Ohauiti dairy farmer Brian Riddington is pleased with Fonterra's milk price payout announcement of $6.70 before retentions for 2009/10; up from $5.21 last year.
The payout comprises a milk price of $6.10 per kilogram of milk solids and an annual dividend of 27 cents per share.

The payout means the average New Zealand dairy farmer who has 100 per cent share-backed supply for 2009/10 will receive a cash payout of $6.37 for every kgMS supplied during the season compared with last year's $5.20.
"I'm happy, anything over $6 you've got to be happy with," says Brian, who believes the payout has much to do with Fonterra's success as a cooperative.
"The exchange rate was good for a while too."
The payout is similar to what Brian was expecting.
"It was much closer to the figure I thought than was initially forecast."
Fonterra chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden says the 2009/10 milk price is Fonterra's second-highest to date and 29 per cent ahead of last year's milk price of $4.72.
"Fonterra has come through the recession well. Although business conditions remained volatile, customer demand returned and international dairy prices rose sharply.
"Despite drought conditions in the North Island, Fonterra collected a record 1286 million kgMS and set a new export record of 2.1 million tonnes of New Zealand dairy products."
Fonterra CEO Andrew Ferrier says the 2009/10 profit reflected a year of mixed underlying earnings, with a strong performance by consumer businesses but a reduced contribution from the ingredients businesses, largely due to volatility in international dairy markets.
Andrew says prices for some products such as cheese and casein, lagged international powder prices that were the main drivers of the milk price.
The board has forecast payout for the 2010/11 season to $7- $7.10 before retentions, including an unchanged forecast milk price of $6.60 per kgMS.