Lobby groups milk last days

By KEVIN TAYLOR

A war is being waged in cowsheds and country halls for the hearts and minds of dairy farmers as the crucial but increasingly uncertain vote looms on the GlobalCo mega-merger.

A protest group has made a late charge against the proposal ahead of the vote by the country's 14,500 dairy farmers.

Farmers for a Better Dairy Deal held three protest meetings yesterday in the Waikato - at a country hall between Cambridge and Hamilton, a Karapiro cowshed and a Hamilton hotel.

Meanwhile, GlobalCo representatives were pushing the merger to about 40 farmers at the Whakamaru hall near Mangakino.

Numbers attending meetings organised by both sides may be small and the venues rustic, but the topic is global in dimension.

Dairy products are 20 per cent of New Zealand's exports, and GlobalCo is an attempt to build an international, multi-billion dollar company.

Opponents of the $12 billion plan claim they have been belittled and intimidated as GlobalCo reaches the end of a hectic schedule of 60 meetings to explain it.

The Herald has been barred from GlobalCo meetings, but not from those of the dissident group.

GlobalCo supporters had been confident the vote would be for a merger, but in recent weeks concern is growing that farmers might reject it.

Of Dairy Group's 7500 shareholders, 4500 are in the Waikato - hence the number of meetings both sides have organised in the region. More are planned for today.

Dairy Group's shareholders will vote on Monday at a special meeting at Matamata's Totara Christian Centre, with video linkups to other shareholder meetings in Ashburton and Invercargill.

Kiwi shareholders will vote on the same day at a special meeting in Hawera.

Proxy votes can be cast, and have to be in by Friday.

The 19 farmers who drove to Hank Weijer's windswept Karapiro cowshed yesterday listened patiently to the opposition group's three spokespeople.

Mangatautari dairy farmer Terry Talbot said he came to hear the other side of the story. Even at this late stage he is undecided.

"I know it's late to be sitting on the fence, but I'm keen on alternatives to GlobalCo and keen to hear what they are."

The opposition group believes GlobalCo is a deal to fix a stalemate between the two merging companies, Kiwi and NZ Dairy Group, over who controls the Dairy Board.

Co-leader Hilary Webber told the gathering at Mr Weijer's cowshed that GlobalCo would not work.

The Taranaki dairy farmer and former Dairy Group director said two strong cooperatives would give farmers higher milk prices.

"We have huge concerns about one large, monolithic cooperative - whether it will become fat and lazy. We are saying there are other solutions ... and GlobalCo will not do the business for us."

Later, at the Quality Hotel, about 90 farmers listened patiently to the same message.



The 40 dairy farmers who met at Whakamaru yesterday broadly supported the merger, said GlobalCo spokesman Earl Rattray.

He was optimistic the proposal would attract support throughout the Waikato, where other GlobalCo meetings were being held yesterday and today.

Whakamaru farmer John Guthrie, who had not decided which way to vote before yesterday's meeting, came away in support.

He was reassured by hearing GlobalCo chairman John Roadley speak about the company's vision for a stronger dairy industry.

Graeme Lynn, another Whakamaru farmer who had been sitting on the fence, said political infighting was confusing the issue.

"There is really no alternative [to the merger]. Now we can all pull together."