Fonterra chairman John Wilson says that the past year has tested the resilience of both the nation's biggest company and its shareholders.
The dairy co-operative's annual general meeting is underway in Southland - and canvassing everything from the botulism scare to the sector's efforts to become sustainable.
Mr Wilson told farmers at Fonterra's Edendale plant that the company's independent report into the botulism scare was a wake-up call and showed the company failed to connect the dots and couldn't manage the resulting crisis.
He said Fonterra was determined to become the best in class when it came to food safety.
Both Mr Wilson and chief executive Theo Spierings spoke about the impact of the drought earlier this year - which caused milk production to fall by about 200,000 tonnes - seriously hurting the performance of its retail business.
Both men noted that the Trading Among Farmers capital scheme allowed Fonterra to increase the advance rate for milk it paid farmers - giving them a financial buffer.
They also spoke about Fonterra farmers' efforts to reduce the impacts of their farms on the environment by planting fences.
But Mr Spierings said New Zealand needed to dramatically lift its game when it comes to sustainability - and he didn't mean just farmers.
Mr Wilson said that the immediate future was bright with a record payout projected.
Shareholders stand to receive $8.30 per kilogram of milk solids.
"Global dairy demand is forecast to grow by 120 billion litres, by 2021, with 40 billion litres of that in freely-traded markets, mostly in emerging markets," he said.
"In New Zealand, we expect to see 2% or 3 billion litres growth over the same time period".
While the global milk demand was expected to grow at 2% a year, in China it was expected to grow 7% a year through to 2020, while milk supply would grow by only 4%.
