Stuart Nattrass, who was replaced by Massey University academic and Manawatu dairy farm owner Nicola Shadbolt, and chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden both said where directors came from was not important, rather it was what they contributed.
"Is it that they're farmers or where they live?" Sir Henry said.
He added that many Fonterra directors had significant investments in South Island farms, and the Shareholders Council was a shareholder's first point of call for a representation issue.
Mr Nattrass, who comes from Christchurch and has a background in investment banking, agreed but said the skills the directors provided were also important. His were in currency and commodity management.
"It's how I make a living, trading, and there is no-one there [on Fonterra's board] that has it." he said in an interview.
Elections of directors are nationally based rather than based on a ward system.
Mr Nattrass said the way the single transferable voting system operated, a 26% protest vote would unseat a sitting director.
He helped launch globalDairyTrade, Fonterra's internet-based sales system, through which Fonterra now sold 10% of its whole milk powder.
Mr Nattrass said he was surprised to lose his seat given Fonterra's "stellar" financial performance last financial year.
"I was surprised to the extent that Fonterra, as has the rest of the world, has been through the worst financial crisis in 100 years, but co-operative shareholders have been the most profitable of any dairy farmers in the world.
"We have managed our stock levels, for which we took a lot of criticism during the year; we've paid a milk price which has obviously been very high because all our competitors, except Tatua, have had to pay their farmers out of their balance sheet; and yet shareholders have felt it necessary to replace one of the directors."
Sir Henry acknowledged the loss of Mr Nattrass' skills and his support of globalDairyTrade, describing it as just another day in dairy politics.
The board is now: Sir Henry, Colin Armer, Malcolm Bailey, John Ballard, Ian Farrelly, Greg Gent, David Jackson, John Monaghan, Jim van der Poel, John Waller, Ralph Waters, John Wilson and Nicola Shadbolt.
