'Time to hand over the baton'

He stood against then industry heavyweight and New Zealand Dairy Board chair John Storey in the Te Awamutu ward – and won. A group of farmers asked him to stand. He recalls visiting every farmer in the ward during the election campaign.

“It was a big deal back then,” van der Poel told Dairy News.

The massive win was the start of a journey that will end next week when van der Poel steps down as DairyNZ board member and chair at its annual meeting in Christchurch.

Van der Poel has been chair of DairyNZ since 2017, following his election to the board in 2013. He served as a farmer-elected director on the inaugural board in 2007-2009, then again from 2013. Prior to this, he was appointed to the foundation board of DairyNZ’s predecessor Dexcel in 2000, becoming chair in 2003.

During his third reappointment as chair in October last year, van der Poel said he would remain to support the transition of new chief executive Campbell Parker, the development of DairyNZ’s new strategy, and see through the change of government.

“DairyNZ is in good health and it’s time to pass the baton to the next generation,” he says.

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“I have confidence in the depth of the board, the direction of the new chief executive and strategy, and am happy to be handing over duties to the new chair in an orderly way over the next few months.

“In less than a year, Campbell Parker has set a new strategic direction which rightly refocuses the organisation on the future, science and research, and profitability.

“The dairy industry has been good to me, and it’s been my privilege to give back,” he says.

Van der Poel has always been keen to contribute to progress in the industry.

“For me, it’s my personality, where I believe something needs to be done, I find the need to stand up and do something about it.

“When I first stood in the NZDB days, we were thinking about merging and how to deregulate the industry. I found a need to stand up and have a view and participate and engage.”

Van der Poel was also part of Fonterra’s formation. The first attempt to merge NZ Dairy Group and Kiwi Dairy Co-op fell through, he recalls.

“It didn’t get enough support and both parties went to their own and reflected. The logic was so strong that the risk of splitting everything and destroying value wasn’t an option and both parties came back to make it work.”

He notes that the dairy industry has always stood up for what was right and what needed to be done.

“Whenever challenges came up, we stood up to be part of the solution rather than let things be imposed on us.”

Van der Poel says he has seen a lot of changes in the dairy industry over the last 25 years.

“Twenty five years ago we were in growth mode- there were a lot of conversions happening,” he says.

“A lot of sustainable dairying back then is different to what people feel is sustainable dairying now. That’s just evolution.”

He points out that last year’s Ministry for Primary Industries Situation And Outlook For Primary Industries (SOPI) report showed that the primary sector made up 81% of all NZ exports and dairy made up 45% of that.

“So dairy is a significant contributor to NZ’s standard of living and export earnings. This hasn’t happened by mistake, it has happened because the industry has always driven it forward.

“We are good at what we do, continue to evolve, and step forward into the challenges that come our way.

“I guess for me, I have done my bit and played my small part along the way.”