Business

Two women deemed to be dedicated and inspiring influences in their dairy communities have won the Dairy Community Leadership Award at the annual Dairy Women’s Network Conference in Invercargill. The Dairy Community Leadership Award is open to all Dairy Women’s Network members and recognises dairying women who make significant contributions in their local community, through leadership and support. The 2015 recipients of the award are Western Southland farmer Jo Sanford and Northern Southland mum Rachael Nicholson. The major prizes awarded  were a leadership course sponsored by calf rearing specialists Milk Bar and an Agri One Sustainability Course sponsored by ASB. Sanford and her husband converted their Tuatapere, Western Southland sheep and beef farm to dairy in 2007, and now milk 800 cows. “Giving back to the community is very important to me and sharing my knowledge, skills and experience gives me huge personal satisfaction,” she says. “I was honoured to be named as a finalist for this award.” Nicholson and her husband Scott started out their farming career 50/50 sharemilking in Riversdale, Northern Southland. They milked on three different farms over seven seasons, growing their herd and building capital with the aim of purchasing their own farm, which they achieved in 2007 and converted in 2008. After having children, Nicholson joined numerous committees as well as Dairy Women’s Network where she became the Gore Regional Group convenor for four years; a role she handed over in 2014. The family have since sold their farm but remained living in the same community, which has freed Nicholson up to be involved in more community groups. She still has her AI tech certificate and leases dairy stock. There were four finalists up for this year’s title, including Te Aroha farmer Tania Earnshaw and Western Southland farmer Katrina Thomas. The selection panel for the […]

Federated Farmers national board member and provincial president Katie Milne of Rotomanu, Lake Brunner, West Coast, has been named the 2015 Dairy Woman of the Year at the Dairy Women’s Network conference gala dinner in Invercargill. Milne farms with her partner at Rotomanu, Lake Brunner catchment on the West Coast of the South Island. They have a small high BW Jersey herd of 200 cows. On a separate run-off the couple rear replacement heifer calves and run a localised contracting operation making silage pits, hay, baleage, effluent spreading from ponds, herd homes and stand-off pads.  The 2015 Dairy Woman of the Year judging panel comprised Mark Heer from DWN gold partner ASB Bank, Sandy Burghan from Global Women New Zealand, DWN trustee Alison Gibb, DWN chair and 2014 Dairy Woman of the Year winner Justine Kidd, and Fonterra representative Janet Rosanowski. Of Milne, the panel said: “Katie demonstrates an unselfish contribution to the dairy industry delivered with a passion and zest that gets attention. She already plays in a space beyond her immediate expertise, experience and comfort zone epitomising a dairy woman determined to make a difference and thus achieving great advocacy outcomes for the wider dairy industry.” Milne has been the West Coast provincial Federated Farmers president since 2008, and holds a position on the national board, where she is spokesperson on adverse events, rural security, local government, ACC and employment.  Her prize is a Fonterra-sponsored scholarship to the Global Women ‘Women in Leadership’ programme valued at $25,000. The programme will give her 12 months of exposure to globally focussed women in leadership roles across the New Zealand business sector.   

Drought and the ratio of sheep to cattle farmed are the two factors with the biggest impact on sheep and beef farmers’ incomes this season. Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) today released its mid-season update. Six months ago, the organisation’s new season outlook predicted the average farm profit before tax would be around $110,800 for 2014-15. However, B+LNZ Economic Service Chief Economist Andrew Burtt says those predictions were based on the assumption that climatic conditions would be normal – and this season has proved to be far from normal in many areas. “While the average farm profit before tax has been adjusted slightly downwards, to $109,400, North Island profits are expected to increase 19 per cent, to $117,100, while South Island profits are predicted to decrease 20 per cent, to $100,200. The difference can be accounted for by the ratio of sheep to cattle farmed in each island, with cattle making up greater numbers in the north. “Farm-gate prices for cattle are expected to reach record highs this season, on the back of strong demand and tight supplies, particularly in the US. We are also experiencing the upside of a weaker New Zealand dollar against the US dollar.” Mr Burtt says total gross farm revenue nationwide should remain similar to last season, with only a 0.7 per cent increase, to $470,500. “Sheep revenue – which is the largest contributor to gross farm revenue – drops 3.6 per cent, reflecting a drop in both the lamb price and the number of prime lambs sold. Cattle revenue, however, is up 19 per cent to $119,700. Compared to last season, beef export volumes are predicted to rise by 1.2 per cent – reflecting the low dairy payout and dry conditions increasing the dairy cow cull – but the average export value is […]

Fonterra Cooperative Group is paying its organic dairy producers a 45 cents per kilogram of milk solids premium to boost supply amid growing demand. It’s also moving to rolling rather than fixed contracts to give suppliers greater certainty over Fonterra’s commitment to the organic strategy, which still accounts for less than 1 percent of total milk supply. Fonterra’s move is something of a U-turn to the shake up of its previously unprofitable organics business in the past four years. In 2011 it scaled back its operations as public appetite for organic dairy products waned in the wake of the global financial crisis. Then in 2013 it refocused supply to the central and lower North Island, leaving many Northland organic farmers out in the cold. At the time Federated Farmers said Fonterra’s “we want you; now we don’t want; now we do” attitude to organics was confusing for farmers and made it difficult for them to plan and de-risk their businesses. Fonterra said today its new strategy was about giving its 73 organic dairy producers, who are all New Zealand based, greater certainty than they’ve had in the past because it recognised “it has been a difficult journey”. It wants to add an extra 600,000 kg/MS of supply this year, rather than a set number of producers. “This is about controlled growth and follows us consulting widely with our organic farmers and customers about what they want,” said Craig Deadman, Fonterra’s global business manager for organics. Contracts for nearly half of its existing suppliers are coming up for renewal this year. The new rolling contracts include farmers having to give 16 months’ notice if they want to quit supply, while Fonterra must give 28 months’ notice. Suppliers not yet producing organic milk will get the new 45 cents per kg/MS payment […]

It’s hugely satisfying to see it all coming together.” Auckland exporter Biopure Health is welcoming in the Chinese New Year by securing what has proved impossible for other small players in China’s tough new infant formula market. The company has gained registration for its Infapure formula brand under strict new Chinese regulations that require infant formula manufacturers and brands to gain approval from China’s National Certification Authority (CNCA) in order to export. These new regulations have seen more than 400 hundreds of brands of New Zealand origin disappear from the Chinese market, with a large number of manufacturers still awaiting approval. Biopure managing director Simon Page says that gaining registration is a “game changer” and puts his company in the box seat for dramatic expansion. “It was touch and go for a while there – a large majority of companies haven’t been able to secure contracts with CNCA approved factories and have either gone out of business or had their plans to launch in China put on hold indefinitely,” said Page. “Instead, to start the year we have placed an order for nine containers of Infapure for shipment in April and we expect to be placing further orders before the end of the year,” he said. A key to the company’s success is its business model. Biopure sells its products through a boutique chain of imported milk stores in China called ‘The New Zealand Milk Bar’ founded by Page and wife Jane, a Chengdu native, in 2012. The pair have rapidly established 25 New Zealand Milk Bars in 23 cities across six provinces in China from their head office in Chengdu where they employ eight staff. The couple’s China company acts as importer and exclusive distributor to the stores which Page says enables greater control and allows more value to […]