Your Co-operative Update
9 June 2026
Dear Valued Shareholder,
Here we are at the beginning of another season!
This update begins with a video message filmed late last week from us; Duncan Coull as your Board chair and Kelvin Wickham, chief executive. As we finish one season, we are focused on the season ahead to spring providing a supply update. You can watch it by clicking on the button below.
When we presented our refreshed strategy at the Shareholder Roadshow earlier this year, we committed to regularly reporting back to you on our progress towards achieving the three focus areas of our strategy:1. Supplying nutrients reliably; 2. Boosting farm performance, and 3. Driving farming forward.
We’ve shared some of the progress made towards delivering the strategy in this update as well.
Supplying nutrients reliably
Spring supply update
We’ve been working on securing spring supply for some time. We’ve built extra resilience into our supply chain through longer lead times, sourcing from multiple regions, leveraging our strong relationships and monitoring the market closely.
With the subsequent conflict in the Middle East, we’re also securing contingency volumes for selected products.
Please work with your Nutrient Specialist to create a plan early; they play a crucial role in helping you create nutrient plans to support your goals. This in turn helps us make sure we have the nutrients you need when you need them.
Most of our products are subject to price at time of shipment, which means pricing will depend on the market and movements in shipping and supply chain costs.
Our locally manufactured products – phosphate from Awarua and nitrogen from Kapuni – remain an important part of our nutrient supply mix as well.
Awarua superphosphate production
An exciting progamme of work is underway to increase capacity, capability and production at our Awarua superphosphate plant in Invercargill with the aim of supplying reliable, cost-effective superphosphate to you, our farmers and growers.
To do this, we’re working to transform the plant from a variable regional manufacturing hub into a steady-state national superphosphate plant that supplies about 320,000T into both the North and South Islands.
We’re currently redesigning shift patterns and recruiting the extra people needed at the plant as one of the first steps to achieving this production and supply target for our customers up and down the country.
Optimising our distribution network
Likewise, we’re focused on ensuring our distribution network is as reliable and efficient as it can be today, and into the future.
That means good levels of product quality, excellent levels of service, and optimised infrastructure locations across the whole country.
There’s a lot going on in the network and some of the key activity over the next 12-18 months includes:
- A new service centre build in Kaikohe. We temporarily closed the existing Kaikohe Service Centre two weeks ago and have diverted operations through to Waipapa for the duration of the new build.
- The upgrade of our Timaru Service Centre is underway and due for completion later in 2026.
- A new service centre build in Gore is also in the pipeline over this period.
Boosting farm performance
Updates to our customer service model
We’re always looking for better ways to deliver value for you as a co-op customer and shareholder.
We’re making some updates to our customer service model and introducing different types of support for different customer needs.
The changes are designed to improve what matters most – making sure we’re providing high-quality advice that’s proactive and consistent and doing this more efficiently.
Last month, our Nutrient Specialists began contacting customers to let them know what this may mean for them. For some customers there’s no change, for others the way we support them may be different going forward.
If you haven’t heard from your Ballance rep yet – they will be in touch with you over the coming weeks to share what the changes may mean for you.
People
We welcome a new GM Customer
Last month we farewelled Jason Minkhorst as GM Customer at Ballance.
Jason has crossed the ditch and taken on the role of Regional General Manager at Ridley Corporation. We wish him and his family all the best for their next chapter and thank Jason for his excellent service to the co-operative over the past eight years.
We are also pleased to announce the appointment of Hamish Hobson as our new GM Customer.
Hamish is an agribusiness and commercial leader with over 20 years’ experience across finance, sales, customer leadership and general management within co-operatives and food manufacturing organisations.
This includes his roles as Global Key Account Manager, Nestlé for Fonterra, based in Singapore; Chief Executive at My Milk and senior leadership roles within Fonterra Farm Source. After a long tenure at Fonterra, Hamish moved to Tatua in 2021, where he is currently Senior Business Manager for the Food & Flavours portfolio.
We look forward to Hamish joining us later in the year.
Partners
Ballance Farm Environment Awards
Congratulations to the following BFEA Regional Supreme Winners who will be vying for the National Ambassador title at the Sustainability Showcase in Christchurch on 2 July:
- Northland – Alan Dobbie, Wiroa Horticulture
- Auckland – Donald & Kirsten Watson, Morelands Pastoral
- Waikato – Fiona & John Sherlock, Otorohaea Ltd.
- Bay of Plenty – Charles Russell & Tom Heeney, Mātai Pacific Iwi Collective
- East Coast – Jamie & Nicky Gaddum, Matangi Station
- Taranaki – Philip & Lyneyre Hooper, Hoopman Family Trust
- Horizons – Jarred & Bronwyn Clode, Te Hou Farms Limited Partnership
- Greater Wellington – Clarence & Elise Stolte, Stolte Ag
- Canterbury – Paul & Kerry Harmer, Castle Ridge Station
- Otago – Luke & Nicole Kane, Westholme Dairies
- Southland – Tony & Michelle Roberts, Kate Roberts & Mark Lieshout, Top Deck Trading
Ahuwhenua Trophy
Another huge congratulations to Matai Pacific Iwi Collective which on Friday night was named winner of the 2026 Ahuwhenua Trophy – New Zealand’s most prestigious award for excellence in Maori horticulture!
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Finally, from 15 June, Ballance will be calling for nominations for the upcoming 2026 Director Elections with two of our shareholder-elected directors retiring by rotation this year.
If you’re passionate about the future of the co-operative and committed to make an active contribution to New Zealand agribusiness, we’d strongly urge you to consider standing.
Good governance requires strong diversity of skill, thoughts and backgrounds alongside sound judgement and strategic thinking. It’s important that our board is reflective of this.
If you haven’t already, you’ll soon receive information about the Director Elections in the post, so keep an eye on the letterbox.
Please feel free to reach out to either of us directly anytime, via email or phone, with any questions or feedback.
Or better yet, we’ll be at the National Fieldays this week. Come and see us at the Ballance tent, site E77, for a coffee and a pie.
Warm regards,
Duncan Coull
Chair
Duncan.Coull@xtra.co.nz
027 472 7110
Kelvin Wickham
Chief Executive
Kelvin.Wickham@ballance.co.nz
021 513 028