Ballance ready to help shareholders

Ballance ready to help shareholders

Ballance Agri-Nutrients is in great shape to help its farmer shareholders get through a difficult spring season, its Chairman David Graham told shareholders at the co-operative’s Annual Meeting in Hamilton (29 September).

As New Zealand’s leading fertiliser and animal nutrients provider, he said Ballance could expect to have to help out hundreds of good Kiwi farmers who had been hit by disasters in the form of earthquakes, unseasonal snow and heavy wind and rain.

‘We learned a lot through last year as we struggled to restore our balance sheet and I am pleased we are now in a healthy financial position when so many of our shareholders could need a helping hand. Very few regions are experiencing a typical spring, and we are glad we are able to help out where we can.’

Mr Graham said the co-operative’s respectable before-tax profit of $21 million in its year to 31 May enabled it to pay a rebate and dividend to its 18,200 farmer shareholders, based on their purchases with Ballance through the year, injecting more than $14 million into the rural economy.

‘This has been a bad start to spring in many regions, and we are looking at a compressed fertiliser application season, which will place strain on everyone involved in the industry, but Ballance will pull out all the stops to meet market demands.’

Ballance Chief Executive Larry Bilodeau told shareholders that Ballance had increased its funding for research and development despite the economic downturn in order to deliver gains to its shareholders.

‘We have always been science-based, but there is now a discernible swing in research focus from productivity improvements to include long-term environmental advances,’ Mr Bilodeau said.

‘We are doing all we can to enhance efficiency and profitability within the agriculture sector based on the sustainable management of natural resources. It’s the only way forward for the industry.’

He said Ballance’s portfolio of environmental and sustainability developments in recent years was a reflection of the new approach to farming exercised by many of its customers – farmers wanted to preserve their land for future generations.

‘We are not standing still. Since June this year we have introduced two more products to market that demonstrate the depth of our commitment.

‘The first is cropzeal DAP boron boost, a precise mix of DAP (diammonium phosphate) and boron in a uniform granule. This will have a big impact in the cropping market and in other applications where precision placement of nutrients is a distinct advantage.

‘In just a few days we will officially launch a high-specification environmental product that converts heavy truck exhaust emissions to harmless nitrogen and water vapour. We’re calling it GoClear, and we have invested in new equipment and processes at our Kapuni ammonia-urea manufacturing plant to provide a local product that meets international specifications.

‘We still have challenging work to do on your behalf within the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme, freshwater and land use management, and in protecting your freedom to farm,’ he told shareholders. ‘Better science can help us meet all of these challenges.’

Ballance shareholders at a dinner following the Annual Meeting heard from Agriculture Minister the Hon David Carter, who emphasised the changes taking hold.

You can link directly to his speech http://beehive.govt.nz/minister/david+carter?type=speech

ENDS

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