Rules to Live By...

As with the rest of the migrating godwit flock, Kuaka is now ensconced in the northern hemisphere away from the approaching southern winter. Blown a little further afield than the rest, he has chanced upon the dairyland state of Wisconsin, a keen rival in international dairy trade with New Zealand.

Concerned about the well-being of his fellow creatures, he hopes that the instruction of William D Hoard, farmer, state governor, & publisher of Hoard's Dairyman now in its 124th year, to the hired help is a creed by which New Zealand dairy farmers live by.

Fonterra Opens Chicago Technical Center for North American R&D

Fonterra, the New Zealand dairy cooperative, has opened its $2.4 m state of the art facility for North American research & development in Rosemont, near Chicago's O'Hare airport.

The Chicago Technical Center's 15 employee staff will work with Fonterra's North American customers which include the five largest food companies to smaller, regional firms. Staff will also work with universities and outside laboratories on customer projects.

Fonterra North America's corporate office was moved to Chicago earlier this year.

The CTC applies New Zealand intellectual property and technology to benefit both the New Zealand and US dairy industries. The center will allow Fonterra's technical staff and its customers to communicate on the processes and taste of products such as cheeses, yoghurt, paediatric formulas, beverages and energy bars.

Recent Fonterra launches in the North American market have been the PowerProtein (TM) range for improved bar functionality and flavour; clear clean flavoured whey-based beverage ingredients; speciality milk protein concentrates for both the cheese and yoghurt industries to improve yields and textures; and a number of hydrolysates for the paediatric nutrition area.

Close proximity of the North American corporate office and R&D facilities should improve coordination with Fonterra's other research and development hubs in Palmerston North, Melbourne, Australia, and Hamburg, Germany.

Hopefully part of the R&D will be directed at improving quality control & testing to better and more quickly detect quality problems such as the melamine tainting in Chinese-sourced milk in recent months.

Welcome to the neighbourhood, Fonterra!

Fonterra Coughs Up $8.4 million Donation for China

Fonterra, the New Zealand dairy cooperative linked through its joint venture Sanlu to melamine tainted infant formula in China that has sickened in excess of 50,000 children, has announced it is making a NZ$8.4 million donation to a Chinese charity set up by Deng Xiaoping, the former Chinese leader. The charity will build and operate maternal and infant community centres.

Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier interviewed in Beijing said it was staff in China who came up with the donation idea. When asked if $8.4 million was enough, he replied "That's an amount which is going to create an enormous amount of goodwill and good work."

It's an indictment of Fonterra management and ownership that the initiative for the charitable work did not come from the top of the organization exercising wise and socially-responsibly judgement but had to come from staff lower down the organization in China.

Moreover, the charitable contribution averages out to just over $150 per child sickened by the poisoned milk.

Fortunately for Fonterra, Chinese consumers do not seem to associate Fonterra with tainted milk products. A consumer survey in China of 900 people found that only 3 percent regarded New Zealand in a poorer light because of the scandal, largely because most consumers do not know of Fonterra's ownership stake in Sanlu.