Top wool advocate bales out
The conversion of productive farmland into trees has pretty much annihilated the wool industry.
"We're really chuffed," MIE chairman John McCarthy told Rural News after the result was announced today (Thursday).
He believes the 61.5% support should be sufficient to persuade BLNZ's board to act on it.
"Take the PGP turnout: they authorised spending $22m on an equivalent turnout and lower percentage vote so I think there's a precedent."
MIE's expenses are an order of magnitude lower and, he stresses, are just that – expenses only.
"I want to make it very clear we're all still in volunteer mode. This money is not to fund any salaries or the time invested. This is just for travel and expenses related to meetings and obtaining advice."
MIE's strategy prior to last week's BLNZ annual meeting was not to lobby or publicise the vote, in contrast to its all out, and successful, campaigns to get directors onto the boards of Alliance and Silver Fern Farms.
By not lobbying, McCarthy says the result represents a true, or even conservative indication of the support for MIE's activities.
"We did not want to be representing people who did not want to be represented."
As it is, the result probably represents an underestimate of the support because McCarthy says "you can guarantee" everyone against what MIE stands for would have made the effort to vote, but many of those in support may have been less motivated.
"Voter turnout is an endemic problem in New Zealand," he notes, reflecting on the 14.3% turnout of the 17,142 farmers on the BLNZ voting register.
Electionz.com says the weighted turnout was 24% based on 30.9m sheep, 3.69m beef and 6.44m dairy cattle as of June 2013.
McCarthy says MIE's next move is to push for an industry summit and to that end it is "mapping out" the long list of stakeholders that would need to attend.
"We're still trying to get the Minister to endorse a summit. He is the leader of our industry after all."
The aim of the summit will be to thrash out a policy that can deliver on the two legs of the three-legged Red Meat Sector Strategy beyond the farm gate: procurement and marketing.
McCarthy says if MIE can facilitate a move to more contracted supply, the companies must play their part and deliver a coordinated marketing model.
"We're on the cusp of the biggest protein boom but because of all the leaks in the value chain we can't take advantage of it. We need committed and contracted supply."
Farmers are understandably "hugely suspicious" of contracts having been burnt by seeing less committed suppliers better rewarded in the past, so if the committed supply companies say they need is to happen, it will require change on both sides, he adds.
"You can't reward people who are not contracted or committed better than those who are."
The BLNZ vote also saw a remit to use remaining wool levies to prepare a business case and referendum proposal for a new wool levy pass with 68% support, and a resolution to form a single Genetics body passed by 43,564 votes (78%) to 9329 against, and 1844 abstentions.
Resolutions to reappoint KPMG as auditors and hold maximum annual aggregate remuneration of directors at $320,250 for the year to September 2014 were also passed.
The results of the farmer remits will be considered by the Beef + Lamb New Zealand Board when it meets in April.
