Long-standing Alliance Group director John Lindsay has been dumped by shareholders and Avondale sheep and beef farmer Russell Drummond appointed to the company's board.
Incumbent director Dawn Sangster, of Ranfurly, topped the farmer-director election, while Wanaka vet and farmer Mandy Bell was unsuccessful.
The results were announced at the company's annual meeting in Gore yesterday, where chairman Murray Taggart said there were ''sound commercial reasons'' why a merger with Silver Fern Farms was not realistic.
Mrs Sangster received 22,571,083 votes, Mr Drummond 21,604,339, Mr Lindsay 21,038,905 and Dr Bell 19,915,594.
Voter turnout was higher than previous years at 63%, compared with 49% last year, 25% in 2012 and 42% in 2011.
Mr Lindsay, who farms at Dipton, was first elected to the board in 2002. After serving four terms, a waiver was granted this year allowing him to stand for a fifth term, which raised the ire of Meat Industry Excellence.
Mr Taggart later defended the decision, saying it meant shareholders had an opportunity to decide whether they thought continuity was important or they wanted someone new.
Yesterday, Mr Taggart paid tribute to the ''significant'' contribution Mr Lindsay had made to the company.
''John's commitment and his willingness to share his knowledge and experience about the industry and farming in general will be missed,'' he said.
Mr Drummond and his wife Janeen have three breeding and fattening farms, comprising a total of 22,000 stock units. He and Dr Bell were both backed by MIE, which has been seeking meat industry reform.
While it had been a positive year for the sheep and beef sector with stock performance up and prices at historically high levels, the ''negative sentiment and preoccupation with mergers from some quarters'' was disappointing, Mr Taggart said.
''Our view on industry reform remains consistent. We will never chase scale at all costs and will only consider commercially viable solutions which benefit our shareholders,'' he said.
Fonterra's declining milk payout demonstrated that even the world's largest dairy exporter, with all its scale, could not ''swim against the tide of world markets''.
''There are sound commercial reasons why a merger of the co-operatives is not a realistic proposal.
"The high rationalisation costs, reducing livestock numbers and differences in balance sheet strength are significant factors that have to be considered,'' he said.
The company would continue to pursue ''commercially sensible opportunities'', he said.
Mr Taggart paid tribute to departing chief executive Grant Cuff, saying he left the company ''arguably in better shape than any of our competitors''.
Last month, Alliance Group announced an operating profit, before a $7 million pool payment distribution, of $17.6 million for the year to September, up from $8.4 million last year.
It was the first time in three years shareholders would receive a pool payment.
