Make the right decision, Peters urges Fonterra farmers
New Zealand First leader and Foreign Minister Winston Peters is ratcheting up pressure on Fonterra farmers as they vote on divesting the co-operative’s consumer and related businesses.
Fonterra says milk collection in the South Island in March was 7% below last season.
The co-op collected 60 million kgMS in the South Island; soil moisture remains low across most South Island dairying regions.
“Scattered rain in March was not enough to ease the irrigation restrictions many farmers are still facing and extremely dry conditions continue to affect pasture growth rates,” the co-op says in its monthly global dairy update.
North Island collection in March reached 80 million kgMS, in line with March last season.
Fonterra says rain in March, consistent with long-term averages, supported for milk volumes. However, dry conditions remain across most dairying regions and follow-up rain is needed to hold milk production in line with last season over the coming months.
In Australia, milk collection for the nine months to March 31 reached 100 million kgMS, 6% higher than the same period last season.
Milk collection in March reached 9mkgMS, 9% ahead of March last season. Most dairying regions, Tasmania in particular, received some rain, favouring pasture growth. Western Victoria produced much more than last season and Tasmania is tracking in line with last season.
Meanwhile milk production worldwide has been subdued, Fonterra says.
EU production in January was in line with the same month last year, the first month since June 2013 with no growth in milk production. Ireland had the largest decrease, down 14%. Only the UK and Poland grew production in January.
US production in January increased 2% over January 2014. This increase was below market expectations and affected by reduced production in the major dairy states California, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Argentina and Uruguay production data for January is not complete. Production in December decreased 1% over the same month last year.
Australian production in January increased 1% over January 2014. Production decreased in Victoria but increased 7% in Tasmania.
Meanwhile, New Zealand exports in January increased 3% over January 2014.
This was driven by SMP and AMF increasing 25% and cheese increasing 21%. But WMP decreased 10% to 137,000 tonnes.
Australian exports in January decreased 3% over January 2014. Increases in most major dairy categories including SMP, fluid and fresh dairy, cheese and whey powder were offset by a large decrease in WMP, down 62%.
EU exports in December increased 8%; US exports in January decreased 22% over January 2014.
Dignitaries from all walks of life – the governor general, politicians past and present, Maoridom- including the Maori Queen, church leaders, the primary sector and family and friends packed Our Lady of Kapiti’s Catholic church in Paraparaumu on Thursday October 23 to pay tribute to former prime Minister, Jim Bolger who died last week.
Agriculture and Forestry Minister, Todd McClay is encouraging farmers, growers, and foresters not to take unnecessary risks, asking that they heed weather warnings today.
With nearly two million underutilised dairy calves born annually and the beef price outlook strong, New Zealand’s opportunity to build a scalable dairy-beef system is now.
Graduates of a newly-updated Agri-Women’s Development Trust (AWDT) course are taking more value than ever from the programme, with some even walking away calling themselves the “farm CFO”.
Meet the Need, a farmer-led charity, says food insecurity in New Zealand is dire, with one in four children now living in a household experiencing food insecurity, according to Ministry of Health data.
Applications have now opened for the 2026 Meat Industry Association scholarships.
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