Why Fonterra accepted defeat in the dairy aisle
OPINION: Fonterra's sale of its consumer dairy business to Lactalis is a clear sign of the co-operative’s failure to compete in the branded consumer market.
Read: Fonterra faces ‘crisis of confidence’.
Guiney told Rural News she has filed her defence and is suing the co-op for defamation. The case is set for hearing on September 15.
“Fonterra has managed to conveniently push the defamation case out beyond the elections, keeping me silenced and unable to clear my name in the interim,” she says.
Nominations for three farmer-elected seats are open; three sitting directors — Nicola Shadbolt, Ashley Waugh and co-op chairman John Wilson — are retiring by rotation.
They may all stand for re-election if they wish; none has so far announced any intention.
The independent nomination process will be run first, with nominations needing to have been received by the returning officer by July 23. The self-nomination process where farmers can put themselves forward as a candidate for the board outside the independent nomination process runs from September 10 to 20.
The returning officer will confirm all candidates on Monday, September 24.
Legal battle resumes
Leonie Guiney, who is embroiled in litigation with Fonterra over alleged confidential board information leaked to the media, heads back to court on September 15 for a substantive hearing.
Fonterra obtained an injunction against media outlets publishing ‘confidential information’ which it claimed they had obtained from Guiney.
“The media and myself remain in a position where no one knows what the so-called ‘confidential information’ is that they are not allowed to report,” she says.
However, there is no law against people offering their opinions in NZ, she adds. “This is particularly true for co-op members offering input into their own cooperative which, perhaps some forget, exists to serve its members’ interests,” says Guiney.
She believes Fonterra can succeed as a co-op, but doesn’t rule out the current leadership pushing for a market float of the co-op, with shares and milk supply delinked to demutualise the co-op.
“We must put leadership in place that shows respect for farmer capital and can articulate the cooperative solutions with a simpler strategy.
“Those options exist and that conversation needs to be out there; the defensive ‘oh we had some bad luck in China but everyone does’ arguments are unsustainable.”
