Data sharing initiative wins national award for saving farmers time
The work Fonterra has done with Ballance Agri-Nutrients Ltd, LIC and Ravensdown to save farmers time through better data connections has been recognised with a national award.
All eyes are on China as the country grapples with the deadly coronavirus.
The good news is that the number of new cases confirmed inside the country declined for two days in a row last week. The bad news is that global health officials have warned the coronavirus outbreak that has killed over 2,000 people and sickened more than 75,000 could get worse before it gets better.
For New Zealand exporters, China is a key market: with a two-way trade between NZ and its biggest trading partner was worth $28 billion in 2018 and growing.
For Fonterra, which has a $4 billion business in China, the longer the coronavirus lingers, the bigger the impact on earnings.
Fonterra sells milk powder, butter and cheese to Chinese customers. Infant formula and milk powders have a longer shelf life, so they can endure a longer wait in warehouses. The story is different when it comes to supplying cheese and ingredients to major food service customers.
With movement restricted within China, the food service sector has taken a hit; what impact it would have on Fonterra’s bottom line remains to be seen.
Not all NZ exporters are as fortunate as Fonterra. This month log exports from Gisborne port were put on a six-day hold as the coronavirus spooked exporters, as the Chinese economy was brought to a standstill.
While life is almost at a standstill in some major Chinese cities, people are still eating; food is still being delivered to millions of homes. And people are communicating and chatting on social media platforms.
NZ businesswoman Jane Li says the Chinese Government’s decision to extend Lunar New Year holiday by a week hammered many small businesses.
Her business, which sells NZ dairy products, is operating. Customers are communicating via popular Chinese social media site, WeChat.
Li says things will get back to normal fairly quickly once people are allowed out of quarantine. Most people are more afraid of being stuck at home for too long than from catching the coronavirus.
In the meantime NZ exporters can watch and hope that we will soon see the back of coronavirus.
The longer it lingers around, the worse it could be for the country’s lucrative Chinese business.
Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.
Within the next 10 years, New Zealand agriculture will need to manage its largest-ever intergenerational transfer of wealth, conservatively valued at $150 billion in farming assets.
Boutique Waikato cheese producer Meyer Cheese is investing in a new $3.5 million facility, designed to boost capacity and enhance the company's sustainability credentials.
OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.
Compensation assistance for farmers impacted by Mycoplama bovis is being wound up.
Selecting the reverse gear quicker than a lovestruck boyfriend who has met the in-laws for the first time, the Coalition Government has confirmed that the proposal to amend Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) charged against farm utes has been canned.
OPINION: Years of floods and low food prices have driven a dairy farm in England's northeast to stop milking its…
OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content…