Dairy industry awards regional finals underway
Manawatu became the first region to announce its finalists for the 2024 Dairy Industry Awards.
The 2018 Dairy Manager of the Year winner Gerard Boerjan aims for excellence in everything he does.
“He has great experience as a manger of people and a great passion for working with people in a large team environment,” dairy manager head judge Mary Craw says.
“He takes a systems approach to the way he manages the farm and has good systems in place to ensure nothing gets through the gaps.
“Everything is well documented, he covers health and safety to an exceptional level and his financial understanding is of the highest calibre.”
Boerjan (50) has successfully farmed in Portugal and Brazil and is now farm manager for Trevor Hamilton on his 553ha Takapau property. He won $22,600 in cash and prizes and won the DairyNZ Employee Engagement and the Westpac Financial Management and Planning merit awards.
The judges say Boerjan is a stand-alone manager who doesn’t just assume things are getting done; he closely monitors things.
“He regularly reviews the information he gets against onfarm targets.
“He’s always monitoring multiple systems to report back to the farm owners and has good procedures in place to do so.
“Gerard possesses the ability to manage a large, complex business with an absentee owner. Every detail of the farm is closely monitored but there’s a real human touch to it.”
Rural trader PGG Wrightson has revised its operating earnings guidance, saying trading conditions have deteriorated since the last market update in February.
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Leading farmers from around New Zealand connected to share environmental stories and inspiration and build relationships at the Dairy Environment Leaders (DEL) national forum in Wellington last month.
AgriZeroNZ, a joint venture fast-tracking emissions reduction tools for farmers, is pouring $5 million in a biotech company to develop a low emissions farm pasture with increased productivity gains.
Fonterra is teaming up with wealth app provider Sharesies to make it easier for its farmer shareholders to trade co-op shares among themselves.
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