Change of guard at DairyNZ

A change of guard is coming to DairyNZ next month as the long-term chairperson, Jim van der Poel, has announced he will stand down at the annual general meeting on October 22.
Deputy Chair Jacqueline Rowarth will retire by rotation, opening two new positions for Farmer-elected Directors on the Board.
Rowarth will be restanding.
Van der Poel has been in the role for seven years and will be replaced by Waikato-based farmer-elected director Tracy Brown.
Brown grew up in urban Northland and moved with her family to a lifestyle block when she was 11, giving her a taste of farming and a desire to pursue a career in agriculture.
“I had a dream of being a farmer from a very young age,” Brown said.
Brown studied Agricultural Science at Massey University, where she met her husband, Wynn.
The couple moved to the Waikato in the mid-1990s, and converted Wynns family sheep and beef farm to dairy.
With four children added to the mix, Brown cut her governance teeth in community organisations like play centre and toy library and by chairing the school board.
“I contributed to our community as our kids were growing up. It was quite hard doing much in the ag sector because I was so busy with little kids.”
Brown describes winning the Waikato Ballance Farm Awards in 2010 as a “pivotal moment” when she decided she had an opportunity to make a difference in the dairy sector
“That’s when I set about proactively growing my experience and being quite purposeful with how I could contribute to the sector.”
Brown became Dairy Environment Leaders Programme chairperson, Ballance Farm Environment Alumni chairperson, and director for New Zealand Greenhouse Gas Research.
She is on the Animal Welfare Advisory Committee and was a Dairy Women’s Network Trustee for around three years.
“I’ve got a really broad range of experiences and bring a wide range of viewpoints because I’ve been around a lot of challenges and see things from different perspectives.
“My life has been enriched by the primary sector, and I see this role with DairyNZ as a real opportunity to be able to give back and pay it forward, ”Brown said.
Brown said a driver for her is trying to make things better for people involved in the dairy industry.
“It’s always been about having sustainable, economically viable businesses that are also socially sustainable in terms of people coming into the sector.”
Brown said she has a belief that farmers need to be responsible and make a difference for future generations.
“In the height of dairying, quite a few people were anti-dairy, and I thought what we could do to get better stories out there around the good stuff that was happening, and to model best practice to try and help farmers with the change process they need to go through.”
Brown said the industry has made “phenomenal progress” in the environmental space.
“We now have farm environment plans, and we have regional councils that have much stricter requirements on farmers we have to operate within, so we have seen a huge shift.”
Brown said that when it comes to regulations, it’s about having the “right” ones and that the market will dictate requirements on farmers.
“You see that already with some of the work milk companies are doing, particularly around emissions and our greenhouse gas footprint, and our international customers are demanding more from us on that.
“The market will sort it out, and it will have the right kind of influence in terms of getting the right kind of settings.”
Brown said she would define her success in the role by delivering value to farmers and ensuring a strong succession plan for the organisation.
“I want to know I can step out of this role one day confident in knowing there are younger, smarter people coming through that are better equipped than me as director and chair, and potential future leaders coming forward.”
By Claire Inkson