Keith Woodford

About

Keith Woodford is an independent consultant who holds honorary positions as Professor of Agri-Food Systems at Lincoln University and Senior Research Fellow at the Contemporary China Research Centre at Victoria University. His archived writings are available at http://keithwoodford.wordpress.com

Member for

10 years 11 months

Latest articles

Reducing seasonality from Kiwi dairy systems

Keith Woodford says that if New Zealand wants to capture an increasing share of the branded dairy markets, it will need to figure out how to make non-seasonal production systems work in our pasture-based environment

13th Jul 16, 7:37am

by Keith Woodford

Shocks versus global change is the big dairy question

Keith Woodford says shocks can resolve themselves if there is underlying strength. But our underlying position on WMP is no longer a strength and that needs to change fast

29th Jun 16, 4:19pm

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford says shocks can resolve themselves if there is underlying strength. But our underlying position on WMP is no longer a strength and that needs to change fast

Will losing guaranteed milk supply stir Goodman Fielder to action?

Keith Woodford says a lot depends on how Singapore/Hong Kong-owned Goodman Fielder responds to potential changes to their cosy access to Fonterra's milk supply

17th Jun 16, 11:53am

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford says a lot depends on how Singapore/Hong Kong-owned Goodman Fielder responds to potential changes to their cosy access to Fonterra's milk supply

Back to the drawing board for Fonterra governance

Keith Woodford considers what Fonterra needs to think about while they "take a breath", suggests a better voting system, shows dangers of a too-small board

13th Jun 16, 1:43pm

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford considers what Fonterra needs to think about while they "take a breath", suggests a better voting system, shows dangers of a too-small board

Dairy price estimates are consistently wrong

Keith Woodford looks at Fonterra's latest payment forecast, separating what is 'hope' from what is 'prediction', and showing how it affects farm gate cash flows

31st May 16, 1:54pm

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford looks at Fonterra's latest payment forecast, separating what is 'hope' from what is 'prediction', and showing how it affects farm gate cash flows

Fonterra’s governance and the Trojan horse

Keith Woodford says Fonterra's proposal to change its governance structure is stacked, with farmers only getting a take-it-or-leave-it option

24th May 16, 5:05am

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford says Fonterra's proposal to change its governance structure is stacked, with farmers only getting a take-it-or-leave-it option

One-trick pony dairy industry yet to come to terms with risks of WMP dependence

Keith Woodford says to reduce our risks from a highly volatile product, we are going to have to restructure our dairy industry. It won't be easy

18th May 16, 8:51am

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford says to reduce our risks from a highly volatile product, we are going to have to restructure our dairy industry. It won't be easy

Vietnam aligns with the West

Keith Woodford sees Vietnam working diligently to get out of China's shadow, using an open internet to access markets which is helping boost living standards quickly

11th May 16, 2:20pm

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford sees Vietnam working diligently to get out of China's shadow, using an open internet to access markets which is helping boost living standards quickly

Rattling Fonterra’s governance is not enough

Keith Woodford identifies six big governance failures at the icon dairy coop. Without knowledgeable, passionate member-directors, the board becomes captured by management

3rd May 16, 9:28am

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford identifies six big governance failures at the icon dairy coop. Without knowledgeable, passionate member-directors, the board becomes captured by management

EU ramps up dairy production again

Higher European dairy production is bad news for New Zealand with no tapering off evident, and their cranking up of WMP production

29th Apr 16, 11:17am

by Keith Woodford

Higher European dairy production is bad news for New Zealand with no tapering off evident, and their cranking up of WMP production

Dairy prices are not predictable

Keith Woodford says predicting a specific season's milk payout price will always mislead; the best we can do is target a range over a longer time period

21st Apr 16, 7:23am

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford says predicting a specific season's milk payout price will always mislead; the best we can do is target a range over a longer time period

America’s mega dairy farms

Keith Woodford sees the huge dairy operations in the US being globally competitive but not focused on commodity markets

