Silver Fern Farms chairman Eoin Garden will stand down from the board at the company's annual meeting in December.
Mr Garden, from Avenel Station at Millers Flat, joined the board of what was then known as PPCS in 1998 and was elected chairman in 2008.
He was on his way back from a food fair in Germany yesterday but, in an email to suppliers this week, he said he had appreciated all of the support he had received during his years as chairman.
Both he and fellow director David Shaw were retiring by rotation at the company's annual meeting in Dunedin on December 18.
Mr Shaw, a Clinton farmer, was standing for re-election.
Nominations for the election close at 5pm on November 6.
Candidates must be nominated by two shareholders, each of whom must hold voting rights and must have supplied stock to the company since September 1 last year.
