Silver Fern Farms chief executive Keith Cooper says the meat industry could do worse than reconsider the benefits of a merger.

The industry has long suffered from a fragmented supply process and a reluctance to pool resources.

Earlier this year the Emerging Markets Project failed in its attempt to build a consortium to supply high-end lamb products to the Asian market.

Silver Fern Farms, Alliance Meat Co-operative and ANZCO were all part of the scheme initially, but each eventually withdrew its support.

Mr Cooper says despite past setbacks, strategy, not structure, must be the prevailing force.

“The forecasts are for a higher exchange rate in the short term, decreasing (sheep and beef farm) numbers, an increase in forestry conversion because of the ETS, and a very robust forecast from Fonterra – all these factors point to challenging times ahead for the sector."