PM opens new Power Farming facility
Morrinsville based Power Farming Group has launched a flagship New Zealand facility in partnership with global construction manufacturer JCB Construction.
Power Farming Group, the family-owned Morrinsville business, has a deal with SDF Italia to exclusively distribute Deutz-Fahr tractors in the US.
The company says that having successfully grown Deutz-Fahr in Australia and New Zealand for a decade, this ambitious expansion is a logical step in its evolution.
Says executive chairman Geoff Maber, “We believe we can replicate our past success in the biggest market of them all – America, where in most years at least 220,000 tractors are sold.”
“We have the people, resources, systems and recipe to take Deutz-Fahr to the next level in the US market. Also, the German pedigree of Deutz-Fahr tractors and their focus on quality and innovation over recent years has resulted in a remarkable transformation, and that is also a big factor in our decision to extend beyond Australasia.”
PFG America will be headquartered in Atlanta with satellite operations in California. The new business is headed by Craig Maber, who has already relocated to Atlanta with his family.
Power Farming, said to be the largest business of its type in the southern hemisphere, goes back three generations to its founding in 1946 when the late Laurie Maber formed the Maber Motors in Morrinsville.
The group operates as four main trading entities: Power Farming NZ in wholesale distribution in NZ, Power Farming Retail retailing in NZ, and Power Farming Australia and Power Farming America, both wholesaling in the respective countries.
Collectively it has annual turnover of $400 million, employs 400 people and has distribution hubs in Morrinsville, Christchurch, Brisbane, Melbourne and Atlanta.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says New Zealand has no intention of backing down in a trade dispute with Canada over dairy products.
There have been leadership changes at the Hamilton-based Dairy Goat Co-operative, which has been struggling financially in recent years.
Horticulture NZ chief executive Nadine Tunley will step down in August.
OPINION: In recent years farmers have been crying foul of unworkable and expensive regulations.
Another 16 commercial beef farmers have been selected to take part in the Informing New Zealand Beef (INZB) programme designed to help drive the uptake of genetics in the industry.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Kiwi exporters will be $100 million better off today as the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) comes into force.