Contribution to dairy industry recognised
One of the key figures behind the consolidation of New Zealand's dairy industry was recognised last night for his
contribution to the dairying business.
John Roadley received a Holden Lifetime Achievement Award in Christchurch last night during the Northern South Island
awards function of the Fonterra Westpac Dairy Excellence Awards.
The Lifetime Achievement Award is a new initiative of the Fonterra Westpac Dairy Excellence Awards, which aim to
recognise excellence in the dairy industry.
The award is open to anyone in or servicing the dairy sector and seeks to recognise contribution to the dairy industry
both regionally and nationwide.
Mr Roadley was one of the key personalities in the formation of Fonterra, which arose out of the merger between Kiwi
Co-operative Dairies, New Zealand Dairy Group, and New Zealand Dairy Board. He was also a key figure in earlier
consolidations involving the South Island Dairy Co and New Zealand Dairy Group.
He was Chairman of the New Zealand Dairy Board in 2001 during the merger process, and became Chairman of the Fonterra
Co-operative Group in its first year of operation.
Mr Roadley stepped down from that role in September last year, having achieved the main goals he set as part of the
mega-merger.
"I set myself three goals - to ensure our shareholders agreed to the merger, to see the co-operative through the risky
transitional first year, to achieve consensus among the board and management on Fonterra's future business strategy," he
said when stepping down.
Mr Roadley, when leaving Fonterra, said the main merger challenges were behind the company, and the foundations had been
laid for dairy farmer shareholders of Fonterra to be among the most respected group of farmers in the world.
His association with dairy farming began in 1980, when he purchased a 149ha property near Ashburton. Through growth and
acquisitions over more than 20 years, Roadley Farms now consists of close to 1000 hectares split into three farms with
2200 cows.
Mr Roadley's first directorship was with Alpine Dairy Products in 1988, and he was instrumental in leading that
company's successful merger with the Southland Dairy Co-operative to form the South Island Dairy Company.
It was when he chaired Alpine that a small grouping of dairy companies formed and identified that the industry's future
lay in one fully integrated company. The Fonterra Westpac Dairy Excellence Awards are being run in seven regions and
have the support of Dexcel. Fonterra, Westpac, Holden New Zealand, Ravensdown, DTS, Livestock Improvement, Pioneer, RD1
and Fegan and Co sponsor the awards. Awards Chairman and Fonterra Director Jim van der Poel says the awards aim to
assist Fonterra's 17,000-farmer supply base to maintain their on-farm efficiencies and position as the world's most
cost-effective milk producers in the world.
"This underpins our ability to prosper in the global market," he says.
Westpac General Manager Business Banking Bruce McLachlan says another aim of the awards is to profile dairy industry
excellence and promote information exchange, through benchmarking and best practice.