Our stories

As New Zealand’s biggest employer of volunteer firefighters, we’re proud to have our contribution to the communities we live and work in recognised by Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ).

For Kiwis, there’s nothing quite like a splash of fresh Anchor Milk in your morning cuppa. Think milk, butter, yoghurt and cream – our Anchor products are staples in cupboards and fridges right across New Zealand.

When the going gets tough, getting active in nature is a proven method of improving mental health, which is how Surfing for Farmers was started, to give farmers an outlet away from the pressures of work.

Solving the challenge of plastics and recycling requires a multi-pronged approach and our Sustainability team recently partnered with the Soft Plastics Recycling scheme.

The Co-op is changing the way it’s supporting working parents by expanding parental leave benefits for New Zealand-based employees.

When Fonterra farmers were impacted by devastating floods that hit the Canterbury region in May, the Co-operative’s Emergency Response Team swung into action.

When Temuka-based farmer Hamish Pearse suffered a devastating fire in his milking shed in February he witnessed first-hand the benefits of the co-operative spirit of his neighbours, friends and Fonterra.

A profitable dairy farm doesn't have to come at the cost of the environment, say South Taranaki dairy farmers Jane and Damian Roper.

The battle of Fonterra’s new milk tanker trailers has begun. Three prototypes are being tested on our roads season to see which one performs best. While two of the trailers were designed and built by transport engineering companies, the third is the brainchild of one of the Co-operative’s own tanker operators, Bill Groves.

Inclusivity and Innovation key to success. With more than 40 different ethnicities across a team of nearly 400 and 14 different languages spoken by our leaders across site alone, our team at the FRDC truly is a culturally diverse bunch.

When farmers have a beautiful property they’re proud of, sometimes they just want to share it with the world, and what better way to do that than playing host to one of the biggest women-only multi-sport events in the world.

A truck pulls up to the cow shed, a pretty normal scene on a rural New Zealand dairy farm, but it’s not a tanker here to pick up the milk – it’s a delivery truck full of magazines.

Fonterra’s Health and Wellbeing team have proven they’re industry-leading, winning the WorkSafe New Zealand best initiative to address a work-related health risk at the New Zealand Workplace Health and Safety Awards.

With one and a half decades of experience in cheese making, Cathy Lang knows her stuff when it comes to cheese and is excited to be involved in NZ Trade and Enterprise’s international “Made with Care” campaign.

It might be whitebait season right now but a community in Northland is more set on making new homes for the silvery-white fish than catching them.

Lacking motivation? COVID getting you down? Let Jackson Flinn be your inspiration.

Fonterra has recently signed up as a foundation donor partner to the newly created New Zealand Food Network.

When COVID-19 first hit New Zealand’s shores Fonterra stepped up to help make hand sanitiser and some of its employees volunteered their time to make face masks. Now the Co-op’s offering another hand – this time to help develop a vaccine.

When Dave Sattler went for a weekend climb up his beloved maunga, Mt Taranaki, he never expected to he’d have to take part in a rescue involving underwear.

As parts of New Zealand still face a long recovery from a severe drought, it’s important now more than ever to stay focussed on our water goals.

When Sanjeev Kumar moved to New Zealand from India as a student five years ago he never imagined he’d end up driving Fonterra tankers around Bay of Plenty, “I love my job! This has been a life-changing experience for me”.

Rewarding an all-round good guy. Combining first-class care for the environment, his animals and local community has seen Whanganui farmer Chris Davison rewarded in a very rare way.

Every waking moment for Invercargill farmer Reza Abdul-Jabbar is spent either farming or mucking in to help his community.

Farmer, personal trainer, mental health advocate and self-confessed ‘energizer bunny’ - just a few of the many ways to describe Felicity Clark.

When COVID-19 ground his eight-year career as a pilot for Air New Zealand to a sudden halt, Henry Lambert decided to turn it into an opportunity for a complete change - to farming.

Hawke’s Bay farmers Nick and Nicky Dawson have led a clean sweep for Fonterra suppliers at the 2020 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards.

Hilary Barry’s one of New Zealand’s most well-known and best-loved TV hosts, co-starring alongside Jeremy Wells, every weeknight right after the six o’clock news – on Seven Sharp.

As lockdown restrictions took hold in New Zealand and the rest of the world, businesses across the globe fought to secure masks – the best thing since hand sanitiser in the fight against COVID-19.

Small to medium-sized businesses to be paid in 10 days.

‘Meat The Need’ was founded by South Island farmers Wayne Langford and Siobhan O'Malley.

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Ngāi Tahu Farm Manager Ash-Leigh Campbell has been named as the recipient of the 2020 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year award.

How one Fonterra employee is sewing up to 100 face masks on her days off – all for a good cause.

When two of our team from Fonterra’s Clandeboye site heard that there was a shortage of ‘liquid gold’ in their local community, they knew they had to do something about it.

Saying thank you with hand sanitiser.

Fonterra’s Senior Research Technologist Richard Lloyd packed up the 3-D printer with him and has been putting it to good use for the community.

