Misguided campaign
OPINION: Last week, Greenpeace lit up Fonterra's Auckland headquarters with 'messages from the common people' - that the sector is polluting the environment.
Fonterra's newest board member Ashley Waugh is looking forward to "quickly becoming a productive member of the board".
Waugh, a former National Foods chief executive, was elected by farmers this week; he replaces Taranaki's Blue Read, who failed in his re-election bid.
Waugh told Dairy News online that he was happy with the result.
"I put in a lot of effort in running my campaign and talking and listening to farmers," he says.
Waugh says his first aim was to get on the board.
"I have achieved that and the second aim is to quickly assimilate and become a productive member of the board."
Waugh farms in Te Awamutu, outside Hamilton.
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford says the 2025 Fieldays has been one of more positive he has attended.
A fundraiser dinner held in conjunction with Fieldays raised over $300,000 for the Rural Support Trust.
Recent results from its 2024 financial year has seen global farm machinery player John Deere record a significant slump in the profits of its agricultural division over the last year, with a 64% drop in the last quarter of the year, compared to that of 2023.
An agribusiness, helping to turn a long-standing animal welfare and waste issue into a high-value protein stream for the dairy and red meat sector, has picked up a top innovation award at Fieldays.
The Fieldays Innovation Award winners have been announced with Auckland’s Ruminant Biotech taking out the Prototype Award.
Following twelve years of litigation, a conclusion could be in sight of Waikato’s controversial Plan Change 1 (PC1).