International dairy product prices are pushing sharply higher, driven by strong demand from China.

Higher dairy export prices have driven New Zealand's terms of trade to their highest point since 1973, Statistics NZ says.

If we want the dairy industry to lift national income we will have to pay the price in terms of increasing degradation of rivers and other water bodies, says Brian Fallow.

Fonterra has to lift its game in food safety and quality, and also sustainability, says chief executive Theo Spierings.

Shanghai Pengxin and the Synlait founders have crossed the 90 per cent compulsory acquisition threshold in their $85.7 million takeover bid for Synlait Farms.

Australia's largest dairy cooperative Murray Goulburn (MG) looks set to follow Fonterra in adopting a specialised financial instrument to expand its capital base while retaining exclusive farmer ownership and control.

Units in the Fonterra Shareholders' Fund traded at their lowest point in just under a year after the dairy co-op said it had factored in a $157 million loss provision.

Prices of dairy products fell in the second straight GlobalDairyTrade auction overnight.

Botulism scare avoidable if responsibility passed swiftly to top management: review chairman.

That the scare turned out to be the result of a false positive test does not mitigate the need for Fonterra to up its game, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

Shanghai Pengxin, which bought the Crafar family farms last year, is involved in an offer to buy Synlait Farms.

Fonterra's botulism scandal was one of the "greatest gifts" the company could have given to the Chinese Government, according to a visiting foreign correspondent.

French food giant Danone says it will lose more than half a billion dollars in sales in the current financial year as a result of Fonterra's botulism false alarm.

An infant formula exporter has slammed the service a taxpayer-funded business support centre in Shanghai provided to a delegation of New Zealand companies.

Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings says a "she'll be right attitude" was one of the causes of the company's botulism fiasco.

A recent discovery that agricultural practices help form clouds could change the way we see New Zealand's environmental performance.

Fonterra's botulism scare will be one of the key themes of this year's China Business Summit, which takes place today.

There is understandable concern that the recent food contamination scandals in China could have a corrosive effect on the trading relationship between China and New Zealand.

Fuelling dairy cows on high-end rations created from food waste has put Auckland's EcoStock in the running for a million-dollar business prize.