It remains an area crying out for regulatory oversight in case missteps by smaller players screw the market for our champions, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

As Fonterra China Farms general manager Nicola Morris sums up, it is about taking the best of Kiwi ingenuity and farming systems.

Fonterra's Chilean subsidiary is an example of what the co-operative would like to achieve in the rest of the world, says former general manager Jose Miguel Porraz.

The allure of a high share price is proving too much for a growing number of Fonterra's farmers, with more choosing to sell up and move to competing cooperatives and dairy companies, says Fonterra's director of milk supply, Steve Murphy.

Fonterra says its opening forecast farmgate milk price had been set at $7.00 per kg of milk solids for the 2013/14 season - up $1.20.

Fonterra would have been startled to wake up yesterday to the Herald's front-page photo of Sir Henry van der Heyden emblazoned with "Don't ever trust them", writes Fran O'Sullivan.

The only way to protect milk from light damage is to block out all light. The trade off, however, is the inability to see how much is left, writes Peter McClure.

Fonterra's Malaysian operation has doubled its revenue in local currency terms over the past five years.

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.

A light-proof milk bottle described as a world innovation is being criticised by recyclers who say the complex packaging has a number of drawbacks.

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.

Maori-controlled, with a Vietnamese connection, one of the country's newest dairy companies does things a little bit differently from the big boys, discovers Jamie Gray.