Raised in the small Southland town of Mataura, Andrew Mockford grew up on the local freezing works’ farm.
"I grew up on a farm where irrigation fell out of the sky," he said.
His early education was at a small primary and intermediate school of 40 pupils before heading off to be a boarder at John McGlashan College in Dunedin.
Straight out of high school, he signed up with the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) in 1999, serving for just over 15 years.
The air force was good to him.
For the first half of service he was on the tools as an avionics technician — like an "auto sparky", but for aircraft.
"I got some pretty cool work stories, got to see the world and worked on No. 40 Squadron which is the transport fleet for the Hercules and 757s."
The RNZAF sent him to Antarctica for a month, on support operations in Afghanistan, to assist with the Sumatran tsunami response and a long list of overseas exercises.
An abiding memory was being part of a delegation unveiling a Kiwi memorial for World War 2 in London’s Hyde Park.
Another deployment saw him go to Gallipoli for the 90th anniversary commemoration of the Anzac landing.
In the second stage of his military career he entered management and leadership after taking a commission as an engineering officer.
As the head of a technical training school, he was in charge of 20 staff training an intake of about 100 technicians.
Later, he led a contract for an aeronautical software development and finished his time as deputy maintenance flight commander, maintaining Orion aircraft flown at that stage in No 5 Squadron on search and rescue and other duties.
"It was brilliant and I would highly recommend the air force or the military for anyone going out in their working career. You get paid from day one and you make great mates and it’s a great way to start your working career."
The military’s esprit de corps — a sense of loyalty and pride shared by members of a group — never left him.
"If you have got the spirit and morale of your people high you can go on and achieve pretty great things. And the sum of all of those parts will always be greater than each one individually added together. The thing through the military I really picked up was the importance and value of people. Everything is achieved through people."
Looking back, he saw the leadership and technical background developed in those years provided him the asset-management skills to work in other directions.
This was to play in his favour when he left the air force to start working for Trustpower, now Manawa Energy, as its southern regional production leader in charge of managing hydro-electric power schemes and other infrastructure in Otago and Canterbury.
A brief stint for Airways NZ as its South Island maintenance manager was followed by executive and senior roles at Canterbury’s Opuha Water for more than five years and then Rangitata Diversion Race Management (RDRML) in mid-2023.
"I’m in the thick of a large irrigation scheme and we are providing irrigation water across 60,000ha in the Mid Canterbury area. We look after about 220 shareholders’ properties in terms of water delivery plus the environmental programme that we manage both for farm environment plans and our research programme looking at how we keep improving the environmental performance of the area."
He will continue with the executive position as the new chairman of IrrigationNZ.
The roles were complementary as it was good to have the connection with shareholders and farmers to then scale that into IrrigationNZ for everyone, he said.
Mr Mockford was an elected director on the board for two years before serving the past year as vice-chairman under former chairwoman Keri Johnston.
Now he takes on the lead job for an industry body representing nearly 5000 schemes, services, water users, irrigators and other members.
The deputy role was part of a succession plan to provide continuity.
Mr Mockford said it was time well spent as it allowed him to work alongside the chairwoman and chief executive Karen Williams to understand the networking and connections needed to do the role successfully.
He said the organisation would continue to focus on managing irrigation schemes well and improving irrigation.
That included advocating for smart and effective regulations to enable water storage and irrigation for the benefit of all, while looking after the environment.
Setting the right standards with good training and accreditation was another important focus area, he said.
"Our goal is to make sure the irrigation and storage schemes that are in place now are well considered in any regulatory changes that are coming, but equally there are other areas around New Zealand where water storage needs to address water scarcity issues.
"We certainly see our future as an organisation being a key part of how New Zealand adapts and thrives through climate adaptation.
"We have to be able to store water during periods of excess, harvest the floods and then be able to use that during dry periods.
"That produces jobs and thriving local economies so we see huge value in it, but we have to do it right."
With an election year and major resource management reform approaching, there was a lot on the table and many "constructive" talks ahead for the industry body.
"There’s been massive leaps forward in the last 10-20 years in the level of technology within irrigation and the agri space in general. We have to use technology in a smart way and it’s about efficiencies and maintaining and improving productivity and improving those environmental outcomes we are all looking for."
He agrees with his predecessor that IrrigationNZ has moved on from an all-hands-on-deck board — covering governance, operations and too many other activities — to a slimmed-down governance board ready to shape the next chapter.
"In terms of my leadership style it’s very much I’m trying to grow the people around me so they can grow and perform and do more for the business.
"Equally, I want to grow their skills and experience so they have the opportunity to maybe go on to bigger and better things, but you treat them well enough so they don’t want to leave."
There must be something in the water between military men and irrigation as he is not the only one to have the connection.
Former United Kingdom resident Ben Curry served in the Royal Marines for 23 years before becoming the chief executive of RDRML until 2019.
Mr Mockford said his own military service had prepared him well for the job ahead.
"It is about looking after really smart, capable people that are looking after expensive assets. Whether that’s aircraft, hydro stations or irrigation schemes, they have all got a discipline to how they need to be maintained, looked after and operated.
"That’s probably been the common thread that’s been through my working career so far."
