THE results from District 2 were down to the wire but Morawa grower Rod Madden and Vern Dempster from Northam have been re-elected in the CBH director elections.
In District 2 Mr Dempster was returned with 236 votes, while Cunderdin farmer Stuart Mussared received 229, a margin of just seven votes.
CBH Group Chairman Wally Newman congratulated the directors on their appointments.
While Mr Newman's District 4 seat was also up for re-election, he was elected unopposed at the close of nominations on January 3.
"It is pleasing to have concluded another round of Member Director Elections, in which our grower members have voted democratically for the directors who they believe to be the best fit for the CBH Board," Mr Newman said.
"I'd like to personally thank candidates for their involvement.
"I encourage all members to be involved in their co-operative."
It has been a particularly brutal campaign in District 2 in the lead up to the election with Mr Dempster claiming that Mr Mussared had ties to members of the Australian Grains Champion, a claim Mr Mussared has denied.
Mr Dempster said he was happy to have the election behind him.
"CBH is a big organisation and it won't always do everything perfectly and if you zero in on a few small things they tend to seem exaggerated and seem more than what they are and blows it right out of proportion," Mr Dempster said.
He said changes to the CBH election process from last year had also left candidates at a disadvantage as they no longer had access to grower databases which had allowed them to communicate directly with growers.
"The election process has got to be about informing the members and giving them as much information as they can and any restriction is inhibiting that process," he said.
Mr Mussared said the extremely close margin indicated that he was not a "poor choice".
"It indicated I ran a good campaign, obviously some of the things I said resonated," Mr Mussared said.
"I think I gave them a bit of a shake up.
"There's not much more I could do or say, I'll just go back to what I'm doing.
"Now I have more time for more bowls, more golf, more tennis, more beach and more holidays."
In District 1 Mr Madden received 234 votes, Northampton grower Brad Cripps with 110 votes and Walkaway grower Gareth Rowe 56, with a total of 400 votes for the region, plus four informal votes.
Both Mr Rowe and Mr Cripps were at the official counting of the votes, which was conducted by the Western Australian Electoral Commission in Perth on Monday.
Mr Cripps said it had been a very short campaign as he only made the decision to stand late last year.
"It was a short campaign and I was always coming from behind," he said.
"I have leased out the farm so I could give this my all if I was successful, now I have other irons in the fire to consider."
Mr Rowe wished Mr Madden and the board the best "in making the right decisions for the co-operative going forward".
"I wanted to give the CBH membership an option of having another candidate stand for the election so that Rod wasn't elected unopposed," he said.
"I hope that the CBH continues to listen to its membership and understand what it needs to do to go forward and maintain its relevance in the next period of its life cycle."
Mr Madden said he was ready for another three years on board.
"It is a real joy working as a director in CBH as we are starting to get rubber on the road - it is a very productive board," he said.
"There are a fair few issues and you can't please everybody but really the main issues I knew before I went in to the election and that is that growers want us to focus and concentrate on our core business and get it right.
"There are plenty of areas within our core business that can do with improving - we can improve the service to the growers, concentrate on lowering the cost overheads and make sure we put growers first and foremost and make sure they understand that we are working for them."
Mr Madden said in general the district network ran smoothly despite a record harvest last year with CBH receiving 16.62 million tonnes.
"That is how we are judged as directors, on the performance of the bins and it was a huge year with over 16mt," he said.
"However, there are a number of areas in my zone and throughout the State where the facilities aren't up to scratch.
" For example the Latham and Perenjori sites are appalling and they need to be substantially upgraded - that will in turn take pressure off the key bins like Carnamah, Mingenew and Coorow.
"Generally speaking around Beacon and Koorda in the south and north of Moora growers were happy and while the Moora site itself is not in my zone, a lot of work needs to be done at that site and in the Miling and Moora region to enhance those bins."
Mr Madden said another issue highlighted during the campaign process was the lack of returns on CBH investments including CBH Fertiliser, Interflour and Blue Lake Milling.
"While Blue Lake Milling I believe will be a star in the future, growers are asking what we are doing it for and where is the benefit to us getting into non core businesses like fertiliser," he said.
"We are now getting the parameters where we want management to work within - up until now it has been massive delegation of authority and generally speaking in the past management have not been able to deliver on investments they put in front of the board."
Mr Madden, who is part of CBH's investment committee, said a tightening on parameters for CBH senior management meant the board now had more authority in core and non-core investments by CBH.
The formal appointment of directors will take place at the CBH Group's 84th Annual General Meeting in Perth, next Tuesday, February 28.