Not always milking it

Fonterra and other processors are paying a premium for milk collected during winter but farmers have been cautioned the payments are not the bonanza they seem.

South Island farmers are especially finding it hard to make a good profit because their milk has to be transported to Christchurch, for which they pay a higher transport surcharge.

In the North Island, Fonterra pays an average of $3.15 per kilogram of milksolids for the months of June and July – totalling $9.90 (based on the base price being $6.75 kg/ms).

It charges a transport fee of 2.5c per kg/ms per 10 kilometre straight line distance from a nominated plant in both islands.

South Island farmers are not as well off because of the distances their milk has to be carted, although their average premium payment is $3.91 over the two months.

David Lindsay, who farms in Drummond, central Southland, said the nearest processing plant, Edendale, was closed for maintenance.

Most of his milk has to go to Canterbury because Fonterra has an obligation under the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act to supply Goodman Fielder with fresh milk for the South Island.

His cost of transport is $1.25 per kg/ MS.

‘‘We want to be treated the same as everyone else in the co-op, and as such want to see the contracted transport charge removed or at least averaged out across the winter milk suppliers,’’ Lindsay said.

‘‘Fonterra has not yet invested in a value-added plant in our region that could use our winter milk, and I am being penalised for that as I have to bear the cost of transporting it to Canterbury. ‘‘Wouldn’t it be great if Fonterra could focus on adding as much value to the milk we produce in New Zealand first before investing millions of dollars of farmers’ money in overseas investments,’’ he said.

A Fonterra spokesman said it had made Southland farmers aware of the fact the milk would have to go a long distance.

The option to supply in winter was not available to Tasman or Mackenzie Basin farmers.

The question of whether a valueadd plant should be built in the deep south had been debated. With demand for products such as cream cheese or UHT milk, this was always a possibility.

Up until the Cadbury factory closed A small but highly productive dairy farm near Rotorua, owned by Onuku Ma¯ ori Lands Trust, is the winner of the Ahuwhenua Trophy for Ma¯ori excellence in dairy farming.

The announcement was made by the Governor General Dame Patsy Reddy at a special awards function held in Christchurch attended by more than 650 people.

The competition for the Ahuwhenua Trophy was begun 85 years ago by Ma¯ ori leader Sir Apirana Ngata and the then-governor General Lord Bledisloe to encourage Ma¯ori farmers to improve their land and their overall farming position with an emphasis on sustainability.

The winning farm is Onuku’s Boundary Rd property, a 72-hectare block near Lake Rotomahana, about 30 kilometres south of Rotorua. The farm milks 220 cows producing about 90,000kg of milksolids.

The other finalist was The Proprietors of Mawhera Incorporation whose dairy farm is near Hokitika on the West Coast.

Ahuwhenua Trophy management committee chairman Kingi Smiler said both finalists set high standards in their farming and governance of their operations.

The Onuku trust said in a statement the award was a credit not only to the trustees, management and farm adviser, ‘‘but also to those trustees, administration and farm staff who have faithfully and diligently been a kaitiaki of the lands till now’’.

‘‘The trust has a focus on its over 4000 owners, and distributes education grants, kaumatua grants, annual owners grant and is now looking to provide employment in its businesses to Onuku owners.’’

The trust was looking to diversify its operations away from traditional dairy and had in the last two years established Onuku Honey.