{"id":67208,"date":"2024-11-14T11:29:29","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T22:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?p=67208"},"modified":"2025-10-24T09:55:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T20:55:11","slug":"greenpeace-confronts-fonterra-agm-attendees-with-rainforest-destruction-dying-orangutans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/greenpeace-confronts-fonterra-agm-attendees-with-rainforest-destruction-dying-orangutans\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenpeace confronts Fonterra AGM attendees with rainforest destruction, dying orangutans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Greenpeace has greeted Fonterra with images of deforestation and dying orangutans as shareholders arrive for their annual general meeting at the Devon Hotel in New Plymouth. The organisation is calling on Fonterra to stop using palm kernel to feed dairy cows.<\/p>\n\n

\"Greenpeace
Greenpeace campaigner Sin\u00e9ad Deighton-O’Flynn holds a banner reading Fonterra, Drop Palm Kernel Now outside the Fonterra AGM venue in New Plymouth.
\u00a9 Oren Oaariki \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Greenpeace spokesperson Sin\u00e9ad Deighton-O\u2019Flynn says, \u201cPalm kernel contributes to rainforest deforestation and fires which put local communities and rare wildlife like orangutans and tigers in Southeast Asia at risk. But Fonterra insists on still feeding this dust-like substance to its cows in the dry summer months.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here to remind Fonterra\u2019s biggest shareholders that New Zealanders across the country are deeply concerned about the use of palm kernel – and that continuing to use this destructive feed could have serious reputational and financial risk both for farmers and for Fonterra as a business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\"Greenpeace \u00a9 Oren Oaariki \/ Greenpeace<\/div>\n\nGreenpeace Aotearoa greeted dairy giant Fonterra with images of deforestation and dying orangutans as shareholders arrived for their annual general meeting at the Devon Hotel in New Plymouth. The organisation is calling on Fonterra to stop using palm kernel to feed dairy cows.” class=”wp-image-67211″\/>
Greenpeace campaigner Sin\u00e9ad Deighton-O’Flynn holds a banner reading Fonterra, Drop Palm Kernel Now outside the Fonterra AGM venue in New Plymouth.
\u00a9 Oren Oaariki \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

At the end of September, Greenpeace launched a petition calling on Fonterra to drop palm kernel<\/a>, which has already attracted more than 10,000 signatures.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cSome of Fonterra\u2019s biggest suppliers have already stopped using palm kernel on their farms, because of environmental concerns,\u201d says Deighton-O\u2019Flynn. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cOver the past few weeks, we have reached out to several of these farmers and encouraged them to raise the issue of palm kernel use at the AGM. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cFonterra is New Zealand\u2019s biggest dairy corporation and yet it is lagging behind the pack, continuing to enable rainforest destruction while some of its farmer-shareholders are changing practices over environmental concerns.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cFonterra must end its use of palm kernel to protect the rainforests of Southeast Asia and the amazing wildlife that call them home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Earlier this year, Greenpeace sued Fonterra under the Fair Trading Act<\/a> for misleading customers through its Anchor butter packaging. The butter, marketed as \u2018100% pure New Zealand grass-fed\u2019, is made with milk from Fonterra dairy cows, whose diet can include up to 20% rainforest-destroying palm kernel on a dry-matter basis. Fonterra has since announced<\/a> plans to push ahead with the sale of its consumer brands, including Anchor.<\/p>\n\n

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