperate climate that enjoys outstanding comparative advantage in the production of very highquality sustainable protein. Complemented by our sharemilking system that attracts entrepreneurs to our industry and our scaled co-op with genuine advantage in ingredients innovation, foodservice and market access. I am personally so very happy to be a NZ dairy farmer.”
Guiney says she’ll miss the privilege of steering something that is so important for the outcomes of farmers and NZ
She thanked farmers from Northland to Southland for backing her and trusting her intent.
“I will also miss every one of my colleagues. I am so very happy for Fonterra that I can say that, because it speaks of a culture that will keep delivering for all our stakeholders.”
Guiney says Fonterra is in a good position today.
“The growing confidence in Fonterra that I observe from farmers and the business community, I consider to be well placed.
“It’s been a journey to get Fonterra to that place, and it is imperative that Fonterra has learned where we went wrong in the past.
“A focus on the appearance of value at the expense of actual value was at the root of our poor past outcomes.
“Add to that a strategy misaligned from our core advantages, and an absence of risk-adjusted thinking in investment, made for expensive errors.
“Most businesses will make some poor decisions. Good governance owns its errors in a timely manner thereby minimising further damage to shareholders’ equity. Fonterra did not do that in the past and that was a governance failure we cannot repeat.”
Guiney also thanked her husband Kieran and children for their sacrifice and support.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has joined the debate around the proposed sale of Fonterra’s consumer and related businesses, demanding answers from the co-operative around its milk supply deal with the buyer, Lactalis.
OPINION: Farmer shareholders of two of New Zealand's largest co-operatives have an important decision to make this month and what they decide could change the landscape of the dairy and meat sectors in New Zealand.
OPINION: As CEO of the Dairy Board in the 1980s I was fortunate to work with a team of experienced and capable executives who made most of the brand investments that created the international consumer business Fonterra inherited. Soprole in Chile was the largest, but there were more than 20 countries where consumer marketing companies were established and Anchor and other brands were successfully launched.
Fonterra has delivered a fifth straight year of record organic milk price for farmer suppliers.
Fonterra says favourable weather conditions supporting pasture growth is boosting milk production.
Like many manufacturers around the world, European agricultural machinery and tractor manufacturers are currently operating in a difficult market environment. But they are heading to the world’s largest agricultural machinery event in Hanover next month with a degree of cautious optimism.
Established in 2021, the John Deere Technician of the Year Awards champion the important contribution parts and service technicians make to the Australian and New Zealand agriculture, construction and forestry industries.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is calling on farmers from all regions to take part in the final season of the Sheep Poo Study aiming to build a clearer picture of how facial eczema (FE) affects farms across New Zealand.
New Zealand is closer to eradicating bovine TB than ever before, but possums remain a threat, says Beef + Lamb New Zealand.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has joined the debate around the proposed sale of Fonterra’s consumer and related businesses, demanding answers from the co-operative around its milk supply deal with the buyer, Lactalis.
The ACT Party says media reports that global dairy giant Nestle has withdrawn from the Dairy Methane Action Alliance shows why New Zealand needs to rethink its approach to climate.
OPINION: Dairy industry players are also falling by the wayside as the economic downturn bites around the country.
OPINION: Methane Science Accord, a farmer-led organisation advocating for zero tax on ruminant methane, will be quietly celebrating its first…
