Farmer David Hunt has spoken out about his battle with mental illness in a bid to raise awareness of the warning signs for depression in rural communities.

Prices have fallen more than 7 per cent in the latest global dairy auction held overnight. It comes after a slight dip in prices two weeks ago.

Shares in the Fonterra Shareholders Fund rallied to their highest ever point today after the co-operative announced that it plans to cut 300 jobs.

Light-proof bottles claimed as a world first by Fonterra have been used by dairy companies overseas for more than a decade. But Fonterra has defended the claim.

An industry group is continuing to defend itself against accusations that it damaged this country's lucrative reputation for safe dairy products during a visit to a trade show in China this month.

Capital projects worth more than $1 billion are either under way or on the drawing board as the dairy industry gears up for increased demand from Asia for our milk powder.

Rain has fallen in most of the nation's dairying areas over the last week or so, but Fonterra chairman John Wilson said it would take six weeks to determine whether the drought that hit most of the country had caused any lasting damage.

A stoush has erupted in the lucrative infant formula export industry after Chinese media outlets published articles about a newly formed export association.

Prices of dairy products recorded their smallest gain this year, edging up to a new record.

Fonterra is shaking up its organics business to refocus supply in the central and lower North Island, leaving Northland organic farmers out in the cold.

Supermarkets around the world are selling Anchor milk and Fernleaf butter that is not produced on New Zealand farms.

Fonterra's not-so-little brother, Westland Milk, says it's sticking with its co-operative model.

Dairy giant to pick up the premium it has so far left on the table, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

Prices of dairy products have surged to a record in Fonterra's latest global online auction as traders competed for a shrinking volume of drought-affected milk powder.

Led by dairy products, prices for export commodities surged last month - and this time the rise in world prices was not eaten up by a higher exchange rate.

The onset of drought conditions in the North Island has seen economic confidence plummet in many regions, according to a Westpac McDermott Miller survey.

A West Coast farming expert says he is seeing first-hand the pressures being put on farmers battling to combat the effects of the big dry.

Dairy giant Fonterra has launched a "world-first" bottle that it says will protect milk from light and keep it fresher and tasting better for longer.

The drought gripping most of the country is hitting dairy farmers hard, but soaring export prices will partially offset lost production, economists say.

Prices of dairy products surged to the highest in two years in Fonterra's latest Global Dairy Trade auction as drought curtails production in the North Island.