8th Apr 16, 9:03am

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford sees the huge dairy operations in the US being globally competitive but not focused on commodity markets

Understanding European Dairy

Keith Woodford says it is wrong to say that the European industry survives only because of subsidies

24th Mar 16, 2:50pm

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford says it is wrong to say that the European industry survives only because of subsidies

Fonterra: good news but some underlying issues

Keith Woodford gets under the hood of Fonterra's half year profit announcement and looks at what some of the figures tell us

23rd Mar 16, 2:52pm

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford gets under the hood of Fonterra's half year profit announcement and looks at what some of the figures tell us

Cutting through the spin at Fonterra

Keith Woodford wants Fonterra to get rid of the spin, communicate with its shareholders and other stakeholders with transparency, through good times and bad

17th Mar 16, 8:18am

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford wants Fonterra to get rid of the spin, communicate with its shareholders and other stakeholders with transparency, through good times and bad

Controlling dairy farm cost of production

Keith Woodford finds no silver bullet on how to make the right choices in the cost control battle - but he does find 'lots of little things' will give cost efficiency

9th Mar 16, 4:56pm

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford finds no silver bullet on how to make the right choices in the cost control battle - but he does find 'lots of little things' will give cost efficiency

A Fonterra thought experiment: where to from here?

Keith Woodford assesses Fonterra's strategic challenges, tactical options and looming risks

26th Feb 16, 10:38am

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford assesses Fonterra's strategic challenges, tactical options and looming risks

Surviving the dairy downturn as outlook goes from bad to awful

Keith Woodford says the key issue for many dairy farmers now is survival with NZ farmers needing to wait out European dairy restructuring

12th Feb 16, 1:34pm

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford says the key issue for many dairy farmers now is survival with NZ farmers needing to wait out European dairy restructuring

A2 cows are the future

Keith Woodford calls on NZ dairy farms to wake up to what is happening with A2 milk. Despite the NZ science base, local farmers have missed the boat and the economic benefit

27th Jan 16, 9:13am

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford calls on NZ dairy farms to wake up to what is happening with A2 milk. Despite the NZ science base, local farmers have missed the boat and the economic benefit

The year ahead for agri-food

Keith Woodford takes an expert look ahead, assessing what can be expected from the challenges and opportunities facing the New Zealand agri-food sector

14th Jan 16, 3:47pm

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford takes an expert look ahead, assessing what can be expected from the challenges and opportunities facing the New Zealand agri-food sector

Agri-food good news stories for 2015

Among the challenges of 2015 are some major success stories in the agri-food sector. Keith Woodford uncovers some of the stars

12th Dec 15, 1:39pm

by Keith Woodford

Among the challenges of 2015 are some major success stories in the agri-food sector. Keith Woodford uncovers some of the stars

Ongoing disruption and volatility in dairy

Keith Woodford reports on disruption and volatility in global dairy markets, with some players doing much better than others

26th Nov 15, 3:50pm

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford reports on disruption and volatility in global dairy markets, with some players doing much better than others

China demographics and the two child policy

Keith Woodford says changing China's child policies will only benefit dairy briefly. Tourism & old-age products are where big changes will occur

18th Nov 15, 10:24am

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford says changing China's child policies will only benefit dairy briefly. Tourism & old-age products are where big changes will occur

Non-seasonal dairy

Keith Woodford looks at the downstream realities for dairy farmers and concludes that, despite the upfront costs, non-seasonal free-stall barn systems will better respond to what value-add markets need

13th Nov 15, 10:54am

by Keith Woodford

China Business Summit and the online marketing of food

Keith Woodford says that ‘NZ Inc food baskets from down under’ are the multi-billion dollar opportunity for us in China. He calls for a comprehensive public/private partnership

11th Nov 15, 1:38pm

by Keith Woodford

Keith Woodford says that ‘NZ Inc food baskets from down under’ are the multi-billion dollar opportunity for us in China. He calls for a comprehensive public/private partnership