Last week, Mr Richardson announced a group of farmer shareholders was seeking support to force the co-operative's board to call a special meeting.
Such a meeting could be called on the written request of shareholders holding shares carrying together not less than 5% of the voting rights entitled to be exercised on the issue.
The non-binding resolution, which the group wanted considered, was that the board be required to provide all shareholders with a full analysis of the potential benefits and risks of a merger, along with a comprehensive risk mitigation plan, verified by an independent firm.
Yesterday, Mr Richardson said feedback to the proposal had been ''fantastic'' and it was now a case of not if the 5% threshold would be reached, but when the votes were going to come in.
The group was concerned that the $100 million the co-operative was seeking in outside capital would likely be foreign capital. It believed a merger with Alliance Group was a very good option.
In a recent update to suppliers, Silver Fern Farms chairman Rob Hewett and chief executive Dean Hamilton said the process to evaluate new capital investment was ''continuing to advance along''.
While it was initially thought there would be something to report back to farmers in June, that was now more likely to be July or August.
''There has been widespread interest and it is taking time to work our way through the process of advancing these indicative proposals to something more concrete,'' they said.
Comment and speculation continued in the media about consolidation of the co-operatives and while the company was not promoting that interest, nor could it stop it, as individuals were free to express their opinions and preferences.
The company had considered and initiated discussion concerning potential consolidation of a range of different opportunities ''a number of times over a number of years'' to no avail.
The board believed it was in the best interests of the company to continue down the path of evaluating potential new capital investment as a means of accelerating the move to a more sustainable capital structure and providing incremental capital for investment in its value-added strategy and ongoing plant efficiency improvements.
