MSA triumph
OPINION: Methane Science Accord, a farmer-led organisation advocating for zero tax on ruminant methane, will be quietly celebrating its first foray into fertiliser co-operative governance.
Ravensdown’s 2022 Integrated Report, published today, has revealed a 12% reduction in carbon emissions from fertiliser against the previous year.
The report tracks the co-operative’s performance against its strategic objectives.
The co-operative has produced the annual integrated reports since the 2018/19 financial year.
Ravensdown chair Bruce Wills says the company successfully overcame a wide range of challenges to help farmers and growers.
“Farmers and growers are both our customers and shareholders. They sit at the heart of everything we do. For our customers we supply the right amount of farm nutrients, and the right products and solutions to optimise production, while mitigating the impacts of land use on the environment.”
Wills says Ravensdown ended the year in a healthy financial position.
“In the face of global pressure on supply, and domestic incentives for environmental improvement, we leveraged long held and nurtured relationships to minimise supply disruption, while continuing to invest in services that support farmers,” he says.
Ravensdown chief executive Garry Diack says the co-operative has a clear focus on its vision statement: ‘Smarter Farming for a better New Zealand’.
“For us ‘good’ is meeting and exceeding our progressive pursuit of this vision. We do that on a sustained, planned basis, sharing that pursuit with all those who invest in us, work with us, work for us, use our products and services, and all those in society who live with the impacts of our endeavours.
“As proud as we are of our excellent company, there is still much to do to ensure our good performance remains aligned with, and where we can, leads in the fast-changing environment in which our farmers and growers operate.”
Meat co-operative, Alliance has met with a group of farmer shareholders, who oppose the sale of a controlling stake in the co-op to Irish company Dawn Meats.
Rollovers of quad bikes or ATVs towing calf milk trailers have typically prompted a Safety Alert from Safer Farms, the industry-led organisation dedicated to fostering a safer farming culture across New Zealand.
The Government has announced it has invested $8 million in lower methane dairy genetics research.
A group of Kiwi farmers are urging Alliance farmer-shareholders to vote against a deal that would see the red meat co-operative sell approximately $270 million in shares to Ireland's Dawn Meats.
In a few hundred words it's impossible to adequately describe the outstanding contribution that James Brendan Bolger made to New Zealand since he first entered politics in 1972.
Dawn Meats is set to increase its proposed investment in Alliance Group by up to $25 million following stronger than forecast year-end results by Alliance.