YOUR INDUSTRY
When ‘absence’ is a measure of success There are few roles in which success is measured by the absence of something, but helping to ensure ‘nothing happens’ is very much part of the job description for New Zealand’s new Chief Biosecurity Officer for the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), Stu Hutchings. By Elaine Fisher
“Success in biosecurity is about not having incursions, but when nothing happens, there is the risk of complacency.” Recruiting the “team of 5 million” New Zealanders through public awareness campaigns has proved invaluable time and again with incursions such as fruit fly in Auckland and currently, helping combat Covid-19 in humans. Stu, currently chief executive for Kiwifruit Vine Health (KVH), will continue to call on every Kiwi to help keep our country free of unwanted pests and diseases in a role which will take an overview of the work of the Biosecurity New Zealand directorates which focus on import health standards pre-border, at the border at ports and airports, and post-border. “One of the mandates for the new role is to look across the whole system to provide assurance that it is working well.” “We’re excited to have Stu join us as our first chief biosecurity officer, says Penny Nelson, Deputy DirectorGeneral, Biosecurity New Zealand. He has proven leadership in biosecurity, and in his previous roles he has always had a genuine focus on putting growers and farmers at the centre of everything he and his team do – something incredibly important to us at MPI, and integral to successfully all working together to keep unwanted pests and diseases from making their ways onto our farms and orchards and into our communities.” Biosecurity New Zealand systems protect New Zealand from imported pests and diseases that could harm the food and primary sector, New Zealand’s environment and biodiversity, and the health of New Zealanders.
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The ORCHARDIST : MARCH 2021
New Zealand’s new Chief Biosecurity Officer for the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), Stu Hutchings
The new role is one Stu is well qualified for, given his wealth of experience and knowledge in management of biosecurity risks in both animals and plants, in research and innovation and through his wide network of contacts formed from working with farmers and growers, industry and central and local government partners. Stu joined KVH three years ago from the role of group manager for OSPRI and has had previous roles as acting chief executive there as well as at the Animal Health Board. A veterinarian by profession, he has also held roles within private vet practice and risk management product development for the New Zealand Veterinary Association.
Kiwifruit is an amazing industry to work in because of the proactive nature of the industry... Alongside his role with KVH, Stu has been an independent director on the Mycoplasma bovis board, which with MPI, is charged with eliminating the disease from New Zealand’s dairy and drystock herds. “Kiwifruit is an amazing industry to work in because of the proactive nature of the industry and I have especially enjoyed working at KVH. It has a passionate team of people and is an organisation in which you can come up with an issue or problem, talk it through, do background research and implement solutions relatively quickly. I have also enjoyed the collaboration between KVH, Zespri, New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc and the wider industry.”