When New Zealand went into Covid-19 lockdown Fonterra’s In-School programmes (Fonterra Milk for Schools and KickStart Breakfast) let Principals know that, at their discretion, they could send product that was already at schools’ home with those most in need.

One of the ways Fonterra is helping to keep people safe during COVID-19 is by making more of our high-grade ethanol available to companies who use it in the production of sanitiser products, including hand sanitiser.

The Southland floods left farmers with a big clean up – it’s taken a group effort to support them.

Last year we introduced a new purpose and a new strategy. Since then we’ve made changes to how we’re organised and moved from two big global businesses to three regional, customer-led businesses.

As parts of New Zealand are struggling with drought Fonterra is lending a hand where it can with milk tankers delivering water to desperate communities.

There is a well-known saying that claims “if you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you’re going.”

Surprising and surreal are the words Harvey Indyk uses when he’s asked to describe the last couple of months, for two similar reasons.

When the great great grandfather of Wairarapa dairy farmer Jason Christensen came to New Zealand he wouldn’t have imagined that 140 years later his family would still own and operate a farm he built from the ground up.

Every year, our 68 Farm Source stores deliver everyday farming supplies, important services and advice, and a return to the Co-op’s bottom line.

One of Fonterra’s Southland farmers travelled across the ditch to help fight the bush fires in Australia.

Instead we’re celebrating with rainbows.

One year on, Rob Fenwick, Chair of our inaugural Sustainability Advisory Panel, reflects on the sustainability challenges facing the Co-op and how the panel is advising the Co-op’s roadmap towards a sustainable future.

Once again, one of our own has proven that tanker drivers do so much more than moving milk from A to B.

We’re offering schools a chance to ditch plastic single-use straws to help the environment.

DIRA has been critical to the performance of New Zealand’s dairy sector but some aspects need modernising.

In the Te Rapa district of Hamilton, our tanker drivers know that every evening their biggest fan will be waiting for them on a dairy farm on Reid Road.

Taranaki farmer, teacher and staunch environmentalist Trish Rankin has been announced as the 2019 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year.

Our Emergency Response Team is lending a hand to get farms back up and running in the aftermath of recent storm.

They may be tiny, slimy and reclusive, but the Canterbury mudfish are well worth protecting.

On Saturday April 6, Te Rapa, Darfield and Edendale are all opening their gates and welcoming friends, family, farmers and local communities to check out the on-site action.

For International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating some of the inspiring women at the heart of the Co-op who love what they do.

To reduce pallet waste, Fonterra’s National Pallet Manager Lawrence Hooker has been working with supplier Timpack to redesign Fonterra’s pallets.

Our Open Gates event saw 16 of our farmers open the gates of their dairy farms to more than 8,400 Kiwis throughout New Zealand. Fonterra’s Director of Brand Jillian Laing explains the rationale behind the event and the challenge in building corporate reputation.

Brian and Pirkko Gallagher are passionate about sustainable farming. Not because they have to be – because they want to be and know it’s the right thing to do.

Enhancing the production and productivity of New Zealand’s primary sector, while maintaining and improving the quality of the country’s land and water for future generations. That’s the mission of the ‘Our Land and Water’ National Science Challenge.

It’s a beautiful thing when farmers and the community come together and join forces to restore a local jewel of the environment, providing a home for hundreds of native plants and threatened wildlife.

It was a special night for Fonterra farmers at the Ahuwhenua Trophy awards evening in Christchurch on May 25. Governor General, Dame Patsy Reddy announced Bay of Plenty shareholders, the Onuku Māori Lands Trust as the winner of the Ahuwhenua Trophy Māori Excellence in Farming Award.

The Trustpower National Community Awards were held in Queenstown this April. The Edgecumbe Volunteer Fire Brigade, which contains seven Fonterra members, took home the Supreme Award.

The Fonterra Grass Roots Fund gives grants to community initiatives throughout New Zealand. Read about the Parata Rest Home in Gore, who is using their grant money to purchase wool and knitting materials. Volunteers knit hats, socks, and other clothes for newborns.

Read more about Fonterra's Open Day event at Kauri. Community members got to see how milk was processed at the site. Kauri processes up to three million litres of milk a day at peak.

The Fonterra Grass Roots Fund offers grants to community initiatives throughout New Zealand. Learn about a recent recipient of grant money, the Transform Aotearoa Charitable Trust.

The Fonterra Grass Roots Fund offers money to hundreds of community organisations each year. Funding has gone to Hauraki Plains College, where students are renovating historical buildings and strengthening their bond with the surrounding community.

Logan Valli is not a professional boxer, but he is a professional Supervising Operator at Fonterra's Edendale site. He is hitting the ring to raise money for Koha Kai. The organisation helps to provide affordable lunches for students with disabilities in the Invercargill area.

This year we’re celebrating the women who are proud Fonterra farmers by finding out what it’s like to work in dairy.

The Fonterra Grass Roots fund offers grants to community organisations around New Zealand. Some of the grant funding has gone to Darfield’s Scout group, who have been spending nights under the stars learning about leadership and teamwork.

The Emergency Response Team (ERT) at Fonterra consists of volunteer firefighters that help communities across New Zealand. Watch a video that features these brave men and women that work hard to keep people safe every day.

