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Three well-known dairy farmers – Siobhan O’Malley, Corrigan Sowman and Victoria Trayner — are fighting for the new seat.
Changes introduced in 2020 reduced the number of elected LIC directors from seven to six and the number of regions from four to two. After this year’s election, there will three directors each from the North Island and South Island.
Voting papers were sent to LIC shareholders last week: results will be announced at LIC annual meeting in Palmerston North on October 20.
O’Malley, the founding chair of Meat the Need charity, sees LIC as aligned with her “passion for being a sector ambassador” and long-term governance aspirations.
Her family farming interest, Pukeko Pastures, began in 2011 as a sharemilking business. It now owns a dairy farm milking 180 cows. She is a graduate of the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme and previous sharemilkers’ representative with Federated Farmers.
As chair of Meat the Need, she engaged Silver Fern Farms, Miraka and Fonterra to partner with and sponsor the programme. O’Malley has helped lead the trust’s rapid growth to an expected product value of $10m next year.
Sowman draws from a number of South Island dairy farming leadership and representative roles. He says he’s motivated to join the LIC board as a way to continue contributing to the sector’s success while also strengthening his governance experience.
Sowman is the owner, director and business manager of Uruwhenua Farms, a 400ha dairy farm. His earlier career involved roles in farm research and consultancy. He is both a Nuffield Farming Scholar and Kellogg Rural Leadership Scholar.
He is the current farmer member on the Fonterra Sustainability Advisory Panel, a group providing independent advice to the Fonterra board.
Trayner draws from a broad agribusiness and education background and is motivated for the LIC role as an opportunity to “give back” through shareholder representation. She notes her close alignment to the co-operative values and focus on intergenerational value.
Trayner has extensive primary sector experience through her own and family farming enterprises, including dairy farms, pig farms, Angus beef stud and dairy bull run-off. She is currently a tutor in agribusiness and production management through AgriLearn and a director of Waimakariri Irrigation Limited.
