By Philippa Stevenson
Dairy Board chairman John Storey could lose his job in the midst of the year's historic industry upheaval because of an election involving just 500 farmer voters.
In a vote that has also become a surprise straw poll of the momentous proposals to deregulate and reconfigure the industry,
Mr Storey's 20-year directorship of the New Zealand Dairy Group has received a strong challenge. The Dairy Group board puts Mr Storey on the Dairy Board, so the loss of one seat will cost him the other.
His challenger in this month's election in the Dairy Group Te Awamutu ward, top farmer Jim van der Poel, said he was well aware that the industry was at a pivotal point.
Mr van der Poel, who has the backing of heavyweights such as former Dairy Board chairman Sir Dryden Spring and former deputy chairman Doug Bull, said he had consulted widely to determine how crucial Mr Storey was to the industry. "We got quite a clear message that John wasn't [crucial]; that the industry was a lot bigger than any one person," he said.
"The comment was made that Sir Dryden left and the industry went along fine without him, and if John is not there the industry will go along well without him as well."
The award-winning dairy farmer, who has interests in four properties in the Waikato and two in Canterbury, rates his chances as very good.
"We are saying it is an extremely good time for a change because John and I have very different views about where the industry should end up and under what structure."
He believed Mr Storey had indicated he might retire in two years but the industry needed people longer-term.
"If they all [existing directors] retire in a couple of years' time, there is no ownership there, no long-term commitment."
Mr Storey, who said he intended remaining a director "just as long or as little as required," refused to comment on his value as Dairy Board chairman.
"It is a judgment call for farmers to make."
He had a responsibility to continue work already begun "whatever the outcome is, and that's what I'm very committed to."