Takaka residents have been given an early Christmas present, but unlike most gifts, it’s one the community hope they’ll never have to use. The town has a newly installed AED on its main street, courtesy of the Fonterra Grass Roots fund.

The Fonterra Grass Roots fund gives grant money to over 300 community organisations each year. One of these organisations is the Boyle River Outdoor Education Centre. With their grant money, the centre new radios and GPS tracking devices to keep students and community groups safe.

The Fonterra Grass Roots fund awards grants to hundreds of community organisations each year. One of the winners was the Triangle Park community garden in Auckland. With their grant, the garden bought new seeds, tools, and a potting table.

The Fonterra Grass Roots fund gives grants to over 300 community organisations each year. Camp Raukawa is using their grant money to purchase walkie talkies and ensure smooth communication so kids can enjoy the camp's activities safely. Learn more about Camp Raukawa on our website.

The Fonterra Grass Roots fund awards money to over 300 charities each year. One of this year's recipients is the Westside Playcentre in Masterton, who will use their grant money to build gardens and educate students about the environment. Read more about their work on our website.

Forming partnerships with community groups and schools is an essential part of Fonterra’s efforts to protect and improve New Zealand’s environment.

The Fonterra Grass Roots fund awards grants to over 300 community initiatives each year. The Raglan Surf Lifesaving Club will use their grant money to purchase new helmets for members as they drive vehicles and save lives in the water. Read more about their work on our website.

Kamo Volunteer Fire Brigade say they can now cut through to the scene of a fire faster thanks to a grant from the Fonterra Grass Roots Fund.

Six year old Kelsey Perrett is somewhat of a star when it comes to Calf Shows, last year her and calf Gabby won a total of 14 ribbons and 7 trophies and this year she’s back on the circuit with ‘Ruby’ the pair picking up four trophies and six ribbons, including the overall prize at the Taranaki Boys and Girls Calf and Lamb Day.

Teaching the next generation about their natural environment is a big part of the philosophy of Kids Barn Childcare Centre in the Taranaki town of Hawera.

The Eastern Bay of Plenty Riding for the Disabled club is eagerly awaiting the delivery of six new specially designed saddle pads which will help its riders and horses in therapy sessions.

Featherston Rugby Club will be getting some new uniforms thanks to a grant from the Fonterra Grass Roots fund.

Edendale’s Volunteer Fire Brigade can now purchase a thermal imaging camera thanks to a grant from the Fonterra Grass Roots Fund.

Tyres, plastic bags and odd jandals were among the two truckloads of rubbish collected during a two hour clean up at Edgecumbe’s Thornton beach.

The spring sunshine shone in true Southland style as more than 300 people banded together to spruce up the Edendale and Wyndham communities.

Volunteers Ani Milner and Lois Maunell from Kaikohe East School were the winners of the Unsung Hero Award!

Congratulations to the winners of the 2017 KickStart Breakfast Awards! The KickStart Breakfast programme is a partnership between local communities, NZ Government, and corporate companies.

A few actions by many can make a big difference. The spring sunshine shone in true Southland style as more than 300 people banded together on September 27 to spruce up the Edendale and Wyndham communities.

Southland milk tanker technician Sheldon McLean is one of a select band of Fonterra staff serving their community as a volunteer fire fighter.

Traditional breakfast fuelling our kids with Weet-bix and milk has long been regarded as a strong start to a kiwi kid’s day. And it’s this traditional breakfast that has breakfast clubs around the country competing for the KickStart Breakfast Awards.

A new pair of pyjamas and a toothbrush might not seem like much, but to a child in foster care it can mean everything.

Teaching young people how to stay safe in and around our rivers is the key to preventing tragic drownings involving our inland waterways, says Taranaki Outdoor Pursuits and Education Centre (TOPEC) director Steve Ralph.

When a baby is suffering from a life-threatening illness, it can’t tell paramedics what’s wrong.

Every year nearly 2000 New Zealanders suffer from a cardiac arrest event outside of hospital, and only five to eight percent will survive without immediate treatment.

When someone is lost in the Bay of Plenty bush or lake regions finding them quickly is the number one priority.

Give children a garden and they’ll not only learn how to grow food to nourish their bodies, they’ll learn the life-skills that will help build a promising future.

Nestled in the Motueka Valley, the residents of Tapawera have always known they were on to a good thing with small town living.

At peak dairy season, our truck drivers drive enough to circle around the world eight times. We encourage our drivers to make safety a number one priority on their routes.

The Fonterra Grass Roots Fund got right behind our national bird in 2016, supporting the conservation efforts of the Whakatane Kiwi Trust.

There was something a little special about KickStart Breakfast club at Holy Family School in Porirua last Friday as the Prime Minister Rt Hon.

Fonterra and the Department of Conservation (DOC) have partnered up with Living Waters to promote healthy wetlands. Learn more about why wetlands are so important, with information from Tony Roxburgh. Roxburgh is a chairman on the National Wetland Trust.

The students at Tauwhare School were recently featured in an ad campaign about Milk for Schools. In February, students gathered to watch the ads. Enjoy the ads and pictures from the event in our story.