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Dairy cows - Source: ONE News -
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The government says it wants Fonterra to have a capital structure which equips it to take advantage of opportunities.
"Fonterra has a big impact on the New Zealand market, so its fortunes play a big part in the fortunes of our country," Prime Minister John Key told farmers in Wellington on Wednesday as Fonterra shareholders voted in Ashburton.
The shareholders approved two key steps in the Fonterra board's latest effort to re-jig the co-operative's capital structure.
"We want it to have a structure that puts it in as strong a position as possible to maximise its opportunities," Key told the Federated Farmers national council meeting.
Fonterra said in 2007 that its business strategy to aggressively pursue growth opportunities offshore required $3 billion to $5 billion over the following five years.
"I hope the process it is going through will bring about the changes that Fonterra - and New Zealand - needs to make the most of our opportunities in dairying," he said.
Fonterra chairman, Henry van der Heyden said Wednesday's votes to start changing Fonterra's capital structure will be seen by future generations of farmers as a significant step in the co-operative's evolution.
Votes which were 89% in favour of strengthening the share structure, and reducing the share price expressed "great confidence" in the co-operative and its future, he said.
A third resolution related to a constitutional change to allow the changes was agreed to by 92.21% of the farmers voting at the cooperative's annual meeting in Ashburton.
Voting was weighted according to a farmer's milkflows, with the larger suppliers having a bigger share of the vote.
Key was speaking at the Federated Farmers national council meeting.
He also told farmers the government wanted to see meat farmers taking ownership of the problems in their industry.
