Editorial: Punching Above Our Weight
OPINION: With 10,500 dairy farms, New Zealand continues to punch above its weight around the world.
Your canine crusader hears that Fonterra’s current financial woes could see the dairy co-op dumping many of its key assets.
It’s well accepted that Fonterra’s investment in Chinese infant formula company Beingmate has been a dog, and the co-op is expected to dump the rest of its stake in the baby food company quicker than the National Party cut loose Jami-Lee Ross. Also expected to go are its poorly performing farms in China.
The Hound understands Fonterra is also looking at quitting its ice cream company Tip Top and is believed to be weighing up a sale of its South American operations.
In South America, media reports estimate Tip Top could be worth about $400 million, while the sale of Fonterra’s South American operation could reap the dairy co-operative $1 billion.
Signing up to a benchmarking tool is not about competition, but about improving collectively, says Ximena Puig and Alvaro Luzardo who are 50-50 sharemilkers at a 164-hectare (effective) dairy farm in Eketāhuna in the Lower North Island.
A leading British farming politician says he's impressed with the positive attitude of New Zealand farmers that he met during his recent trip here.
OPINION: With 10,500 dairy farms, New Zealand continues to punch above its weight around the world.
The Southern Dairy Hub (SDH), which runs a demonstration farm for South Island farmers, has a new general manager.
Esther Guy-Meakin has been announced as the new chief executive of the New Zealand Meat Board (NZMB).
According to a progress report on the Aotearoa Horticulture Action Plan (AHAP), New Zealand's horticulture sector is making real progress on the big issues facing growers.

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