trees saving us East Coast farm suffers much less erosion thanks to trees. page 28
precision drill Works wide, fits through gates – Kuhn’s Maxima drill. page 41
Rural NEWS
'keep your promise' Rural Women speak out on schools’ fast internet.
page 13
to all farmers, for all farmers
may 1, 2012: Issue 514
www.ruralnews.co.nz
TAF ‘2’ vote backed SU D ES H K I SSU N
THE GOVERNMENT says a second TAF vote should settle concerns among some Fonterra farmers once and for all. Primary Industries Minister David Carter is backing Fonterra board’s decision to hold a second vote on June 25. “There is certainly angst among some shareholders. It’s an important decision so another vote should settle it once and for all,” he told Rural News. Carter says the Government did not pressure Fonterra to hold another vote in the face of mounting criticism of TAF by shareholders. This week the parliamentary primary production select committee will hear public submissions on DIRA reforms designed to accommodate TAF. Carter believes the Government has the numbers to pass DIRA amendments in Parliament. But he says it will be interesting to see whether Labour supports it. He rejected a call by Labour primary industries spokesman Damien O’Connor to suspend the DIRA Bill until a final decision on TAF by Fonterra farmers. “It’s silly. The legislation is necessary so Fonterra can go to the investor community,” he says. Part of TAF is the creation of a ‘shareholders fund’ that will see units in Fonterra shares sold to private investors. O’Connor says the legislation will create a dilemma for farmers and will impose milk price interference and manipulated share pricing on their cooperative if they reject TAF.
“Fonterra’s directors have astutely recognised the growing concern among farmers regarding the proposed changes, which have yet to be fully detailed or explained by the board,” he says. “The National Government should put the current DIRA legislation on hold until farmers have the information and have spoken – through the vote – on whether capital restructure is needed or supported.” Federated Farmers is also welcoming the second vote. Feds’ dairy chairman Willy Leferink says the TAF debate is “increasingly white hot”. “Farmers like me voted for the principle of a shareholders’ fund but that was two years ago and was based on a concept. We also thought it was tied to the cooperative’s constitution and not legislation currently before Parliament. “There’s realisation that if we go down the TAF route, the board doesn’t need to go back to farmer-shareholders
until the fund hits 25% of the cooperative’s equity. “This is a major decision for shareholders and [they] must go into this with their eyes wide open.” The Fonterra Shareholders Council
is also urging farmers to have their say on the future of Fonterra. Council chairman Simon Couper says the second vote is important given the questions being raised in some parts of the shareholder base. More on taf pg 4
ploughing championships
Fred Pilling, Hamilton, with horses Bonnie and Janet. Competing for the Rural News Horse Plough Trophy at the recent NZ Ploughing Championships near Cambridge, they finished third overall. More ploughing coverage on pages 42, 43 and 45.
Back to the future on wool levy? p eter bur ke
THE BOARD of Beef + Lamb NZ will this week discuss a somewhat controversial remit passed at its annual meeting calling for them to investigate the possibility of reinstating a wool levy. Growers voted in 2009 for no levy, but a remit promoted by Wairarapa farmer Derek Daniell, asking BLNZ to “undertake an evaluation of the discontinuation of the wool levy”, was passed with significant support. The remit called for such a report to be presented at next year’s annual meeting. If there was support, such a proposal could be voted on when the BLNZ commodity levy is voted on in 2014. BLNZ chairman Mike Petersen told Rural News he didn’t want to pre-empt what decision the board might make. “BLNZ is ambivalent as an organisation about whether there should be a wool levy or not. I think it’s important for us to stay quite neutral in respect of this issue.” Petersen says this is because potentially BLNZ could be an organisation that could collect a levy. “The wool debate always polarises people and therefore it’s important for BLNZ to stay neutral and let farmers have the discussion themselves.”
CALF IMMUNE STATUS AND COW RUMEN CAPACITY ARE CRITICAL FOR FUTURE PERFORMANCE Feed strategies that focus on these potential issues, will help set up both cow and calf for future challenges they may face during the production cycle.
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