President of the Fonterra Shareholder’s Council, Simon Couper, says the Council currently has no view on whether the Trading Among Farmers scheme should go ahead or not.

Mr Couper told Country99tv the Council still has to evaluate the TAF scheme.

“We have to evaluate  the Trading Among Farmers scheme. While conceptually we support it with respect to how it was put forward ion the constitution two years ago we have to evaluate the ultimate model to see that its complying with the preconditions and due diligence and of course ownership and control...to actually tell you...to actually hold a view of that would be predisposed.”

 Mr Couper wouldn’t say how much support the council was registering for the scheme and says there are still details to provide farmers with

“There’s still a lot of understanding with respect to the final model to be taken to farmers, and that’ll have to happen pretty quickly. But ultimately the farmers are going to have a vote on the 25th of June anyway, so they’ll put that forward themselves”

The Council said in a media release on Tuesday the co-op must retain its unity, and voting is a key control right farmers must use to have their say in the future of Fonterra.

The Fonterra board announced on Monday it was taking the unprecedented step of seeking a second mandate from farmers at a vote in late June, despite farmers’ overwhelming support of the TAF scheme in a vote taken in 2010.