Addressing Silver Fern Farms Co-operative Ltd's annual meeting in Dunedin yesterday, Mr Hamilton said last year's result was disappointing but this year had already got off to a better start.
Silver Fern Farms posted a $30.6million after-tax loss for the year ended September, compared with a $24.9million net profit in the previous financial year.
Reduced revenue was driven by lower volumes processed in New Zealand, lower in-market prices and stronger currency, Mr Hamilton said.
However, significant progress and investment had been made during the year, he said.
Chairman Rob Hewett described it as a ''significant year of change and achievement''. In December, Silver Fern Farms completed its joint venture partnership with Shanghai Maling. The Chinese-owned company invested $267million in cash, in return for a 50% stake in the business.
Completion of the transaction was ''undoubtedly'' the highlight for Silver Fern Farms in the last financial year, securing the future of the co-operative, Mr Hewett said.
He also spoke of the disappointing financial performance, saying the operating environment in 2016 proved to be much more challenging than expected.
It was one of the tougher environments the company had operated in for a number of years.
''It's fair to say, we're all looking forward to an improved performance in 2017,'' he said.
The company looked forward to pursuing its Plate to Pasture value-added strategy and sustainably improving returns to shareholders.
He emphasised that shareholders' influence around the governance of the business was as ''robust as it always has been''.
A programme was being developed to reward shareholder suppliers from this financial year onwards.
Over the next 12 months, two distribution pools would be established: a dividend pool, which would pay an amount per share across all ordinary and rebate shares in the co-operative, and a patronage reward pool, which would pay an amount per share across qualifying shares held by co-operative shareholders.
Priority benefits were also planned and all initiatives were aimed at creating opportunities for shareholders that non-shareholder suppliers did not get.
Toko Mouth farmer Simon Davies questioned how long it would take before there were sustainable returns for sheep farmers.
''How much time do you think the New Zealand farmer has left before they give up? The reality is time is ticking for me. I've got a very limited time frame left. I'm sure there are others like this.
''We're going to have to try and get some handle on how long it's going to take. A lot of farmers don't have a lot of time left,'' Mr Davies said.
Mr Hamilton said the company's view was that its value-added strategy was the ''best way to go''.
''I can't give a time frame. We think this is the best way to sustainably increase value. It's not immediate,'' he said.
Mr Hewett said Silver Fern Farms was ''absolutely doing what we can''. Equally, it felt as if the meat industry was assuming responsibility for the sheep industry, he said, referring to the poor-performing wool industry.
Silver Fern Farms was doing what it could, as fast as it could, and it now had the capital to invest to the level it wanted to.
''I hope it's fast enough. We're certainly working bloody hard on it,'' he said.
Wyndham farmer Brent Robinson raised concerns about freshwater plans and the potential expenditure required, when being paid ''less and less'' every year.
''We're getting squeezed too tightly for our income,'' he said.
Mr Hewett said getting more out of the marketplace as the ''only way forward''.
''We are an expensive protein form, running expensive farming pastoral systems. We have to earn more in-market or we won't be here,'' he said.