Federated Farmers says a long-running dispute between a dairy farm owner and a sharemilker which led to a criminal conviction reinforces the importance of sticking to sharemilking agreements.
The dispute, in which the owner held back milk payments to the sharemilker, led to the farmer being convicted on a charge of using a computer for dishonest purposes.
That conviction has since been quashed in the High Court.
But the chair of Federated Farmers sharemilkers' section, Ciarán Tully, says the original dispute - which started several years ago - remains unresolved, leaving the sharemilker more than $80,000 out of pocket .
Mr Tully says the Herd Owning Sharemilking Agreement provided by Federated Farmers has stood up to court scrutiny.
He says most sharemilking disputes are resolved through the procedures provided, which can include arbitration, but this case is an exception and it has ended in a very sorry mess for the sharemilker.
