A passion for dairy

By Gerald Piddock

The outgoing chief executive of DairyNZ says many challenges and opportunities lie ahead for the industry but work is ongoing.

Outgoing DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle says he is optimistic about what lies ahead for the dairy industry despite the wide array of challenges it faces.

To succeed, it will take an industrywide effort as well as cross-sector collaboration with wider farming sector groups, he says. But whatever challenges are thrown at the dairy industry, keeping farmers front and centre of DairyNZ’s response must be front of mind.

This has been the cornerstone of his approach in 15 years of leading the industry-good organisation.

The dairy sector has grown and evolved massively during that time and with it, challenges and changes to DairyNZ.

The organisation has had to grapple with the implications of industry expansion, payout volatility, Mycoplasma bovis, central and local government regulations around freshwater and emissions, animal welfare issues around non-replacement calves and ongoing issues from covid-19.

Mackle says that strong empathy for farmers and how these issues impacted them meant the decision to step down was a difficult one.

“I care deeply and passionately not only about the organisation but also about the people who we’re serving, which are the farmers. That’s what made it difficult and it wasn’t an easy thing to walk away from.”

His advice for the new chief executive is to remember that the job is all about the people – farmers, the staff, board and wider industry partners – and being able to navigate those different interactions.

“But most critically, establishing that relationship with farmers, really understanding farmers and having that strong empathy for the issues that they deal with.”

In any given week Mackle says he could be meeting with local or central government, groups like Federated Farmers or being asked to speak to the media.

DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle, who is stepping down from the industrygood body after 15 years in the job, is optimistic about what lies ahead for the industry.

Whoever the audience, He says it is important for him to always be guided by the principles of why he was there, so that even if he is not with farmers, they are always at the front of his mind.

He says he regrets not being able to spend more time with farmers, but the nature of the role meant it often took him away from those interactions.

Farming is very much in Mackle’s blood. Born in Kaikōura, he is the son of fourth-generation farmers Ron and Margaret Mackle.

“I do get their challenges and frustrations and I really value that. I like working with farmers and that means the good times and the times when you get a bit of a rev-up.

“Their expectations quite rightly are always high.”

While at school, he fully intended to go farming and planned to run the family farm with his brother. His intention was to do a diploma in agriculture, but his mother convinced him to study towards a degree instead.

In 1989, he went to Lincoln University, where he studied towards a Bachelor of Ag Science and graduated in 1992 with first-class honours.

Prior to DairyNZ, he worked for the Dairying Research Corporation and the Dairy Board, which later became part of Fonterra. In 2001, he was appointed as an executive assistant to then chief executive Craig Norgate, working on special projects. Next he ran a standalone business within Fonterra called Anchor Ethanol.

He then spent two years at Dexcel, with much of his time spent assisting with its merger with Dairy Insight –which became DairyNZ.

Mackle says the Dexcel chief executive role came about following a conversation he had with then Dexcel chair (and now DairyNZ chair) Jim van der Poel in an elevator at Fonterra’s headquarters in Auckland.

“He said, ‘We have a really important job going, would you consider applying’?”

Mackle put his name forward and succeeded in getting the job in late 2005.

The two years of Dexcel included clearing up lingering issues with funder/ provider internal debates over how and where farmer money should be spent.

“The bottom line is that the merger in late 2007 to create DairyNZ was one of the best things that happened because it removed that friction.”

Stakeholder engagement was not a huge priority in DairyNZ’s early days – a legacy of the priorities of Dexcel and Dairy Insight.

He credits DairyNZ’s first chair John Luxton with changing that mindset.

“He had the foresight to say to me and the board that we are going to have to get more involved in this policy game.”

Mackle’s challenge was working out what that looked like, and complementing the existing advocacy