At stake is control of Australia's oldest company and biggest cattle station owner.

Mr Heading, in a letter to shareholders, called on them to support his election as an independent director, and strongly opposed the election of former company chairman Nic Burton Taylor and former director Chris Roberts.

Three tickets are vying for election to the board at Friday week's AGM.

Mr Heading's ticket includes existing board members Philip Toyne, Stephen Lonie and Peter Hughes, as well as Arunas Paliulis, who represents the 20 per cent-shareholder IFFCO Poultry.

But IFFCO opposes the election of Mr Heading and Mr Toyne. Its ticket also backs Mr Lonie and Mr Hughes, but includes Mr Burton Taylor and Mr Roberts.

Mr Burton Taylor was ousted from the board last year by Futuris, now Elders, which then owned 43 per cent of the company. As an independent director, Mr Roberts resigned in protest over the majority shareholder's actions.

Mr Burton Taylor and Mr Roberts have an initial three-man ticket with Mr Paliulis, but aim to expand the board once a strategy has been put in place.

Shareholder proxy advisers RiskMetrics and CGI Glass Lewis support the IFFCO ticket. The Australian Shareholders Association opposes Mr Heading, Mr Lonie and Mr Hughes, but backs the Burton Taylor ticket and Mr Toyne.

In his letter, Mr Heading said his team had strong business, cattle industry and specific AAco capability and experience, and that the election of Mr Burton Taylor and Mr Roberts would be a step backwards in terms of the AAco board's perceived independence.

"Both individuals carry grievances … their election would represent a return to the discord and disunity of the early part of this decade," he said.

Mr Burton Taylor told BusinessDay that Mr Heading's letter was a "splenetic rant" that did not identify how two years' of losses by AAco could be overcome and value restored to shareholders.

The new board needed a reinvigorated strategy. "People have had enough information to assess myself and Chris Roberts," he said. The board now had almost a defeatist strategy that relied on cattle markets and currency movements, but AAco was not just an investor in land and capital. "It has got to develop more aspirations," he said.