Family farmers' voices on TAF not heard

The Green Party are concerned that the voices of family farmers have not been heard in the changes to Fonterra, Green Party agriculture spokesperson Steffan Browning said today.

Fonterra's voting system is based on the size of shareholding so the members who produce more milk get more votes than smaller farmers.

"Fonterra's voting structure means that the voices of family farmers are not heard as loudly as they should be," said Mr Browning.

"Family farmers are the basis of what is good about our largest export sector and their views should be amplified.

"The Fonterra board has been pushing towards the corporatisation of Fonterra, which conflicts with the co-operative model.

"From this shift it's a slippery slope to more overseas ownership and larger farms, putting more stress on the family farms that care the most about high quality products, their local communities and their environment.

"A 66% vote is not the sign of huge support that Fonterra executives were expecting.

"I would be very interested to know the results in terms of the actual number of farmers who voted for TAF as the shareholder vote is weighted towards larger producers.

"The need to continually hold votes on TAF shows that the Fonterra executive does not have strong support.

"The whole process of developing TAF was not well communicated. Farmers just didn't have the information that they needed to participate in the democratic process."