A decision on whether the Southern Dairy Hub will proceed could be made by the end of the month after farmer contributions failed to meet the $2 million target.
An unofficial figure of $1,253,100 had been pledged by 502 out of 932 farms when the deadline passed this week.
There were still postal pledges to come in and, once they were received, trustees of the Southern Dairy Development Trust would consult and meet DairyNZ and AgResearch, chairman Matthew Richards said.
The two industry partners had pledged $10 million but that support was conditional on sufficient local support.
Mr Richards, who thanked the southern community for its support, was hopeful DairyNZ and AgResearch would recognise the level of support received ''given the circumstances''.
There was a ''huge'' rush of last-minute pledges, which was very heartening, although Fonterra's forecast further 20c milk price drop announced on Thursday impacted on the campaign, on top of the already much lower forecast payout, he said.
''The hub becomes even more critical for the region in a low-milk-payout environment, as it will have a key role to play in finding ways to increase efficiencies and productivity, and reduce costs,'' he said.
He expected the consultation process to take about a month and hoped a decision would be made by the end of May.
