Listen: Farmers' Beingmate questions answered at Fonterra road shows

Photo / Mark Mitchell

Last week was very busy for Fonterra with the dairy co-op announcing its interim results, conducting country-wide farmer roadshows and the Dairy Women of the Year Awards.

Fonterra Farm Source Regional Head for Taranaki Scott Walls caught up with The Country Early Edition's Rowena Duncum for a recap of a rather big week.

The Dairy Woman of the Year Award was "such a good event," says Walls who was especially pleased with winner Loshni Manakim who is a Fonterra supplier.

A tough year with varying climate issues created "a number of challenges," says Walls, but the co-op's first half results were "very strong," despite the difficulties.

Farmer roadshows are in full swing around New Zealand and Walls was really happy with the "fantastic turnout" in Taranaki where Fonterra's investment in Chinese company Beingmate was a well-debated topic.

"Directors and management universally agree that that continued poor performance is unacceptable and the turnaround of that investment is the number one top priority for our CEO and management."

Walls says there was a range of emotions in the room but he was pleased to see that the Beingmate investment was put in perspective in relation to the greater China market.

"There was a lot of work being done. A lot of achievements being delivered and I think people took that away and had quite a balanced view as they left."

Listen below: