Fonterra is celebrating its 10th birthday today with the Fonterra Shout.
They’re giving away sausages and ice cream in Invercargill, Ashburton, Palmerston North, Hawera, Hamilton, Auckland and Whangarei.
The company is owned co-operatively by nearly 11,000 dairy farmers and sells dairy products to more than 140 countries.
| Assets | NZ$14.1 billion |
| Annual Turnover | NZ$16 billion |
| Milk Production – New Zealand | 14.76 billion litres |
| Sales Volumes | 2.31 million metric tonnes |
| Employees | 15,600 |
| Shareholders | 10,537 |
Fonterra, and the dairy boom, have changed many communities.
There used to be nine houses on the roads which border our home farm, now there are 15.
It is dairy farms, their owners, staff and the people who service and supply them who keep spending money which means that towns like Oamaru are no longer so badly affected by droughts.
It is possible to have the economic and social gains from dairying without environmental degradation.
In our area good environmental practices on-farm with strict monitoring and action on breaches, has ensured we can still drink from and swim in our rivers.
Happy birthday, Fonterra.
Homepaddock 
Yes I appreciate Fonterra and particularly appreciate the fact it is owned by its farmer suppliers rather than international corporate speculators like most companies are these days. Look at the plight of dairy farmers in Australia to see why Fonterra is good for NZ.
However to put it in perspective, I visited Nestle in Vevey a few years ago and was surprised to learn its turnover at the time was more than NZ’s entire GDP.
I just checked and while that is not still the case, it is still has a turnover almost as big as NZ.:
Nestle’s turnover in 2010 was 109 billion Swiss francs ($NZ 154 billion). NZ’s GDP is $NZ 189 billion.
While I was at Nestle, one of its managers sniffily mentioned that Nestle “bought a bit of NZ milk powder.”
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That keeps things in perspective, JM.
Most things which are big in New Zealand are small on a world scale.
NZ is the world’s leading exporter of dairy produce but not the biggest producer. Most other countries have bigger populations so their domestic consumption is more important than their exports.
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Glaxo Smith Klein Beecham was formed in Palmerston North of all places.
Unfortunately as is the wont of a small country our most successful companies become our biggest exports.
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