Wednesday, 20 December 2023 11:00

Tough times

Written by  The Hound

OPINION: The Hound reckons that Rob “I’ll be chair, I don’t care where”’ Hewett will be looking forward to the Christmas break more than most – despite being named chair of the year at a recent business awards ceremony.

That’s because the two farmer co-ops Hewett chairs have both recently reported losses for the past year.

Silver Fern Farms posted a massive loss of $98 million and the struggling Farmlands a $700k loss.

For the self-confessed big ‘Jacinda fan’ and supposed top-notch businessman this is a pretty poor record.

Meanwhile, it seems the trouble at Farmlands is not just around its poor bottom-line performance but the co-op’s whole business model.

Shareholders, suppliers and customers seem very upset with the direction and ‘reconfiguring’ the business. ‘Chairman Rob’ also has the ongoing disaster that is Wool Impact, which seems to have done bugger all.

More like this

Wrong focus

OPINION: Your old mate reckons townie Brooke van Velden, the Minister of Workplace (or is it Woke Place) Relations is now showing how underemployed she is as a minister by initiating an investigation into whether young children should be banned from collecting eggs on farms and feeding animals.

Burn the village

OPINION: There's an infamous term coined by a US general during the Vietnam war, specifically in reference to the battle of Ben Tre: "We had to burn the village to save it."

Featured

National

Big day at Clash of the Colleges

Craighead Diocesan, Darfield High School and Christchurch Boys' High School took out the three age groups at the Canterbury Clash…

Machinery & Products

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Sugar hit

OPINION: Winston Peters has described the decision to sell its brand to Lactalis and disperse the profit to its farmer…

Wrong focus?

OPINION: The Hound reckons a big problem with focusing too much on the wrong goal - reducing livestock emissions at…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter