LIC ends year with $30.6m profit
Herd improvement company LIC has ended the 2024-25 financial year in a strong position - debt-free and almost quadrupling its net profit.
Northland farmer Ken Hames has been elected to the Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC) board.
Hames, elected following a shareholder election, will serve a four-year term effective 1 June 2019.
Ken and his wife Janine have a dairy equity partnership at Wellsford as well as a beef farm at Paparoa. Ken has been involved in farming for more than 30 years and has held previous governance roles at Northland Beef + Lamb Council, Northpower Ltd and West Coast Energy Ltd.
He holds a Bachelor of Agriculture from Massey University and has completed many agriculture and governance related courses such as the Fonterra Governance Development Programme.
LIC board chairman Murray King said the appointment is a reflection of Ken’s professional and farming expertise.
“Strong,effective governance of LIC is critical to protect and grow the co-operative for our shareholders. Ken has extensive governance experience particularly in areas of strategy, risk management and investment analysis, which will serve him well in his new role.
“Having lived and farmed in Northland all his life, Ken brings a strong and capable representation of Northern region farmers to the Board.”
Ken Hames, replaces long-standing LIC director of 19 years, Murray Jagger, who will retire at the end of May.
King thanked Jagger for his contribution to LIC and the dairy industry.
“Murray has been an instrumental voice on the Board, ensuring the best interests of New Zealand dairy farmers were always at the forefront of discussion.
“He is innately passionate about the industry with a deep empathy and understanding of farmers. On behalf of the Board, I wish him all the best for the next chapter.”
North Canterbury pig farmer Steve Sterne has been honoured with NZ Pork's Outstanding Contribution Award, recognising his 27 years of dedication to excellence in the sector.
Hawke's Bay's loss is Canterbury's gain with the opening of a new state-of-the-art soil testing laboratory for the Ravensdown subsidiary ARL (Analytical Research Laboratories) at Rolleston.
The Taranaki region is enjoying one of the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita figures in New Zealand, thanks to high farmgate dairy prices.
Fertiliser co-operative Ravensdown is working on delivering a rebate for its farmer shareholders next year - the first in four years.
New Zealand avocado growers have received a major boost by securing a collective FernMark Licence for their exports.
Beef + Lamb NZ's countrywide director roadshow arrived in Feilding last week, bringing with it ongoing positivity in the sector, an overview of the work B+LNZ does on behalf of levypayers and a proposed change on how the levy would be collected in the future.
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