Thursday, March 28, 2024

My Daily Digest: November 4, 2020

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Shareholders’ Council future to be decided at Fonterra’s AGM Fonterra’s annual meeting is being held in Masterton on Thursday, with most of the interest focused on proposed changes to the co-op’s Shareholders’ Council.
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Lumsden farmer Tony Paterson, who will appear at the meeting in person, is disappointed with the council’s performance and has three resolutions before the meeting for farmers to vote on.

In a nutshell, he wants the council to be restricted to its constitutional duties only, for its budget to be cut by $1 million and for it to utilise external expert advice to review Fonterra’s performance.

Paterson is fairly confident he will get the 50% of farmer votes he needs for his proposal to pass and it’s fair to say there’s been plenty of shareholder dissatisfaction with the council in recent years.

However, it remains to be seen whether now the co-op itself is turning around its financial performance and how strong support for Paterson will be, especially given that the council has already said changes are likely to address many farmer concerns.

Colin Williscroft

 

Fonterra’s new directors announced

Fonterra's farmer-shareholders have re-elected one-term director Brent Goldsack to the board and added corporate law high-flier Cathy Quinn to the top table on her second time of asking.

 

Hoggard elected to international dairy board

Earlier this week representatives of more than 40 dairy producing countries, representing over 75% of global milk production, elected new and returning representatives to the IDF board and committees, with Andrew Hoggard elected as the sole farmer representative on the governing board.

 

No vote a missed opportunity for hemp industry

The no vote majority in the referendum asking whether to legalise cannabis usage in New Zealand has been called a missed opportunity by New Zealand Hemp Industries Association chair Richard Barge.

 

EQC makes deal to simplify claims

The road to recovery following a natural disaster has been made more straightforward through a new Earthquake Commission and private insurers partnership.

 

NZ challenges US farm subsidies

New Zealand is questioning whether Donald Trump’s payments of billions of dollars to American farmers go beyond the limits allowed under international trade rules.

 

 

Tonight on Sarah’s Country:  

7:10pm – How do we lift sustainable farming practices for New Zealand cropping farmers? The Foundation for Arable Research’s project manager Anna Heslop discusses the new MPI funded Growers Leading Change program. 

7:20pm – The 2021 Nuffield scholars were released last night, but how will they navigate their global research with covid-related travel restrictions? Rural Leaders chief executive Chris Parsons joins us. 

7:30 pm – How do we drive demand for New Zealand deer velvet with so much global uncertainty? Deer Industry NZ’s Velvet marketing manager Rhys Griffiths explains.  

7:40 pm – The new Minister for Conservation Kiri Allan shares insight on how farming, hunting, and conservation will look over the next term.

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