Reading Time: 3 minutes By Sir Henry van der Heyden, Fonterra chair from 2002 to 2012, Foodstuffs North Island director and Fonterra supplier I’ve been watching the recent butter debate in New Zealand with a mix of determination, frustration and déjà vu. Determination, because it’s clear we need to find ways to keep one of our most iconic staples within reach for Kiwi households. Frustration, because the conversation has quickly turned into farmers versus supermarkets when the truth is, we’re all supposed to be on the same team. And déjà vu, because I’ve seen this dynamic before, in both paddocks and boardrooms. Right now, supermarkets – including Foodstuffs – are using butter as a “loss leader”, selling it at a price lower than what it costs us to buy in, purely to help customers under pressure. It’s not a marketing gimmick. It’s a way to ease the strain for households facing tough budgets. The flip side is that it’s not sustainable forever, and it puts heat on other parts of the value chain. As a farmer and as former Fonterra chair, I know exactly what high butter prices mean on the land. I’ll never forget the seasons when a lift in global dairy prices felt like a well-deserved try under the posts – the result of years of hard work, tough calls, and a fair bit of luck with the weather. But I also remember that those same prices can feel like a yellow card against the home crowd when they translate to bigger grocery bills. This is where we can take a lesson from our national game. Farmers are the forward pack, doing the hard graft in all conditions, fighting for every inch of progress. Fonterra is like the distributor, deciding when to kick for territory by absorbing price changes and when to spread it wide to the backs. Supermarkets are part of that backline, getting the product into the hands of New Zealanders and making the last pass before the try is scored. Shoppers are both the try-scorers and the home crowd – their enthusiasm, loyalty and support at the checkout keep the whole game alive. When everyone’s in sync, it’s magic. But when the pack, the distributor and the backs start blaming each other for the scoreboard, we lose momentum. While we’re arguing among ourselves, the real opposition – global competitors who’d be more than happy to intercept our export markets and even our domestic shelves – are watching for weaknesses to exploit. Butter is a good example of a win that isn’t easy. To get it to the shelf at a more affordable price right now, some parts of the team are taking bigger hits than others. Supermarkets are taking the immediate financial knock; farmers have already weathered seasons of fluctuating payouts and rising on-farm costs; consumers are still juggling household budgets under pressure. But there’s a bigger picture. Farmers are the backbone of rural communities, supermarkets keep thousands of local people employed, and shoppers keep the whole system turning over by choosing to buy local. The point is, we’re not opponents. We’re all wearing the same jersey – the silver fern of “OneNZInc”. We want thriving farms, profitable businesses, and families who can afford to put quality food on the table. That means recognising that sometimes you’re in the ruck, sometimes you’re in the clear, and sometimes you’re just holding the line so someone else can make a break. Butter prices will rise and fall. Weather will turn good and bad. Markets will open and close. The only constant we can control is how we choose to play together. If we can resist the temptation to see each other as the problem and instead see each other as teammates, then every win – whether it’s in a paddock, a store, or a kitchen – is a win for all of us. In rugby, the scoreboard only matters at full-time. In the food game, the final whistle never blows, but the principle is the same: play hard, play fair, and play for each other.