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OPINION: Your old mate wonders why there has not been a whole lot of gnashing of teeth and wailing from the xenophobes – more commonly known as failing political party NZ First – about a Canadian pension fund buying a major stake in New Zealand’s biggest corporate dairy farmer, Dairy Holdings.
According to company records, Sooke Investments, a subsidiary of giant Quebec public service pension fund manager PSP Investments, bought 24.9% of South Island-based company, following the exit of an investor – owned by JD & RD Wallace Ltd and former National Government Minster John Luxton.
Dairy Holdings other major shareholders remain two NZ farming families – Colin and Dale Armer and Murray and Margaret Turley. The Ashburton-based company is Fonterra’s biggest shareholder.
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.
