Fonterra chair Peter McBride with Leonie Guiney, who retired after serving nine years on the board.

At Fonterra's recent annual meeting in New Plymouth, chair Peter McBride spoke on the co-op's changing global operating context and how to manage risk. Here's some of what he said.

Carbon tax

OPINION: A group of University of Auckland academics claim a carbon tax is the most effective way for New Zealand to cut emissions while supporting a stable economy.

Farmer fury

OPINION: The new Labour Government in the UK is facing the wrath of farmers. Last week thousands of farmers and their supporters converged in London protesting changes to inheritance tax for farmers announced in the Budget.

Outflanked

OPINION: Greenpeace tried its best to disrupt Fonterra’s annual meeting at a hotel in New Plymouth earlier this month, but they were outflanked by a formidable team of Fonterra staff, security officers and Taranaki police.

Koru-koi

OPINION: Call it what you want, a hikoi, a car-koi or a koru-koi, the recent protest march against Act's Treaty Principles Bill has been exposed now for what it was  - a publicity stunt for and by the Maori Party.

Chinese strategy

OPINION: Fonterra may have sold its dairy farms in China but the appetite for collaboration with the country remains strong.

Not fair

OPINION: The Listener's latest piece on winter grazing among Southland dairy farmers leaves much to be desired.

Trade Minister Todd McClay

OPINION: The dairy industry will  be a major beneficiary of a new free trade deal between NZ and the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC).

Time to reset

OPINION: New Zealand needs a rethink about how banks allocate capital.

ACT MP Mark Cameron says that as a rural New Zealander, he’s tired of having been beaten up by people that do not understand his life.

Primary production select committee chair and ACT MP Mark Cameron recently contributed to the Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Bill - Second Reading in Parliament. Here are excerpts from his speech:

Feed from farmers

OPINION: The country's dairy farmers will now also have a hand in providing free lunch for schools.

OPINION: The abrupt departure of Synlait chief executive Grant Watson could be a sign that Chinese company Bright Dairy, the new majority owner of the listed company, is taking charge.

OPINION: DairyNZ's director elections has seen scientist Jacqueline Rowarth re-elected for another three-year term.

OPINION: Fonterra's chair will be paid nearly $500,000 if shareholders approve a proposal by the directors' remuneration committee.

OPINION: Our hearts go out to the farmers and rural communities in Southland and Otago who are battling an onslaught of adverse weather.

OPINION: Earlier this month, small Waikato milk processor Tatua reminded the country that it’s still number one when it comes to paying farmers for their milk.

OPINION: It was only in 2018 that the Chinese Government embarked on a mission to lift domestic milk production and stop billions of dollars from leaving the country and into the hands of exporters like New Zealand.

OPINION: It seems Greenpeace is upping its long-running but ineffective public campaign against Fonterra.

OPINION: Economists, in their usual excitable tones, have, for a while now, been openly questioning the Reserve Bank’s glacially slow reaction to the recessionary economic conditions we’re all drowning in.

In many parts of the country, dairy farmers have enjoyed favourable growing conditions throughout winter and spring, leading to reduced use of stored and imported feed and higher-than-expected production to date.

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Carbon tax

OPINION: A group of University of Auckland academics claim a carbon tax is the most effective way for New Zealand…

Farmer fury

OPINION: The new Labour Government in the UK is facing the wrath of farmers. Last week thousands of farmers and…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter