Owen Poole to step down from Alliance Group after 18 years, Taggart named chairman

Owen Poole is to step down from Alliance Group, after an association with the Invercargill-based meat company stretching back 18 years, and will be replaced as chairman by fellow board member Murray Taggart.

Taggart was a farmer-elected director of Alliance between 2002 and 2007 and was re-elected to the board in 2010. He farms a 457 hectare sheep and cropping unit under irrigation in Oxford, North Canterbury.

Poole will step down as chairman on Sept. 30, having held the position since being appointed to the board as an independent director in 2008. He was the company’s chief executive between 1995 and 2005.

His retirement date may give him time to see the results of broad talks within the red meat industry aimed at lifting returns and ending the cut-throat procurements wars between processors that drive farmers to shop for the best short-term prices without considering long-term damage to their industry.

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