Meat & Wool New Zealand strengthens regions

22 December 2004

Meat & Wool New Zealand strengthens regions

The appointment of four regional South Island representatives is the first step toward Meat & Wool New Zealand becoming more regionally focused, the organisation says.

The Regional Representatives will be responsible for overseeing Meat & Wool New Zealand’s regional activities including the collection of Economic Service data and extension activities as well as Monitor Farms, the FITT (Farmer Initiated Technology Transfer) programme and will also provide support to the Sheep and Beef Councils, says Meat & Wool New Zealand’s Business Services general manager, James Smallwood.

The change will take place at the beginning of 2005 with the Regional Representatives replacing some of the services previously provided by Tectra, a subsidiary of Wool Equities.

“The creation of these four new roles in the South Island will give Meat & Wool New Zealand the opportunity to better service these regions, and work more closely with farmers to address local issues.”

Mr Smallwood says the new arrangement will remove a previous duplication of services. “This will give us more ability to focus on what we need to achieve for farmers. However we will continue to contract specialist skills to run certain programmes such as the pasture quality workshops, wool technical advice and skills and education programmes in the regions,” he says.

The Regional Representatives are Richard Farquhar and Aaron Miekle who will cover the Otago/Southland area while Gary Walton and Jansen Travis will cover the Canterbury/Marlborough area.

The Representatives are already well-known in the South Island farming community. “We’ve appointed four competent and knowledgeable people who are well-known to farmers. Three of the co-ordinators currently work for Meat & Wool New Zealand’s Economic Service as field staff, while the fourth is a new appointment.”

“The four representatives will be the first point of call for farmers in the regions,” Mr Smallwood says.

ENDS

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