AFFCO’s union dispute finally settled

It’s been a long 10 weeks, both for the company and especially the workforce. At last both sides have exercised some flexibility and reached agreement on a new Core Collective Agreement.

Meat industry faces challenges positively

This season is more of a challenge for the meat industry than last, although suppliers are still reasonably comfortable in spite of the lower lamb price which has now dipped below the $100 mark.

Wasted trip to Nelson

If ever there was a wasted journey, it’s the one AFFCO meat workers have made to Nelson with the sole objective of asking the Talleys to listen to their tales of woe arising from the lock out and regular strikes which have seen several hundred workers out of work for nearly two months.

Fonterra’s progress on TAF like wading through quicksand

 

The process of getting farmer and legislative approval for the introduction of Trading Among Farmers must seem frustratingly slow to Sir Henry van der Heyden, directors and management of Fonterra. They have been working on it for almost two years now and even got just under a 90% vote from shareholders in favour of it when it was last put to the vote in June 2010.

Crafar farms saga appears to be over at last

The sale of 16 assorted, somewhat rundown dairy farms to the Chinese buyer, Shanghai Pengxin, looks as though it can finally go ahead, although there is still talk of an appeal by the group headed by Sir Michael Fay.

Differences more apparent than real

In spite of recent disagreements, most notably between Keith Cooper of Silver Fern Farms and Beef and Lamb NZ, there doesn’t appear to be too much wrong with relationships between meat companies and the industry good organisation representing sheep and beef farmers

AFFCO and Meat Workers Union both holding firm

Getting on for two months into the lock out interspersed with strikes, both sides in this struggle are holding firm. There was a brief moment of hope of some degree of resolution at last week’s mediation, but it appears that after some progress in the morning, it all went downhill in the afternoon with some suggestion the union representatives weren’t all in agreement about what they were after.

Some big issues facing dairy and meat sectors

There are some major challenges confronting our agricultural sector at the moment which demand an intelligent response from the participants, whether farmers, processors or industry leaders.

Dairy Restructuring Amendment Bill attracts different views

Fonterra chairman, Henry van der Heyden, says that monitoring the milk price is not necessary, but “we can live with it”, particularly with Commerce Commission oversight, while Simon Couper, Fonterra Shareholders’ Council chair, believes it to be draconian with the potential over time “to destroyNew Zealand’s biggest, most successful and most important export industry.”

Schedule setting process as much art as science

The weekly schedule setting process is a hallowed meat industry tradition which determines what farmers will receive for their livestock during the week beginning with the Sunday evening phone calls from buyers.