Young switches focus

Richard Young
Richard Young
Meat Industry Excellence's chairman has stepped down and is campaigning for a seat on the board of Silver Fern Farms (SFF).

West Otago farmer Richard Young was re-elected as chairman of the red meat industry reform group late last month, but resigned last week to seek a seat on the SFF board.

Mr Young said Meat Industry Excellence was still committed to seeing its vision of industry consolidation through, but part of that was having stronger farmer representation on the boards of New Zealand's two biggest processing co-operatives.

''We had meetings last week and the commitment and resolve from the group is incredible,'' Mr Young said. He will be joined by fellow Meat Industry Excellence committee member Dan Jex-Blake, of Gisborne, in seeking a seat on the Silver Fern Farms board.

Mr Young said he was ''backing'' himself in the elections.

''It's going to give suppliers some clear choices around whether they want to stick with the status quo, which I don't believe has served them well, or whether they want to back a new model and bring some stable profitability back into the sector.''

He hoped to gain a seat on the board so farmers could ''own that value chain'' and to return value back to farmers.

''It's a different challenge and I certainly believe to instigate that change we need to get on those boards,'' Mr Young said.

''We can't just sit back and rely on the meat industry to make the change for us.''

Mr Young has been replaced as chairman of Meat Industry Excellence by Ohakune sheep and beef farmer John McCarthy.

Mr McCarthy endorsed Mr Young's aspirations, saying he was ''a very astute and capable bloke - he is utterly incorruptible''.

- Timothy Brown. 

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