Farmers pressured on how to vote

Sheep farmers have been urged to agree to getting back only a third of their industry's reserve funds, or risk Government intervention.

The warning came from Wool Board chairman Bruce Munro, as he outlined the board's plan to distribute $109 million in board assets. Growers will vote on the plan this month.

Munro, addressing a Federated Farmers meat and fibre section meeting in Christchurch, said a weak vote would make it more difficult to pass legislation which included winding up the board.



He would resign if there was a "no" vote.

And if the board directors resigned en masse, there was a risk the Government would get involved and put some form of statutory management in place.

Of the $109 million in assets, about $70 million would be available for distribution after transition funding ($17 million) and wind-up costs ($22 million) were taken out, he said.

The wind-up costs included lease buy-outs, closures, redundancies and a British pension scheme inherited from the International Wool Secretariat.

Under the plan for the $70.2 million reserves distribution, $2.2 million will go to establishing the industry-good research organisation SheepCo and $32.1 million will be invested in new commercial sheep-product companies, leaving $35.9 million for distribution to growers.

- NZPA