Mr McCarthy, the immediate past chairman of the Meat Industry Excellence group, issued a statement on what could be the eve of a massive cash injection from a Bright Foods subsidiary.
Silver Fern executives have been in China negotiating a deal that is expected to be released tomorrow or Thursday.
Silver Fern is seeking about $100 million from investors, at the behest of its banking syndicate, to pay down debt.
The move has been unpopular among some dissident shareholder suppliers and a group led by West Otago farmer Allan Richardson has been using every means to alert farmers to what it sees as a dangerous situation for the farmer-owned co-operative.
Mr McCarthy took aim at Finance Minister Bill English for his comments last week that farmers would make the decision on the future ownership of the co-operative and they needed to stump up with the cash if they wanted to keep control.
Silver Fern was the country's largest sheep and beef exporter. The future of the co-operative was potentially the thin end of the wedge for the sector, he said.
''The Minister's throwaway comments ignore the fact Chinese money, with government backing, has cost of capital of around 1%. Maybe our Government, if it is serious about our sovereignty, our rural communities and family farm as a regional cornerstone, should, in an attempt to level the playing field, provide farmers with an equivalent concessional rate. Similarly, perhaps, to their involvement around South Canterbury Finance.
''There is a sad irony this Government seems quite comfortable to promote deals with Saudi farmers to the tune of $11million but is disinclined to assist or be even involved on the home front.''
The alliance between Silver Fern and the Chinese would have ramifications for New Zealand's traditional trading relationships.
At home, it raised questions about the ongoing integrity of the Primary Growth Partnership funding and, specifically, the Red Meat Profit Partnership, Mr McCarthy said.
Given a lot of the Primary Growth Partnership money was extracted from meat board reserves, the custodians of those funds must ask whether that money should be used for the benefit of foreign value chain investments.
The same question deserved to be debated on behalf of the New Zealand taxpayer.
