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OPINION: This old mutt hears that the voices of dissent in sheep and beef farming circles are growing louder about what they believe is the (non) performance of Beef + Lamb NZ - especially its top executive and CEO Sam McIvor.
Voting closed on May 31 in the dairy industry's milksolids levy referendum.
Interim voting results from Electionz.com, the company that ran the vote on behalf of industry body DairyNZ, show 60% of 14,436 eligible farmers voted and 78% voted 'yes' to continue the levy.
"It's a fantastic result and all credit goes to those who have voted and taken a proactive stance on driving our industry forward. It's a strong mandate on all the indicators. That's what we wanted from our farmers – and that's what they have delivered," he says.
DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle says sharemilkers in particular responded to the call to have their say, and their vote is up 13% on last time. "That lift combined with more farm owners voting really made a difference," he says.
"I'd like to thank every farmer who voted and those who helped us win this support. It gives us a mighty platform going forward. While this is a vote of confidence, we know we have to a lot of work ahead of us.
"Farmers have given us some clear messages during this campaign about what we need to achieve in the next six years. We have to meet a number of key strategic targets including delivering farm systems research to help reduce our environmental footprint by 30%, while increasing profits.
"Dairy farmers aim to keep the New Zealand dairy industry internationally competitive and to continue to reduce its environmental impact."
Dr Mackle says final results will be determined once the total milksolids produced for the 2013/14 season is known – hopefully by the end of June. "I expect some change but nothing significant. We're still waiting for those final figures from the dairy companies," he says.
