Dannevirke: Plant brings new lease of life to town

Nathan Guy, long-serving Pahiatua employee Brian Hutchinson and John Monaghan, a Fonterra director, with the plaque recognising the co-operation between the Leonardo project team and the Pahiatua site team during the construction of the wholemilk powder plant and distribution centre. Photo / Christine McKay

Dairying is the lifeblood of the Tararua, with the new $235 million powder plant at Pahiatua the linchpin in a large industry.

The plant has brought a new lease of life to Pahiatua and its main street too, Tararua District mayor Roly Ellis said at the opening of the plant last Friday.

"This project has been no walk in the park and the team knew this was never going to be an easy job but it's a huge boost to the economy of our district.

John Wilson, Fonterra chairman, speaking at the opening of the P3 plant at Pahiatua.

"During construction it helped many of the retailers and I hear one business baked an extra 250 pies a day and accommodation providers benefited greatly.

"Most importantly, it has provided 50 more jobs and the sale of more homes along the way."

Fonterra chairman John Wilson told more than 200 shareholders, suppliers and Fonterra staff at the opening that while production was down a little bit this year, the company expected it to grow.

"Last year production was up 4.3 per cent and in the last three years we've built capacity to deal with a 4.7 per cent increase.

"We've grown 8.2 million litres of capacity to date this year over last year.

"New plants make a huge impact and we're now seeing the benefits flowing into Fonterra."

And while Mr Wilson said there was confidence in dairying, he acknowledged times were tough on farms.

Robert Spurway, Fonterra's managing director of global operations, reminded those attending the opening of the importance of the dairy industry to New Zealand, with 10,500 farmers nationally supplying product to 140 countries.

"We absolutely believe in the fundamentals of a strong future and this region is one of the heartlands of New Zealand dairying and this plant produces the best quality product in the world."

Mr Spurway said the commissioning of P3 was the most successful of any dairy in the world.

Nathan Guy, Minister of Primary Industries, said the Government backed farmers to the hilt andbelieved the outlook for dairying in 2016 was positive.

"But, we need to bring the community with us, so people know what we're doing inside the farm gate," he said.

"I was very disgusted by the footage on the recent Sunday programme.

"These were only the actions of a couple of ratbags, but we're (the dairy industry) is feeling the backlash."

From Pahiatua to the world

* Milk from 500 farmers from northern Hawke's Bay to southern Wairarapa and Wellington goes into Fonterra's Pahiatua plant.

* There are three powder plants on site, with the capacity to process 3.8 million litres of milk a day.

* 175 staff, including drivers for 30 tankers.

* 140,000 tonnes of milkpowder is produced a year and sold into 20 markets worldwide.

* 3000 people, working more than 800,000 hours, were involved in the design, building and commissioning of the new plant, a new wastewater treatment plant, a reverse osmosis plant that allows the site to reuse its own condensate, a new gas-fired boiler with a number of heat-recovery systems, and a new distribution centre the size of three rugby fields.

* 2400 people are employed throughout our region in various areas of the dairy industry.