Hukerenui dairy farmer and former bank manager Luke Beehre will lead the Extension 350 project which aims to get Northland farmers working together to lift the performance of the region's agriculture industry.
The project - a collaboration between the Ministry for Primary Industries, Northland Regional Council, DairyNZ, Beef + Lamb NZ and Northland Inc - was launched earlier this year to help farmers share knowledge and gain access to specialist advice.
Farmer mentors and local farm consultants will support a series of target farms as they work toward improving their performance.
Neighbouring farmers will also share their information and learn from the target farmers' experience.
The project, which is a priority within the Tai Tokerau Northland Economic Action Plan, is chaired by Ken Hames who runs 500 bulls on about 300ha at Paparoa and is a shareholder in two Wellsford dairy farms milking 970 cows.