Some PPCS shareholders are expected to vent their anger at a hastily arranged special meeting in Gore tomorrow to discuss the foundering meat industry restructuring plans.
Some are talking of forcing the Dunedin company to hold a special meeting to justify its position.
Talks also began in earnest yesterday to try to resurrect the plans, led by Meat and Wool New Zealand and the Meat Industry Taskforce, which was established this year to address industry issues.
Meat and Wool New Zealand chairman Mike Petersen would not provide details, saying the matter ''was on a knifepoint at the moment'', but said further talks were planned with ''various parties'' this week to try to broker a solution.
Taskforce chairman Sir John Anderson said there was still merit in the Alliance Group's proposed industry merger, and he would this week try to get those talks resumed.
PPCS chairman Eoin Garden yesterday renewed his offer to use an independent mediator to try to find common ground between PPCS and Alliance.
The Meat Industry Action Group has called a meeting of farmers in Gore tomorrow to allow an airing of views, and to also encourage PPCS shareholders to consider calling a special general meeting of the company.
The proposed merger of five companies to create an entity to procure, process and export 80% of the country's red meat came undone on Friday, when the country's second largest processor, Dunedin-based PPCS, withdrew.
Mr Garden said then that the rules had changed from the original concept, with ANZCO wanting to exclude beef from the new entity, and PPCS having questions about the process of creating the new entity.
Yesterday, he stood by those comments, adding that a commercial solution must be found.
''Everybody has got to remember that, at the end of the day, commercial entities are responsible for their own business and shareholders, whether they are a co-operative or a publicly listed company. We have got to work through this.''
There was common ground where Alliance and PPCS could work, such as rationalising processing capacity, working together in the markets and in shipping.
''There is no reason the industry can't look at those possibilities,'' Mr Garden said.
Mr Petersen urged farmers to be patient.
''We're not letting this be the end of it. We're going to work really hard to try and get this back on track.''
He was confident common ground could be found to advance the issue because it was widely acknowledged the status quo was not an option.
''I'm still optimistic we'll get an outcome. We have all got to sit down and try and salvage what was a pretty bad day on Friday,'' he said.
Meat Industry Action Group chairman Keith Milne said his group was asking PPCS to reconsider entering the merger talks.
''We don't think PPCS farmer-shareholders were consulted or given an opportunity to talk to their board,'' Mr Milne said. Many people had concerns, like PPCS, about the process and the timing, but unless the various parties sat round a table and talked, no progress would
be made.
PPCS could have gone to the next stage of the merger process and worked through its differences, he said, because it was not locked in or committed to the final outcome, Mr Milne said.