The massive dairy cooperative has released its fourth annual sustainability report, highlighting what it reckons is going right and wrong in controversial environmental and social areas. What’s all this then? The Tātou Tātou 2020 Sustainability Report is Fonterra’s attempt to bring together the strands that make up its wider strategy, to get a competitive advantage … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Fonterra gets back into the black, National’s economic plan derailed by accounting blunder, and Air NZ boss questions continuing with elimination strategy. To lead off today, one of the most important single numbers for the rural economy. Fonterra has announced a payout for the season of … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Review finds rest home with Covid outbreak breached care obligations, Coster clarifies rubber bullet comments, and Otago University forecasts heavy losses. Something slightly different today: Rather than a lead story with lots of detail, today’s Bulletin will be about rounding up a whole lot of news … Read more
Not only could carbon-neutral dairy farming be a sustainable way to mitigate climate change, but it could also be a profitable enterprise for New Zealand’s farmers, writes Prem Maan from Southern Pastures. The Covid-19 crisis has shown us what can be achieved in New Zealand if we work towards a common goal rather than wholly … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Challenges loom in matching unemployed with rural jobs, trans-Tasman travel bubble agreed in principle, and Greens push for urgent Fair Pay Agreements. It is increasingly becoming clear that one of the country’s biggest economic challenges over the rest of the year will be matching people … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Ardern to zoom in to Australian cabinet meeting today, concerning situation arises at Waitākere Hospital, and a Zero Day finally achieved. Jacinda Ardern will make a rare appearance by a New Zealand PM at the Australian government’s cabinet meeting this morning. It’s a big moment as … Read more
Farmers on social media and National MP Amy Adams have responded with fury to an NCEA English exam question that included discussion of water quality. But what was the question actually asking? In 2017, NZ Geographic published a long feature about the impact of agriculture on the Taieri River in Otago. ‘Troubled Waters’, by vastly … Read more
Were Fonterra’s Open Gates events a shallow PR stunt, or was there something deeper going on? Alex Braae went to Mangatawhiri to find out. This feature is made possible thanks to the Spinoff Members Fund. We need your help to make journalism that matters. For more information, click here. Walking into the Fonterra Open Gates event … Read more
As disappointed farmers deal with Fonterra’s poor performance it emerges a new multi-million dollar cheese plant is hardly being used. Business editor Maria Slade reports. Fonterra once called it “the single largest foodservice investment in New Zealand’s dairy industry”. Now its $240 million mozzarella cheese plant at Clandeboye near Temuka is sitting close to idle … Read more
Covering Climate Now: Just how much of an impact would a shift to vegetarian diets have on the battle to halt climate change, asks Mirjam Guesgen. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here! Kiwi cuisine is replete with meat: fish and chips, meat and three veg, steak … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Winter grazing in the spotlight, teens smoking much less weed than they used to, and stats show big acceleration in Auckland house building. To lead us off today, a look at a relatively long running farming issue which has burst into the spotlight in recent … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Many claim leadership positions around farming emissions, concerns rise about deported gang members in small towns, and superyacht predictions panned. Now apologies if you feel like this is repetition – we did have a Bulletin last week about the plan to phase agriculture into the emissions … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Controversial West Coast dairy co-op sale goes through, time running out for sealing Tūhoe road, and tensions rising around AAAP action days. Yesterday was a hugely significant day for New Zealand’s dairy industry, partly for what happened, and partly for what it could signify about … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Recommended changes to dairy industry finally announced, signs of life in teacher negotiations, and flu vaccines are running short. Yesterday was a mixed day for Fonterra, with the government announcing significant changes to dairy regulation will be introduced. Farmers Weekly reports the dairy cooperative, which takes about 80% … Read more
