The VFF has been rocked by the resignations of three of its board members at its annual conference on Tuesday, July 25.
Grains Council president Craig Henderson, Egg Council president Meg Parkinson and Livestock Council vice-president Peter Star announced their resignations, citing a lack of consultation with the board on proposed constitutional changes.
All three will remain in their current positions on their individual commodity councils that comprise the VFF.
Ms Parkinson told Country News that although she had resigned due to a lack of transparency, she still had the interests of the VFF at heart.
Ms Parkinson was also the board representative for two other commodity groups, chicken meat producers and pig farmers.
“If you’re on a board, then you have got the responsibility to oversee the CEO, and not the president,” she said.
“Everyone on the board has equal responsibility, but when meetings are spread out between our last one on April 24 and then last Friday’s, then that’s a long time to not be informed about things.
“The information is therefore not timely, particularly when it is information at the top of the list.
“The president can’t then get up and make claims we don’t know about.”
VFF president Emma Germano said the VFF recognised that the three newly appointed members had “responded appropriately” to their conflict of duty between their roles as board director and senior member for their individual commodity council.
“The VFF board accepts the resignation of three directors who have recognised the complexity of their governance responsibilities under the existing VFF constitution,” Ms Germano said.
Ms Germano had told the conference on Monday, July 24 that some of the directors on the VFF board who were also commodity presidents or vice-presidents had spoken about difficulties with “wearing two hats”.
“We cannot get out of the fact that the directors that sit on the board have fiduciary duties to the company, not to an individual group, not to a commodity group, not to a special interest, not to the thing that you care about the most, but to every member of the VFF and to the sustainability of the organisation itself,” she said.
“The issues that farmers face are numerous, and it's in so many different areas, and there's so many different individuals that need assistance all the time.
“So we've got to focus on that and be strategic in regards to how we go about doing policy and advocacy to get the outcomes.”
Ms Parkinson has been a board director twice previously and is also the director of the Egg Farmers Association.
She is a recipient of the VFF Poultry Industry Award.
Ms Parkinson said she supported the approach of advocating on behalf of farmers on more general topics but that such issues affected farmers intermittently.
“For example, rates and biosecurity come around as an issue infrequently and although they are important, they are not central to what you’re producing,” she said.
“The reason people join the VFF is because of what they do for a living, and so they join a commodities group.
“So then if something important comes out for beef, then a beef farmer is going to find that useful through their commodity group.”
Ms Germano told the conference that VFF resources would be better spent focusing on advocacy spread across all farming areas and cited a survey which showed that 77 per cent of members were concerned about general issues facing farmers.
She said the culture of the VFF had been a focus of her two years as president.
“When I first arrived, we had staff that would be fighting over each other for revenue and staff that would be coding the photocopier to somebody else's account to make sure the expense wasn’t credited to their own budget.
“Ultimately the VFF is going to always perform the best way with everybody working together for a common goal.”
Ms Germano recognised that a draft constitution for the VFF had been the target of much criticism but said it needed to be modernised regarding its language and to address ambiguities in voting structure.
“And (the constitution) can't be something that the board is trying to navigate all the time around these very operational things that are in the constitution; that can be really problematic.”
Ms Germano said a draft of a new constitution was not something new nor a “knee jerk” reaction to resistance from some members.
“This is something that's been involved for a long time, and the draft is available for everybody to look at and to comment on.
“The draft is simply a draft and has not been endorsed by the board, as it is going to get put to the members.”
Ms Parkinson said she would not rule out a return to the board.
“It really depends on what happens, so I am not knocking anything out but I’m also not going to jump back on straight away.”
Despite some members questioning the quorum size of the board due to the resignations, Ms Germano said it could continue to operate in accordance with the Corporations Act and stressed the importance of the role of VFF members in supporting the organisation’s new direction.
“The transformational journey continues as requested by the overwhelming majority of members who seek modern policy and advocacy that matter to all farmers,” she said.