English’s bro pipped at the post
Former Federated Farmers chief executive Conor English was a not-sodistant third to miss out in the director elections for large meat processor and exporter Silver Fern Farms.
The youngest brother of former Prime Minister Bill English, who started his farming career at the family farm in Dipton, received 14,046,529 votes - not enough to secure him one of two seats up for vote on the co-operative’s board.
They went to incumbents Rob Hewett and Fiona Hancox, who retired by rotation.
Hewett, as the chairman of SFF, was an expected shoe-in and reelected to the board.
He topped the vote count with 28,849,257 to secure his seat and Hancox earned 18,193,756 votes.
Also unsuccessful was Chris Allen, a sheep and beef farmer near Methven, with 4,595,285 votes.
English is also chairman of Agribusiness New Zealand, a company he founded after leaving Federated Farmers in 2014.
The voting turnout was an improvement on the last election in 2015 for shares held and voter numbers.
Voters representing nearly 63 per cent of total shares cast their vote compared with about 55 per cent previously.
Nearly 35 per cent of 2856 eligible shareholders had their say compared with just over 23 per cent before.
To be eligible they must provide a minimum number of stock for processing over the past two years.