It's now up to the Government to decide whether to accept a major change to the structure of New Zealand's largest company. 

Fonterra's farmer shareholders have overwhelmingly backed a change to its capital structure. 

It would reduce the number of shares farmers need to hold to join the co-operative, and aims to discourage farmers from selling their surplus shares to non-farmers through the shareholder fund. 

Chairman Peter McBride told Mike Hosking he now needs to convince Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor to sign it off. 

“I need to give him some assurance, we are philosophically in line, so it’s just a matter of how do we help the regulations fit around the proposal.” 

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