"Ultimately shareholders require a dividend on their investment."
Herbert farmer Jo Hay wants to see consistent returns to Silver Fern Farms shareholders that reward them for their loyalty and supply. To do that, the company must run profitably, she said.
"I have watched our company morph into a very profitable business that has made considerable investments in both capital expenditure and in market, this has been necessary.
"However right now in business across the country, from the government to our own farm businesses and everything in between the theme is efficiency. Silver Fern Farms is no exception, we need to trim the fat off the bone.
"While I understand this is happening within the company now, it is how the margins are managed moving forward that determine how quickly it responds to the challenges it is facing and returns to profitability," Mrs Hay said.
While there were many reasons behind her decision to stand for election, the big one was that she was a proud third-generation shareholder supplier who was passionate about the co-operative and the industry and she was concerned about profitability for the sector and what it meant for land-use change.
Mrs Hay felt she could add value to the board as a hands-on, grassroots sheep and beef farmer who would advocate for shareholders. She also had governance experience and training and was "a listener and a questioner who will constructively challenge".
Mrs Hay and her husband Ross farm a 270ha partly-irrigated property at Herbert with their three school-age children. She is on the board of the North Otago Irrigation Company, a trustee of Meat the Need and a steering committee member of North Otago Sustainable Land Management.
She was the recipient of the Institute of Directors’ Otago-Southland branch Emerging Director Award last year and she was also a member of the inaugural Silver Fern Farms emerging development group which gave her insight into both the co-operative and the operating company.
Mrs Hay acknowledged that "times were tough" for farmers at the moment and, coupled with dry or drought conditions that many people were facing, stress on farmers was real.
"As a farmer exposed to markets and weather extremes, I understand the issues it brings intrinsically. Farmgate returns are low, costs are high ... it’s tough out there. I want to acknowledge that is a thing," she said.
Shareholders needed a return for their investment and they needed good farmgate returns — "both of these are not there at the moment".
"I’m determined to do what I can and influence in the way I can to bring profitability back."
Processing of stock in a timely manner was still a key issue, she said.
While the industry faced challenges, there was also a need to capitalise on opportunities ahead.
She said she had a future-oriented mindset that was strategic and committed to sustainable growth.
She supported the strategies of the co-operative and the operating company, saying "I think we are on the right track", while also acknowledging that the current situation was also part of a commodities cycle.
