KEY POINTS:
Meat processor Silver Fern Farms is not worried that farmers who this week voted against a partnership with PGG Wrightson might jump ship to a competitor.
On Monday farmers voted 75.6 per cent in favour of selling half the Dunedin co-operative to listed rural services business PGG Wrightson for $220 million.
Chairman Eoin Garden said voting against the deal would not be enough to turn a supplier away from Silver Fern Farms.
"No I haven't [got any concerns] because at the end of the day farmers make the decision ... who they supply based on performance of the processor exporter.
"If we don't perform, sure we will lose our supplier base."
Federated Farmers Meat & Fibre chairman Bruce Wills said not many farmers who voted against the deal were likely to change company.
"There was a handful of people that jumped ship over the last couple of months, they were just so entirely uncomfortable with the [PGG Wrightson] involvement," Wills said.
"I would imagine those 24 odd per cent they'll be sitting and watching pretty closely ... if they like what they see they may be inclined to stay."
Meat & Wool New Zealand chairman Mike Petersen said the most defining event of the year would be having nine million fewer sheep to kill, triggering a procurement war among processors.
Silver Fern Farms was determined the opportunity with the strength of the balance sheet would not be whittled away by trying to fight or bury a competitor, Garden said.
The company would focus on what the market wanted. "It's not going to be process or numbers driven," he said. "If we can't get good returns from the marketplace, we're not going to process them for the hell of it."
Silver Fern Farms saw the approval of the partnership as a clear mandate to pursue industry consolidation.
The company had written to rival co-operative Alliance Group requesting they re-enter merger discussions but Alliance last month said it had serious concerns with the business case it could not see being satisfied.
"It's not if, it's when," Garden said. "There are good solid farmer directors around the Alliance board, gosh, they've got the same drivers, the same concerns about the future of the industry as I have."
