Without the merger, that simply won t be possible. Warren Larsen described the merger as essential . I agree with him. That is why yesterday s announcement that farmers will vote on the merger on 18 June is in the long-run even more important than this year s payout. You all know why the merger has to happen.
Globalisation is a fact of life.
It creates winners and losers. With globalisation, both our customers and our competitors are getting bigger. At the retail end, the rate of mergers has raced ahead in the last decade. Back in 1995, there was just one major acquisition involving a top-25 food retailer. Now the top 25 retailers are involved in a dozen or more acquisitions annually.