Four Candidates Confirmed for Fonterra Board Election
Four candidates have been confirmed for two director positions on Fonterra’s board.
Fonterra will reduce its board from 11 to 9 at the completion of the 2024 annual general meeting.
This follows a vote at today’s AGM, where 88.5% of shareholders voted in support of the change.
Fonterra chair Peter McBride says that Fonterra can now move into the 2024 director elections with certainty.
“Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote. The transition to a board of nine, comprising of six farmer elected directors and three appointed directors, will be completed at the conclusion of the 2024 annual meeting, 12 months from now.”
A counter proposal by Kaikohe farmer Richard Dampney to reduce only elected directors on the board wasn’t passed. Each of his four remits garnered only between 15% and 18% of votes.
Dampney told Rural News that he isn’t surprised at the result.
He claims Fonterra’s board and Co-operative Council stonewalled him.
“They killed my remits before they could even get off the ground,” he says.
“My remits were quite similar to Fonterra’s remit, but they told shareholders to vote against my remits.”
A proposal to increase director fees was passed by 76% support and another to boost councillors’ allowance passed with 77% support.
Independent directors Bruce Hassall and Holly Kramer were re-elected for another term.
A major move is about to get underway to improve the quality and viability of dairy beef and cattle in NZ.
Veterinarians say changes to the code of welfare for dairy cattle provides a positive foundation for improved cattle welfare across the country.
Today, 15 October, is the International Day of Rural Women, which recognises rural women’s contribution to farming, communities and the environment.
Global dairy giant Lactalis has integrated its Australian operations with the Mainland Dairy consumer business it acquired from Fonterra earlier this year.
After almost two decades of sharemilking, saving and building equity, Aaron and Marcia Flay this year realised their long-held dream of settling on their first dairy farm.
Good medium to long term prospects for NZ beef, especially in the US, has heighted the focus on various initiatives to capitalise on this situation.

OPINION: The same mainstream media muppets that brought you Jacindamania in 2017 have been flat out pimping for the Opportunities…
OPINION: Your old mate reckons the atrocious way farmers in the UK are treated by their lords and masters in…