Fonterra trims board size
Fonterra’s board has been reduced to nine - comprising six farmer-elected and three appointed directors.
Fonterra is closing a plant in Victoria as part of a review of its Australian operations. Its manufacturing site at Cororooke will close next year.
Fonterra Ingredients Australia managing director, Simon Bromell says the co-op is also starting a three-year program of investment and upgrades at its manufacturing sites in Victoria.
"To maintain our leading market positions, compete effectively on the world stage and continue to deliver a strong milk price to our farmers, we must ensure our manufacturing sites are efficient and capable of handling the growth we anticipate in the future," he says.
"With that in mind, we have reconfirmed plans to invest $20 million in site upgrades at Cobden and Dennington over the next three years, but we have also had to make the extremely difficult decision to close one site, at Cororooke.
"The Cororooke plant is over 100 years old and needs major upgrades to meet changing environmental and production standards. While our first preference is always to upgrade and maintain our sites, the challenges we face and the barriers to modernising this particular plant mean the most responsible thing to do is close it.
"This has been a tough decision and not one we have reached lightly. We have explored all alternative options to keep the site open but they were not commercially viable. We employ 130 people at Cororooke and supporting these people is our top priority at the moment. We wanted to give our people as much notice as possible, and we are working closely with all employees and their families to support them as we work through a staged closure process over the next year."
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says the relationship between New Zealand and the US will remain strong and enduring irrespective of changing administrations.
More than 200 people turned out on Thursday, November 21 to see what progress has been made on one of NZ's biggest and most comprehensive agriculture research programmes on regenerative agriculture.
The a2 Milk Company (a2MC) says securing more China label registrations and developing its own nutritional manufacturing capability are high on its agenda.
Stellar speakers, top-notch trade sites, innovation, technology and connections are all on offer at the 2025 East Coast Farming Expo being once again hosted in Wairoa in February.
As a guest of the Italian Trade Association, Rural News Group Machinery Editor Mark Daniel took the opportunity to make an early November dash to Bologna to the 46th EIMA exhibition.
Livestock can be bred for lower methane emissions while also improving productivity at a rate greater than what the industry is currently achieving, research has shown.
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