Farmers celebrate Fonterra’s record dividend and profit
Fonterra's record financial results released last week will have "a significant positive impact" on regional communities, says Fonterra Co-operative Council chair John Stevenson.
The Fonterra Co-operative Council is looking for a farmer representative to sit on the Fonterra Milk Price Panel.
Two members of the seven-member panel are nominees of the council: Currently, Fonterra farmer Bill Donaldson and Fred Ohlssen, who is independent of Fonterra, are members.
Council chair John Stevenson says the panel's role and responsibilities are key to overseeing the integrity of Fonterra Farmgate Milk Price.
The successful candidate will succeed Donaldson who has sat on the panel since late 2014. He will remain on the panel until September 2025, providing a transition period for the new council nominee.
"Bill has provided exceptional service to our co-op as a long-term member of the panel," says Stevenson.
The new council nominee will be an observer for the first 12 months and sit alongside Donaldson during that period.
"There's a steep learning curve joining the panel. Starting as an observer will enable our new nominee to contribute more effectively when they become a full member of the panel in September 2025," says Stevenson.
"Council is ideally seeking a dairy farmer supplying Fonterra who has deep on farm dairy experience and a strong understanding of what drives Fonterra's milk price.
"For this appointment it is important to council to target a Fonterra supplying farmer to ensure there continues to be more than one farmer perspective and mindset on the panel, recognising that legislation requires the panel to comprise a majority of members who are independent of Fonterra."
Applications from Fonterra farmers close on 8 July 2024.
The panel consists of an independent chair, David Pilkington, two nominees of the Minister of Agriculture, Professor Hamish Gow and Ming Lim-Pollard, two members who are appointees of the Co-operative Council, Bill Donaldson and Fred Ohlsson, a farmer elected Fonterra director, Leonie Guiney, and an appointed Fonterra director, Bruce Hassall.
The panel oversees the governance of the Farmgate Milk Price and the Milk Price Manual, including changes to the manual and verification by independent external experts of key parameters (such as resource usage rates, product yields and fixed manufacturing costs).
The panel is responsible for:
The Fonterra board is responsible for the forecast of the annual Farmgate Milk Price.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is calling on farmers from all regions to take part in the final season of the Sheep Poo Study aiming to build a clearer picture of how facial eczema (FE) affects farms across New Zealand.
New Zealand is closer to eradicating bovine TB than ever before, but possums remain a threat, says Beef + Lamb New Zealand.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has joined the debate around the proposed sale of Fonterra’s consumer and related businesses, demanding answers from the co-operative around its milk supply deal with the buyer, Lactalis.
The ACT Party says media reports that global dairy giant Nestle has withdrawn from the Dairy Methane Action Alliance shows why New Zealand needs to rethink its approach to climate.
If there was a silver lining in the tragedy that was Cyclone Gabrielle, for New Zealand Young Grower of the Year, Grace Fulford, it was the tremendous sense of community and seeing first-hand what good leadership looks like.
New research could help farmers prepare for a future where summer rainfall is increasingly unpredictable and where drought risk is rising, no matter what.
OPINION: Ageing lefty Chris Trotter reckons that the decision to delay recognition of Palestinian statehood is more than just a fit…
OPINION: A mate of yours truly recently met someone at a BBQ who works at a big consulting firm who spent…