A Federal Court judge will rule on more than six months of turmoil at Victoria's peak farming body in a hearing this afternoon.
Justice Jonathon Beach is set to bring down his judgement on whether or not the Victorian Farmers Federation is legally obliged to hold an extraordinary general meeting.
The meeting would vote on ousting the leadership, replacing current President Emma Germano and vice-president Danyel Cuccinotta and replace them with Paul Weller and Georgina Gubbins.
In a tumultuous period for the VFF, the past six months saw resignations of three board members and the formation of a rival dairy lobby group.
Dissatisfaction with the VFF leadership and board came to a head in June, when a group of concerned members set a deadline for the organisation to respond to calls for the dismissal of the board.
Former VFF Grains Group president Brett Hosking, Quambatook, said a meeting at St Arnaud gathered the 100 member signatures, necessary to call an extraordinary general meeting.
"It's the wishes of the meeting and there were plenty at the meeting who would have preferred we just did it straight away," Mr Hosking said at the time.
"Members are feeling they can't have their voice heard - they can't ask questions, or interact with the leadership of the VFF.
"I am certain this resolution is not what anyone wanted - but it's got to the point they [members] are feeling like this is all they have left."
The VFF board consistently rejected the call, before the matter ended up before the Federal Court.
Justice Beach heard argument from lawyers on whether motions to spill leadership positions would be presented at any EGM; he has reserved his decision until today.
Rupanyup graingrower Andrew Weidemann is one of three former Grains Group presidents leading the push for an EGM.
Lawyers for his group told Justice Beach the required number of members had signed documents required to trigger the EGM to be called this year.
The dissatisfied members group sought the interlocutory injunction, asking the court to issue a "requisition" to compel the VFF to hold the meeting.
A key reason behind the dissatisfaction with the board was the concern of the Grains Group over the liquidation of an almost $10 million Grains nest egg.
The money was used to pay down organisational debt.
The Grains Group won a sizeable stake in VicGrain after the government's sale of the Grain Elevators Board in 1996.
Concerns were also raised about constitutonal changes, proposed by Ms Germano.
The constitutional changes are believed to include granting the board sole discretion to establish or dissolve commodity groups and branches, stopping commodity groups from controlling their own finances and stopping their presidents from sitting on the board.
There is also a plan to reduce the number of farmer directors from seven to four, while increasing specialist director numbers from two to three.
The heads of five of the seven Victorian Farmers Federation commodity councils called for a halt to planned controversial changes to the organisation's constitution.
The presidents of the United DairyFarmers of Victoria, grains, eggs, pigs and livestock groups signed a letter, calling for proposed constitutional changes to be paused.
The chicken meat and horticulture groups did not endorse the call.
But Ms Germano hit back, saying the board had exposed "historical failings" of the VFF and was giving members the opportunity to understand those issues.
"Accordingly, the Board is seeking feedback about how the VFF becomes a sustainable and professional advocacy organisation to meet the needs of Victorian farmers," she said in a letter to the commodity council heads.
The turmoil was compounded by the resignation, during the VFF's annual conference, of Grains Group president Craig Henderson, Berriwillock, Egg Group president Meg Parkinson, Leongatha, and Livestock Group vice-president Peter Star, Talgarno as directors.
All three remained as presidents/vice-president on their respective commodity groups despite their resignations from the board.
The issue also spilled into the national arena, with the VFF board refusing to pass on levies to Australian Dairy Farmers.
ADF was also forced to defer the election of its president as the stoush between some Victorian dairy farmers and the VFF spilled over.
A newly elected VFF/United Dairyfarmers of Victoria policy council led the move to remove the Victorian representatives on ADF's national council.
The representatives were removed for an alleged conflict of interest because they were also members of the newly form breakaway group Dairy Farmers of Victoria (DFV).
They included former UDV president and now DFV president Mark Billing and former UDV president Paul Mumford, who last year failed in a bid for the VFF presidency.
