Q Tell us a little about yourself, including your career within the rural sector, as well as other activities you might belong to?
I was born and bred in Eastern Southland, having grown up in a small town with agriculture at its heart. The majority of my career has been spent around the dairy industry.
I spent some time working in sheep and beef, and also within the veterinarian industry but dairy is my home.
Aside from my work, I am a family man with a passion for giving back.
For me, community involvement is incredibly important, and I strive to contribute to my community as often as I can.
I am also district sales manager for Southland and Otago Ecolab, servicing the dairy agriculture industry.
Q What other projects have you been involved with?
I have been involved in the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards for about six years.
The awards recognise dairy farmers who demonstrate leadership, passion and ethics in their approach to dairying, acknowledging their role in the wider community.
Most recently, I spent time as the regional manager for the awards in Southland-Otago where I was focused on empowering the local industry to do well.
In addition, I have spent time volunteering in the community.
For over a decade I volunteered for Fire and Emergency New Zealand helping to respond quickly to emergencies, perform firefighting duties and provide medical assistance when needed.
Q What do you consider the most challenging issue facing the dairy sector and how do you think it might be tackled?
Without a doubt, environmental sustainability.
Climate change has the potential to create severe disruptions in years to come across every country and every industry.
I firmly believe that organisations and individuals must do their part to reduce their impact on the planet.
This is true across agriculture, especially within dairy, to ensure a booming and future-proof industry.
Environmental sustainability will not be tackled overnight, but I am impressed with and proud of how the dairy industry is focusing on best-practices to drive change and own the outcome of sustainability.
Q What single piece of information would you give to someone who is keen to follow in your footsteps?
Never give up. Aim for what you want, build the strategy to get there and put in place the tactics to make it happen. Do not be scared to challenge yourself across sectors, industries and organisations to gain the experiences that matter.
Q What achievements generally are you most proud of?
My career has been filled with great, often very humbling experiences.
One that stands out recently was the What a Relief promotion created by my Southland team and me.
The programme aimed to give mental and physical relief to a winning dairy farmer in Southland New Zealand, by providing the means for them to leave their farm for a weekend and for my team and me to step in as support.
Throughout the programme I heard from dairy farmers across the region looking for support, and it was amazing to be in a position to provide respite to the winner.
The campaign was incredibly close to my heart, so I am grateful to have joined an organisation (Ecolab) that shares my values for community and dairy sustainability.
In addition, I have for two years completed the Sky Tower Challenge, climbing 1103 stairs in Auckland's iconic Sky Tower in full firefighting kit to raise funds for Leukaemia and Blood Cancer New Zealand.
It was an amazing experience to be there with 900 firefighters working towards the same goal, and even better to contribute to raising $1.2million for such a worthy cause.
Q What goals do you still have?
For me, more work needs to be done to ensure the dairy industry gets the kudos it deserves.
There are so many good people, sound practices, and fantastic work happening in the industry on a daily basis and I would love for that to be recognised more both regionally and nationally.
What's more, I want dairy to be recognised more as a viable career path, inspiring new talent into the field to drive innovation and best practice.
