Co-op boosts chilled exports to China
Alliance Group has secured greater access for chilled beef exports to China, following approval for two of its processing plants to supply the market.
Alliance Group shareholders are being urged to vote in the co-op's election of directors.
Shareholders should now all have received voting packs for the election, with six candidates nominated for the two available vacancies on the Alliance Group Board.
Doug Brown of Oamaru and Murray Donald of Winton are retiring by rotation and not seeking re-election, so will retire from the Board in December.
All shareholders can vote in the election, which opened on November 26. Votes can be cast online, by post or by fax and voting closes at 10.30am on Tuesday December 15.
Alliance Group chairman Murray Taggart says the cooperative is encouraging the 5,000 farmer-shareholders to take part in the election.
"This is an opportunity for our shareholders to have their say about the make-up of our board. This election also follows the launch of our business strategy at road-show events across the country in October.
"I know this is a very busy time of the year for farmers, so I would encourage shareholders to vote as soon as possible. Shareholders can vote using the voting papers in the pack and return those by mail or fax. Every pack also contains a log-in and password for shareholders to cast their votes electronically."
The packs have been sent out by electionz.com, the independent election management company helping to run the election. Each contains a voting paper, with instructions how to vote, candidate profile information and reply paid envelope.
electionz.com will also email those shareholders with a known valid email address their individual voting details for voting electronically via the internet.
Any shareholders who have not received their voting pack should contact electionz.com on 0800 666 029 to arrange for one to be sent.
The six candidates are:
Mark Adams (Fairlie)
Stuart Baird (Winton)
Gray Baldwin (Putaruru)
Jared Collie (Dipton)
Jason Miller (Southdown)
Ike Williams (Pleasant Point)
Andy Caughey of Wool Impact says a lot of people in NZ have been saying it's crazy that we are not using natural fibres in our buildings and houses.
Former chief executive of Beef+Lamb New Zealand Scott Champion will head the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) from July.
Avian flu getting into New Zealand's poultry industry is the biosecurity threat that is most worrying for Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard.
The annual domestic utilisation of wool will double to 30,000 tonnes because of the edict that government agencies should use woollen fibre products in the construction of new and refurbished buildings.
Among the regular exhibitors at last month’s South Island Agricultural Field Days, the one that arguably takes the most intensive preparation every time is the PGG Wrightson Seeds site.
Two high producing Canterbury dairy farmers are moving to blended stockfeed supplements fed in-shed for a number of reasons, not the least of which is to boost protein levels, which they can’t achieve through pasture under the region’s nitrogen limit of 190kg/ha.
OPINION: In the same way that even a stopped clock is right twice a day, economists sometimes get it right.
OPINION: The proposed RMA reforms took a while to drop but were well signaled after the election.