Taking a longer-term view of developments in the China market would help everyone’s stress levels, writes Stephen Jacobi.* These are tense times for trade. The ongoing US-China trade war makes everyone (even me) nervous. So when news broke that the Chinese government wished to see 60% of the infant formula market controlled by Chinese companies within … Read more
Despite being in its infancy, Thorvald had won multiple awards and could barely keep up with demand for its sheep’s milk cheese and yoghurt. But Tasman’s devastating drought has effectively put the company out of business. For many, particularly those geographically and socially removed from rural life, it was hard to come to grips with … Read more
Environmental limits, changing tastes and a redefined social licence are driving consumers away from animal proteins. In part two of a series on the rise of veganism, Daniel Eb looks at what New Zealand must do to get on board. There is a sense of impending transformation ahead for agriculture in New Zealand. The world’s … Read more
Since 1981, a pioneering Dutch immigrant has been developing a distinctive New Zealand style of cheese, and now the world is starting to sit up and take notice. But for Albert Alferink, he’s just doing what he’s good at: working. Waikato: home of the Tron, the mighty river, Hobbiton, Waikato Draught and Jacinda Ardern. The … Read more
Every week on The Primer we ask a local business or product to introduce themselves in eight simple takes. This week we talk to Haman Shahpari, co-founder of vegan, low calorie, halal certified ice cream brand WāHiki Creamery, which has recently signed a deal to enter the Chinese market. ONE: How did WāHiki start and what was … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Farmer shareholders give Fonterra a serve, Czech drug dealer breaks his silence, and Auckland Councillor attendance rates are in focus. Fonterra management has been given a serve by their shareholders, in the form of a brutal financial report. Covered on the NZ Herald, the Shareholders Council report says … Read more
Milk is practically white gold, right? Turns out not so much, with Fonterra announcing a huge loss for the year. Business editor Maria Slade explains why our biggest dairy company has lost so much money. Has our largest company really made its first ever loss? Yes. Fonterra Co-operative Group has announced a $196 million loss … Read more
Rating your Kiwi Childhood is all about looking back on your formative experiences as a little kid in the 1980s and a bigger kid in the 1990s. This week, Adam Mamo tackles the joy of going to the local dairy with $2. Every suburban kiwi kid had a local dairy growing up. Much like European coffee … Read more
Two Kiwi dairy devotees feel right at home in the northern Indian state that’s mad for milk products. Ardent carnivores may struggle in Amritsar, the second biggest city in Punjab state, India. In the bright sandstone main square, signs at the doors of Maccas and Subway declare them strictly vegetarian eateries, and most restaurant menus are … Read more
Food and drink are the source of many memories. Simon Day remembers a hangover and his childhood with milkshake guru Matt Fitzgerald. Of all the scenes from 1982’s Spielberg science fiction classic E.T. to be preserved in Matt Fitzgerald’s mind, it’s the moment young Elliott is sent out to get pizza by his brothers that’s … Read more
The Vegan Society’s Claire Insley went along to ProteinTECH 2018 last week and left confident that a plant-based future was closer than we think, despite the day’s lunch offering leaving a lot to be desired. Investors look to whatever’s new and sexy, and right now plant-based proteins are the future. At last week’s ProteinTECH Conference … Read more
Biddy Fraser-Davies of Cwmglyn Farmhouse Cheese passed away on 13 July, aged 76. Her friend, cheesemonger Calum Hodgson, pays tribute. I would call cheesemaker Biddy Fraser-Davies on my commutes home from Auckland CBD to Whangaparāoa. I’d been making these calls to Biddy every other day now for the last three years, discussing everything from Eketahuna’s … Read more
Glen Herud’s mission for an ethical dairying company isn’t over yet. In part two of his series documenting his attempts to launch Happy Cow Milk 2.0, Herud talks about single-use plastic in the dairy industry and the plan to get farmers to adopt the “Happy Cow way”. It’s been a very busy month scurrying around rebuilding … Read more
Ka puta Matariki ka rare whānui, ko te tohu tēnā o te tau e! Matariki reappears, Vega starts its flight. The new year begins! Matariki is a period of reflection and renewal. An opportunity to reflect on the past, celebrate the present, and plan for the future. As we move into the new year, it … Read more
Fonterra rejects claims by Chinese media that formula maker Beingmate reportedly failed to check additives came from licensed suppliers. Chinese media have reported that Fonterra’s troubled investment Beingmate failed to check additives in its infant formula came from licensed suppliers, and the additives were certified for use. On Friday 15 June, Chinese authorities announced the … Read more