What it does: Fonterra Cooperative Group is the world's largest exporter of dairy products, a leader in dairy science and innovation, owner of a significant portfolio of brands in the Asia Pacific, and a partner to many of the world's leading food companies.
Mission: Our Co-operative, Empowering people, To create goodness, for generations.
Size and presence: Fonterra is headquartered in New Zealand, with offices in more than 40 countries around the world.
Best known for: We have an incredible natural product made on the pastures of New Zealand farms, a business supported by a talented and committed team, and an exciting opportunity to create value.
The good bits: Flexible hours are an option for most and a healthy work-life balance is encouraged.
The not so good bits: Restructure risk & other people's opinions on you working for Fonterra can be negative
In New Zealand, as in most Western countries, dairy co-operatives have long been the main organizational structure in the industry. The first dairy co-operative was established in Otago in 1871. By 1920, there were 600 dairy processing factories of which about 85% were owned by co-operatives. In the 1930s there were around 500 co-operatives but after World War II, improved transportation, processing technologies, and energy systems led to a trend of consolidation, where the co-operatives merged and became larger and fewer in number. By the end of the 1990s, there were only four co-operatives nationwide: the Waikato-based New Zealand Dairy Group, the Taranaki-based Kiwi Co-operative Dairies, Westland Milk Products, and Tatua Co-operative Dairy Company.
Fonterra was formed in 2001 from the merger of the two largest co-operatives, New Zealand Dairy Group and Kiwi Co-operative Dairies, together with the New Zealand Dairy Board, which had been the marketing and export agent for all the co-operatives. Fonterra effectively has monopsony control of the New Zealand domestic and export dairy industry. The merger was initially turned down by the New Zealand Commerce Commission but later approved by the New Zealand Government, with subsequent legislation deregulating the dairy industry, allowing for the export of dairy products to be undertaken by any company. The two smaller co-operatives, Tatua and Westland, did not join Fonterra, preferring to remain independent.
The company has an annual turnover of around NZ$17 billion. Its core business consists of exporting dairy products under the NZMP brand (95% of its New Zealand production is exported). It also operates a fast-moving consumer goods business for dairy products, Fonterra Brands. Fonterra has several subsidiaries and joint-venture companies operating in markets around the world.
Fonterra Riverina Fresh in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia
In 2005, the company purchased a large factory in Dennington, Victoria, Australia, from Nestlé, after they moved out of the collection of milk from farmers and the manufacture of powdered milk in Australia. Also in 2005, the company made moves towards purchasing Australian companies Dairy Farmers and National Foods. It also converted its 50 percent stake in Victoria dairy producer Bonlac to full ownership. At this time $1 billion of Fonterra's revenue was from Australian sales, which was 14 percent of the dairy products it sells around the world.
In June 2008, the company acquired the yogurt and dairy dessert business of Nestlé Australia, which it on-sold to Parmalat Australia in December 2015.
In 2010, US embassy cables leaked by WikiLeaks suggested New Zealand had only sent troops to Iraq in 2003, following the initial invasion, so Fonterra would keep valuable Oil for Food contracts.
In 2019, the Tip Top ice cream brand was sold for NZ$380 million to Froneri, a global joint venture between Nestlé and PAI Partners.
In September 2019, Fonterra agreed to sell its 50% stake in DFE Pharma for NZ$633 million ($400.37 million).
In late February 2022, Fonterra suspended exports to Russia in protest of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The company had exported NZ$240 million worth of produce to Russia in 2021. On 21 March, Fonterra closed its office in Moscow and withdrew from its joint venture with Russian company Unifood.
We create good through who we are. Through how we think, act, and feel. Because we think differently and challenge boundaries. We do what’s right because it feels right.
And then we make it happen, together. These are our values. Our values are us. Like us, they don't work on their own. They work together.
Flexibility is also an essential enabler for managing the pace of change in today’s working world.
It helps to attract and retain the best people, achieve increased productivity and foster an agile response to our customers and our environment.
At Fonterra, we actively encourage and support our people when they need to work from different locations, or at different times. This supports work-life balance and helps us retain our people if their circumstances change. We welcome talking to you about your flexible working needs.
Fonterra applies the principles of equal opportunity and employment equity to all recruitment and selection processes.
Fonterra's approach to career and job opportunities is maintained to ensure that our actions are consistent and by local legislation.
We also aim to sustain a work environment that is respectful of individual differences that is free from harassment or unlawful discrimination and will not tolerate either in any form.
We create good through who we are. Through how we think, act, and feel. Because we think differently and challenge boundaries. We do what’s right because it feels right.
And then we make it happen, together. These are our values. Our values are us. Like us, they don't work on their own. They work together.
⛔ Bonus annual leave
✅ Bonus parental leave
✅ Unpaid extended leave
✅ Permanent employee
✅ Signing bonus
✅ Annual bonus
⛔ Stock options
⛔ Full remote work
✅ Partial remote work
✅ Flexible working hours
⛔ Child care
✅ Free gym
⛔ Pet-friendly office
✅ Mental health days
✅ Hospital
✅ Outpatient
✅ Dental
⛔Maternity
⛔ Free breakfast
⛔ Free lunch
✅ Free tea & coffee
✅ Free snacks
The Living Water partnership has identified that the biggest barriers to the protection and restoration of biodiversity on farms are limited access to advice and ecological expertise, along with the cost of preparing restoration plans.
“There is widespread interest from farming communities and farm advisors to protect and restore native biodiversity on farms, though expert advice is hard to come by and costly”, says Trish Kirkland-Smith, Fonterra’s Head of Environmental Partnerships.
“Development of a farm biodiversity restoration and management plan can cost $5-10,000+, with additional costs for monitoring. Across 25,000 pastoral farms in New Zealand, this is $125+ million for the planning alone. This new partnership project trials a more cost-effective way of providing expert advice to the sector, working with over 60 sheep and beef and dairy farms to develop biodiversity plans and implement biodiversity management, then sharing the results with 6000 more sheep and beef farms and 9000 dairy farms.”