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Federated Farmers dairy chairman Andrew Hoggard says as shareholder of Fonterra he’s heard “didley squat” about the US cheese licence saga.
He’s also unimpressed by Fonterra’s “lack of contrition”.
Speaking as a shareholder of Fonterra and not in his capacity as a Fed Farmers board member, Hoggard says he and other farmers are disappointed and not amused at the “mistake”.
“Dairy farmers are facing all sorts of challenges right now including the drought and prospect of a low payout,” he told Dairy News.
“This is not what they want to hear. In the big scheme of things the loss is not big and won’t materially impact badly on farmers. But it’s a morale deflater, one of those things you don’t want to hear. You want to hear the co-op is making smart decisions and that everyone is on their game; you don’t want to see dumb little things like this happening.”
Hoggard says people in Fonterra are being paid some “serious money” to get these things right.
“Fonterra [might] have flicked an email out to shareholders saying ‘sorry we stuffed up; this is bad, forgive us and it won’t happen again’ but I haven’t seen anything and that doesn’t impress me.”
Hoggard says Fonterra’s mistake could result from recent restructuring.
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Despite the turmoil in global markets, Fonterra is continuing with a dual track process to divest its multi-billion dollars consumer businesses.
Fonterra says the US continues to be an important market for New Zealand dairy and the co-op.
Fonterra has named Elizabeth (Liz) Coutts the chair of Mainland Group, the proposed divestment entity of the co-operative’s consumer business.
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