"The emergence of Europe's economic community removed many of the commercial and trade benefits New Zealand once depended on.New Zealand dairying had to transform itself into an international, competitive business, or wither.New thinking and ways of doing business, and developing markets in countries which often regarded dairy imports as some sort of plague - and protected their farmers through import tariffs or subsidies - had to be devised by a country proud of its entrepreneurial spirit, but which in many areas often encased initiative in narrow laws and regulations.When 1960s legislation effectively allowed the New Zealand Dairy Board to do anything it liked as long as it wasn't breaking any laws, along came people delighted to exploit that openness.This worked well until different political forces brought other economic ideologies to the fore from the mid-1980s, and the dairy industry's structure came under attack.The government of the day began talking about creating level playing fields for an industry which sold 5 per cent of its product in New Zealand and 95 per cent internationally.As Dairy Board leader John Parker once said when Treasury wanted to hobble the board in the 1980s, there was no such thing as Queensbury rules in business. The maximum shareholding would be 2 times production (up from the 1.2 times approved in step one) and farmers would have up to three years to comply with shareholding rules when entering/exiting the co-operative or increasing/decreasing their milk production.Additionally, Fonterra would set up a special fund that would financially help farmers purchase shares (or retain shares they would otherwise have to sell). His view was that New Zealand had to make sure it never did anything so dumb as to get on a level playing field.
The kids treated our Fonterra farmers & staff to a song before exploring our Dairy for Life hub to learn more about dairy nutrition, where milk comes from and the history of Fonterra. The first co-operative cheese company was established in Otago in 1871, to benefit from the power of pooled resources.
A History of the New Zealand Dairy Industry: 1840–1935. The top 10 competitors average 15,070. The forming of dairy giant Fonterra coming out of an era when there were no Queensbury rules was a miracle, says dairy industry historian Clive Lind.Being part of a changing dairying industry has not been for the fainthearted and nor was it easy to track the last 40 years of its history, Lind says.His latest book, Till the cows came home, follows the beginnings of Great Britain joining the European Economic Community, as the EU was then known, through a bruising period ending with many dairy co-operatives merging into the Fonterra powerhouse. By 1920, there were 600 dairy processing factories of which about 85% were owned by co-operatives.Fonterra was formed in 2001 from the merger of the two largest co-operatives, New Zealand Dairy Group and Kiwi Co-operative Dairies, together with the In June 2008, the company acquired the yoghurt and dairy dessert business of Nestlé Australia,In September 2019, Fonterra agreed to sell its 50% stake in DFE Pharma for NZ$633 million ($400.37 million).The board responded in 2008 by shelving the November 2007 proposal and continuing consultation and discussion with farmer shareholders.
The case was ongoing in 2020.Dairying stock entering waterways due to lack of fencing and poor use of fertilisers are major contributors to water pollution in New Zealand.In July 2007, the Green Party called on Fonterra to use financial penalties on its suppliers who were "In February 2008, the inaugural Fonterra Environmentalist of the Year was announced at the In March 2013 Fonterra unveiled a new type of opaque milk container it called a "game-changer", claiming it would keep milk tasting fresh for up to two weeks after opening.In 2008, Fonterra Edendale won the New Zealand Clean Air Society's annual Clean Air award, which recognises exceptional contributions by individuals and businesses to researching and improving the environment.In 2009, Fonterra won the supreme prize at the Packaging Council of New Zealand's Environmental Packaging Awards for its introduction and promotion of a more environmentally In 2012 Fonterra won the Export Category at the 2012 Fonterra is New Zealand's largest producer of biofuel, processing a waste stream from Since 2004, Fonterra has produced ethanol from whey, a by-product of casein, in the Edgecumbe, Tirau and Reporoa plants.