Revamped Fonterra to be ‘more capital-efficient’
Fonterra chair Peter McBride says the divestment of Mainland Group is their last significant asset sale and signals the end of structural changes.
OPINION: One particular bone the Hound has been gnawing on for years now is how the chattering classes want it both ways when it comes to the success of NZ's dairy industry.
When it's bad news - water quality, losses when commodity prices crash, etc. - the loudmouths are very clear that it's "their" (the industry's) problem.
But when they feel domestic butter prices are too high, or that Fonterra shouldn't "sell the family jewels", it's suddenly "our milk" and "our industry".
So, note to those like Helen Clark who suddenly have an opinion on Fonterra's business decisions - this is not China and Fonterra is not the property of some communist bureaucracy, it's a privately owned business.
The only ones who get to decide if they should sell assets are the ones who built those assets with blood, sweat and tears!
When American retail giant Cosco came to audit Open Country Dairy’s new butter plant at the Waharoa site and give the green light to supply their American stores, they allowed themselves a week for the exercise.
Fonterra chair Peter McBride says the divestment of Mainland Group is their last significant asset sale and signals the end of structural changes.
Thirty years ago, as a young sharemilker, former Waikato farmer Snow Chubb realised he was bucking a trend when he started planting trees to provide shade for his cows, but he knew the animals would appreciate what he was doing.
Virtual fencing and herding systems supplier, Halter is welcoming a decision by the Victorian Government to allow farmers in the state to use the technology.
DairyNZ’s latest Econ Tracker update shows most farms will still finish the season in a positive position, although the gap has narrowed compared with early season expectations.
New Zealand’s national lamb crop for the 2025–26 season is estimated at 19.66 million head, a lift of one percent (or 188,000 more lambs) on last season, according to Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s (B+LNZ) latest Lamb Crop report.

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