Capital Structure Vote Online
Fonterra’s 10,500 farmer shareholders will be able to choose online voting to cast their vote during the voting period this month for capital structure constitutional changes - Trading Among Farmers.
Fonterra has introduced online voting on its Fencepost website to complement the more traditional voting methods.
General Manager Milk Supply, Tim Deane, says: “Our first preference would be to see as many farmers as possible at the special meeting on June 30, but we realise that even with seven venues it is often difficult for our farmers to get there given the distances many of them have to travel.
“So what we have set out to do is to make it as convenient as possible for them to vote from home.
“Farmers will still be able to vote by post, fax or proxy. But with more of them using the internet for their day to day business, it made sense to include online voting,”
Fonterra estimates that 90 per cent of its farmer shareholders are regular users of the Fencepost site.
“During the season, many of our farmers are accessing the internet on a daily basis to check their milk production figures and milk quality data.
“They do this through the Co-operative’s farmer internet Fencepost which links directly to the electionz.com voting engine,” says Mr Deane.
To vote online farmers simply have to log on to the Fencepost homepage and click through a secure link to the electionz.com voting area using the individualised username and password posted to each of them last week.
Mr Deane believes the convenience of online voting will make it popular with farmers.
“However, whichever method they use, it is important that farmers cast their vote and have their say. The vote on June 30 could be as defining as the decision to form the Co-operative.
“The important thing for farmers to remember is that if they can’t make it to the meeting and they choose to vote online - or by post, fax or proxy – they need to have lodged their vote by 11:00am on June 28.
About Fonterra
Fonterra is a global leader in dairy nutrition – the preferred supplier of dairy ingredients to many of the world’s leading food companies. Fonterra is also a market leader with our own consumer dairy brands in Australia/New Zealand, Asia/Africa, Middle East and Latin America.
The farmer-owned New Zealand co-operative is the largest processor of milk in the world, producing more than two million tonnes of dairy ingredients, value added dairy ingredients, specialty ingredients and consumer products every year. Drawing on generations of dairy expertise, Fonterra is one of the largest investors in dairy based research and innovation in the world. Our 16,000 staff work across the dairy spectrum from advising farmers on sustainable farming and milk production, to ensuring we live up to exacting quality standards and delivering every day on our customer promise in more than 100 markets around the world.
