The select committee received nearly 100 written submissions and heard many oral submissions. Open entry was the focus of many of these submissions, and there was strong support for its removal. A key concern was the cost that open entry imposes upon Fonterra. This was because the company has to maintain extra processing capacity to deal with unforeseen volumes of extra milk. This is seen to create a risk of inefficient investment in commodity processing capacity, which in turn may, firstly, divert investment away from the more innovative and potentially more value-added products; secondly, potentially leave stranded assets as milk production in New Zealand plateaus as a result of environmental limits; and, thirdly, it could possibly reduce competitiveness in the global markets on which we depend for so much of our economic wellbeing. The select committee therefore recommended that open entry, with one exception, be removed. 