![]() He’d prefer a board of nine farmer directors, saying “farmers are feeling ignored, disenfranchised and have a serious disconnect from the board”. ![]() Shareholder Richard Dampney feels strongly enough about the matter to have put four proposals for resolution to the annual meeting - all designed to uphold and preserve farmer representation on the board and reduce the influence of independent directors. While the proposed reduction appears overdue, Fonterra is a farmer-owned cooperative.īoard size and composition is a touchy subject with farmers who police their governance representation closely. The current balance of six farmer-elected directors and three appointed directors would be maintained.įonterra chairman Peter McBride is keen to reduce board size closer to modern governance standard.įonterra has been notable for its large boards since its creation from an industry mega-merger in 2001 and it has taken it this long to get within cooee of the Institute of Directors-recommended board size of six to eight members for a medium- to large-sized company. Where farmers could show some mettle is when they’re called on to support a board call for director numbers to be reduced from 11 to 9. The appointments of Bruce Hassall and Holly Kramer, directors enlisted by the board, not farmers, seem likely to be ratified. But this year, the two board vacancies by rotation are uncontested. When farmers are displeased with the dairy processing and exporting heavyweight - and the annual report of its farmer watchdog council suggests they are antsy - they tend to express it through director elections. These are emissions not produced by Fonterra but by those it is indirectly responsible for up and down its value chain. Much anticipated is guidance from the company on what’s expected of farmers in reducing Scope 3 carbon emissions. Last year’s annual meeting in Rotorua was an in-person only event - 90 farmers turned out.Īttendance this week in Canterbury may also not trouble the seating plan but there’s plenty for shareholders to chew over. At the 2021 annual meeting and special meeting on capital restructure, 70 farmers attended in person while 150 were online. Online access to the meeting and twice-yearly post-financial results regional gatherings with directors and managers have taken the potential sting out of what was a once a red-letter date for Fonterra’s 8000 farmer-owners. Diversity and tension are good for the dairy cow if handled properly.With a disappearing CFO, farmers doing it tough, a call to shrink board size and pay rises in an economic squeeze all on the menu, Fonterra’s annual shareholder meeting this week would once have been a recipe for an encounter to make its leaders sweat a little.īut the days of 500-plus farmers descending on a regional hall to grouch and grumble and eyeball the leaders of New Zealand’s biggest business are gone with a low number of shareholders expected to turn out in Methven, Canterbury on Thursday, according to one sector observer. In our hands measurements like net merit have been useless but they are helpful for others. Great cows are defined differently by the wide variety of breeders but they will always be outliers that embody possessing contrasting traits that we strive for. Many revile show cows but breeders quickly discovered what happened when the sole emphasis was on production. Breeding always involves honing in on what you want and trying to reduce the things you don't want that come along with your trait selection. If you look at how long the old milk cow lived that was milked by hand behind the house you would find the average cow lived a lot longer than 3 lactations but she also didn't give much milk. High milk production increases lameness, repro problems and stress on the cow. Something we don't talk about is that our increasing emphasis on production is the leading factor in reducing longevity. Longevity is obviously important to all producers.
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