"There's never a dull moment in the meat industry."
And when Alliance Group holds its annual meeting in Central Otago next month, local farmer-elected director Dawn Sangster acknowledges there will be a feeling of sadness.
After 12 years on the board of the co-operative, Mrs Sangster is stepping down from a tenure which she described as a highlight of her life. Most of all, it would be the people that she missed most, along with the intellectual stimulation.
When people asked her what she was going to replace that particular directorship with, she said it was impossible to replace it. Whether it was the co-operative nature of the business, low margins, overseas markets, domestic competition, plants or people, it was "never boring".
"There’s always things to do to improve and do things better," she said.
Throw the likes of Covid-19 into the mix, health and safety, resolving the donning and doffing issue — paying employees for the time spent putting on and removing work-related protective gear and clothing — resource consents required at plants and there was a lot going on in the business.
It was 2011 when Mrs Sangster first sought election to the board, motivated by a desire to contribute to New Zealand’s sheep and beef industry and to put newly-honed leadership and governance skills to use.
That year, she graduated from the Agri-Women’s Development Trust’s inaugural Escalator course. The programme, aimed at developing rural leadership and governance skills in women, was developed as a result of extensive research into the role of women in the rural sector and low participation rates at the leadership and governance level.
For Mrs Sangster, who has a bachelor of agricultural commerce degree in farm management from Lincoln University and is involved hands-on in a family farming company in Maniototo, standing for the Alliance board was a natural progression from the programme.
She put in the hard yards in the election campaign, travelling more than 5000km — boxes of beer in the boot — meeting groups of South Island farmers to hear their views, answer their questions and raise awareness of the election.
Her high-profile election success — she became the third female director of Alliance, following Christine McKenzie (1991-99) and Kathie Henderson (1991-2001) — coupled with several other graduates also achieving success, proved to the sponsors of Escalator that it was going to work and change the sector for women.
Escalator was about providing technical skills and also all-important confidence. There were now about 120 Escalator alumni and they were "everywhere", mostly in leadership positions. "She [AWDT founder Lindy Nelson] really achieved what she set out to achieve," Mrs Sangster said.
At the time of her election, farmers she talked to felt that Alliance was "a bit secret society" but it was now much better as far as communication and transparency, she believed.
Asked the highlights, Mrs Sangster said market trips overseas were "pretty amazing" and provided a much better understanding once she had met customers and seen product in store.
Being involved with appointing two chief executives — David Surveyor who joined the company in 2015, and his replacement Willie Wiese earlier this year — was the most important decision to be made.
She had only served one term when she survived a bid by the now defunct Meat Industry Excellence to get a candidate on to the Alliance board. That was a stressful election for her.
She was pleased to see the inclusion of an associate director on the board, and also the women workshop initiatives. While women were not often seen at shareholder meetings, they "came in droves" to those workshops.
During her tenure, only one other woman had stood for election — she was unsuccessful — and that was a concern to her.
"The whole issue is people can’t vote for you if you don’t stand. I’ve proven people will vote for a woman," she said.
She attributed the lack of women standing to possibly a lack of confidence and also the fact that elections could be hard.
The introduction of an associate director — Victoria Trayner was the inaugural associate director — would also help.
Women had also gone through Alliance’s Know Your Co-operative seminar, which gave shareholders the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the company.
When it came to workload, Mrs Sangster said her youngest son had just gone to boarding school when she started with Alliance, which made it easier. The support of a partner was also required.
She had been very fortunate, both with her husband David, and her sister Carolyn and brother-in-law Drew, who all farm together. Glenayr Ltd is a 2870 ha enterprise which comprises three sheep and beef properties.
Mrs Sangster is also a director of Farmlands, will retire soon as chairwoman of the Community Trust of Maniototo and is a committee member of Tiaki Maniototo. She also does the accounts for the local golf club.
Still very involved on the farm, Mrs Sangster said it was likely that she would seek another governance position — "it’s just hard to know what".
It had to be an an organisation that she cared about, rather than doing something "for the sake of doing it".
When it came to Alliance, Mrs Sangster said she wished this year had a better financial result.
"I don’t like leaving when it’s not a profitable year."
Last month, chairman Murray Taggart said the company was facing its worst financial result since 2012, when it posted its first operating loss in 20 years. Last year, it achieved a record profit before provisions, distribution and tax of $117.2 million. It will announce this year’s result later this month.
Mrs Sangster felt "really lucky" to have served on the board "but I have worked hard at it, too".
"I’ve never taken it for granted," she said.
Living away from a major centre was no disadvantage for any aspiring directors.
"You’ve just got to be prepared to travel and have a supportive family," she said.
