Dairy industry mourns loss of leader

The 54-year old farmer, director, and recent chair of DairyNZ passed away last night after battling cancer for a few years.

Spaans joined the DairyNZ board is 2008 and was elected chair in November 2015. He was also a director of Fonterra from 2013 until January 2017 when illness forced an early retirement. However, he continued on as a director of ASB and Shoof International, and with his farming interests in Canterbury, Chile, and the US, as well as his home farm in Te Aroha.

DairyNZ acting chair, Barry Harris, says Spaans will be greatly missed by the board, staff, farmers and the wider Waikato community.

“His passion and knowledge of the sector, and dedication to improving outcomes for dairy farming profitability and sustainability are well known.

“We are going to miss his thoughtful debating and farmer-first approach to investment, his involvement with the dairy leaders group, his focus as chair of the Waikato Dairy Leaders Group and the group’s desire to improve the state of the Waikato River, and support for the Healthy Rivers plan in particular.”

Growing up on a family farm at Tauhei, near Morrinsville, Spaans attended Mangateparu School, Morrinsville Intermediate and Morrinsville College. He later took over his parents' farm at Manawaru, residing there with his wife Kristina and their three children, now aged 16, 20 and 22, until his passing.

A keen basketballer as a young man, he started farming life in Te Aroha as a young sharemilker, getting into governance around the time of the creation of Fonterra. He started with the old New Zealand Dairy Group shareholders' council and continued to serve as Te Aroha Ward rep when the council and company became part of Fonterra. From there he has held many governance positions, dedicating his life to improving farming in New Zealand.

“Michael always had presence and not just because he was 6ft 9in tall, but because he was thoughtful, considered, and passionate about farming,” says DairyNZ’s chief Executive Dr Tim Mackle.

“Besides his love and dedication to his family, he was also dedicated to DairyNZ, even ill, he made such an effort to add value to our organisation. He felt and was often quoted as saying how vital an organisation like DairyNZ was to act in the best interests of farmers, and the DairyNZ family are going to miss him.

“Our deepest sympathies lie with his family, especially his wife Kristina, who has also dedicated her past nine years to us too.”

A replacement chair of DairyNZ will be announced shortly, along with a replacement solution for a new farmer director.