Dairy unity
OPINION: A last-minute compromise ensured that the election of the new Federated Farmers national dairy chair wasn't a repeat of the Super 15 rugby final - Canterbury versus Waikato.
OPINION: Fears of a summer without a daily swim have been doused in Tangiteroria, near Whangarei, after Fonterra Kauri filled the community pool as a donation.
The pool at Tangiteroria School had been empty since the local fire brigade used the water to combat a blaze that destroyed the Tangiteroria Sports Complex in January this year.
With the school unable to weather the cost of filling the pool from their bore and then treating the water with expensive chemicals and lacking rainwater in its tanks, the pool had sat empty all winter.
On November 6, Fonterra filled the pool with five truckloads of clean water, or roughly 160,000 litres. It took one truck most of a day, going back and forth from Tangiteroria and the Fonterra Kauri plant.
Questions are being raised about just how good the state of the dairy industry is - especially given that the average farmgate payout for the coming season is set to exceed $10/kgMS.
A leading financial and banking advisor says he doubts if most dairy farmers fully understand the dynamics of banking.
Dairy farmers are shoring up their balance sheets, with almost $1.7 billion of debt repaid in the six months to March 2025.
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A former Fonterra executive is the new chair of the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ).
New Federated Farmers national dairy chair Karl Dean is looking forward to tackling the issues facing the sector.