Fonterra gives $250,000 for wetlands repair
Through its new partnership with New Zealand Landcare Trust, Fonterra has committed to funding ten $25,000 grants for wetland restoration in communities across the country.
Fonterra is investing $150 million on a new cool store at its Whareroa site in Taranaki.
The announcement follows on the heels of two major expansion projects announced by the co-op in recent weeks - $75m at Studholme to create a hub for high value proteins and a new $150m UHT plant at Edendale.
The Whareroa cool store investment will boost storage capacity for cheese by around 5,000 tonnes.
Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell says these investments are about creating value at every point of the value chain for the co-operative.
“Over the past few weeks, Fonterra has announced significant strategic investments to expand and upgrade its operations. Our strong balance sheet is enabling us to invest for future growth and support ongoing delivery of our strategy,” says Hurrell.
“These investments enable us to keep growing our Ingredients and Foodservice businesses as we look to prioritise these channels to create more value for the co-op.”
The new cool store will be the size of three rugby fields (19,000 m2) and store around 26,000 tonnes of cheese.
Fonterra chief operating officer Anna Palairet says these are big investments, which will have a significant impact on the co-op.
“As is always the case when making investment decisions, we carefully consider where to allocate capital to maximise value to farmer shareholders and unit holders over the long-term.”
The new cool store is strategically important, says Palairet, as it will play a crucial role in the resilence of the co-operative’s supply chain.
“Our Whareroa site processes up to 12.5 million litres of milk per day and produces 30% of the co-op’s cheese, along with a number of other products including butter, casein, and powders.
“The Taranaki region is dairy heartland and I’m delighted we’re able to make this significant investment into shoring up our operations at this site, which is one of the largest in our network,” says Palairet.
Construction on the new cool store will begin next month and will take place over two phases to enable the existing building to remain operational.
The expansion is expected to create local employment opportunities and is forecast to take three years to complete.
About Whareroa site
Through its new partnership with New Zealand Landcare Trust, Fonterra has committed to funding ten $25,000 grants for wetland restoration in communities across the country.
The chair of the Dairy Environmental Leaders (DEL) says the country's dairy farmers are at the forefront of environmental management.
On the edge of the hot, dry Takapau plains, Norm and Del Atkins have cultivated a small but exceptional herd of 60 Holstein Friesian cows within their mixed breed herd of 360 dairy cows.
The DairyNZ board and management are currently trying to determine whether, and to what degree, their farmer levy payers will support any increase in their levy contributions.
Milk production is up nationally, despite drought conditions beginning to bite in some districts, according to the latest update from Fonterra.
Dry conditions are widespread but worse in some places, with rain and drought affecting farms just a few kilometres away.
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