The Country: The chief executive of Silver Fern Farms defends the cooperative’s decision to close the Fairton plant in Ashburton with the resultant loss of 370 jobs.
The decision to close Silver Fern Farms' Fairton plant has been "a long time coming" according to Chief Executive Dean Hamilton.
Mr Hamilton spoke to The Country's Jamie Mackay after he had the difficult task of telling 377 people they no longer had jobs at the plant.
Sheep numbers inthe South Island have moved from 20 million to 14 million says Hamilton and this gradual change has had an impact on the capacity for Silver Fern Farms. This has resulted in the decision to only have one plant in the South Island at Pareora.
Also in this interview: Dean Hamilton talks to Jamie about what's next for those who don't want to move out of Ashburton, and addresses the rumours of a water bottling plant with Shanghai Maling.
Have a listen to the full interview in the audio clip above.
