Alliance Group shareholders are being urged to vote in this year's director elections. Six candidates are nominated for two vacancies.
Voting closes on December 15.
Doug Brown (North Otago) and Murray Donald (Winton) are retiring by rotation.
The candidates are Mark Adams (Fairlie), Stuart Baird (Winton), Gray Baldwin (Putaruru), Jared Collie (Dipton), Jason Miller (Southdown) and Ike Williams (Pleasant Point).
Mr Adams described it as a critical but exciting time for Alliance Group. It was the time for the co-operative to have a strong focus on its core purpose to treat shareholders equitably and with transparency, reward loyal shareholder suppliers, pay a dividend on shareholder capital, and be a market leader, he said.
Mr Baird said more value must be extracted from the market- place by being customer focused and that was where the greatest financial returns to farmers would come from. The potential was ''huge'' to add value through branding, marketing and new product development, he said.
Mr Baldwin was ''particularly passionate'' about where Alliance Group headed with its marketing.
''We need to be absolutely clear whether we should invest globally in our major brand Pure South or whether the opportunities are more in food service,'' he said.
Mr Collie said there needed to be greater returns for shareholders, improved financial performance, a return to core co-operative principles, capability and diversity on the board, open and transparent communication, and an improved beef business.
Mr Miller, who was dumped from the board in 2013, said the company ran the risk of becoming exposed to a ''relatively inexperienced'' board, given the high level of turnover. It was for that reason, combined with his ''passion and commitment'' for the industry, that he sought re-election.