‘Two New Directors Welcomed to Silver Fern Farms’ Board’

‘Two New Directors Welcomed to Silver Fern Farms’ Board’

Farmer shareholders have elected Dan Jex-Blake of Gisborne and Richard Young of Gore to the Silver Fern Farms’ Board of Directors.

The results of the election which closed at 3.00pm on Friday, 13 December were:

•          Richard Young:                 36,155,094

•          Dan Jex-Blake:                  25,511,166

•          David Shaw:                       19,435,482

The voter turnout was 26.76% of eligible voters, up from 16.70% in the previous election in 2010. 

Chairman-elect Rob Hewett says the increase in voter turnout reflects the understanding of a need for real reform across the industry.

“We are acutely aware of the need to keep up momentum for reform and we saw the increased farmer turnout at this election as a key indicator of farmers’ desire to support the co-operative,” Mr Hewett says.

“The Meat Industry Excellence group members’ election platform was well aligned to the Silver Fern Farms Board’s own vision – in particular their call for farmers to support co-operatives and farmer ownership, so we take great heart in that farmers have voted for such a movement and we look forward to increased farmer support at an operational level.

“I look forward to officially welcoming Richard and Dan onto the Board. We have been progressing options for industry change over the past 18 months, and their farmer support base will be invaluable as we continue to look at ways for farmer ownership to drive change and improve farmer control of the sector.

“While this election has shown farmers want change, we can’t let the momentum fall away. Our Board is investigating options for change. Farmers now need to step up and jointly drive that momentum for change. The next step for farmers is to see increased numbers of farmers exclusively supplying their co-operatives.”

Votes were received from 1,351 eligible voters from a total of 5,049 eligible voters. To become eligible shareholders needed to meet requirements that included supplying a minimum level of stock for processing over the past two seasons.

ENDS

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