Editorial: Punching Above Our Weight
OPINION: With 10,500 dairy farms, New Zealand continues to punch above its weight around the world.
Matt Shirtcliffe, creative director Shirtcliffe & Co (right) and Michelle Thompson, chief executive RHANZ, with the mini tankers at the Fonterra Farm Source Store in Cambridge.
The sale of milk tanker miniatures by Fonterra Farm Source stores is generating cash to help support rural mental health projects run by Rural Health Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand (RHANZ).
From September 1 each mini Fonterra tanker sold has yielded $10 for RHANZ community projects.
RHANZ chief executive Michelle Thompson says improving mental health in rural communities is a priority for its 38 RHANZ member groups.
"There is increasing concern about the pressure building on farming families and the health providers who look after them. So when Fonterra Farm Source said they would give us $10 from each mini tanker sale, we were delighted.
"The partnership was announced yesterday at the Fonterra Farm Source Cambridge store and particularly we thank Shelley Cresswell, category marketing manager Farm Source and Matt Shirtcliffe, from Shirtcliffe and Co, for making this partnership a reality."
The Mini Fonterra Tankers – available through Farm Source stores and online are limited edition diecast replicas.
"They are cool collectables and would make perfect Christmas presents," Thompson says.
RHANZ chair Dr Jo Scott-Jones commented that with soggy milk prices and difficult weather causing farmers so much pain, it is great to see Fonterra Farm Source helping out.
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