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Latest Responses (this topic): 23 Jan 2008: Chris McKenzie

Boards, commentators, listen up

22 January 2008

A bouquet to Graham Butcher who came out in today's Southland Times and said what many of us farmers have been thinking - that the dumping of John Turner and Murray Taggart was NOT a knee-jerk reaction.

Mr Butcher said in this column that the comments by various commentators in the rural newspapers implied that "shareholders don't know what's happening in the industry and don't really understand why the industry is not performing."

"Not only are the commentators views wrong but they are also arrogant views."

I agree with Mr Butcher and I don't see why a commentator should think he is any the more knowledgable than the company's shareholders.

Is not the farmer the one who is most dependent on the market? He is the one that profits or goes broke as a result. Meanwhile, the commentator still collects his pay packet, shrugs his shoulders and moves on to spout off or write more inaccurate information on another subject.

- C Davis
Eastern Southland

Response from Chris McKenzie

23 January 2008:

I couldn't agree more with C Davis of Eastern Southland and Graham Butcher.

For too long farmers have been looked down upon and treated with little respect by our meat company directors etc.

We've been happy enough to put up with it as long as no one was annoying us too much but the poor lamb prices and the arrogance of the meat companies earlier on when they kept blaming the exchange rate was the final straw.

I'm not an Alliance shareholder but I was pleased to see that shareholders were able to make some headway at their elections.

I just hope that meat company directors and farmers remember that us farmers actually own these co-operatives, not the chief executives, not the directors. We're all equal and I would hope that everyone in the industry is quite aware of that now.