Heart of Fonterra shareholders' leader lies on farm

Simon Couper. Photo / Supplied

New Fonterra Shareholders' Council chairman Simon Couper spent many years working in banking, but the land pulled him home to the family farm in Northland.

Couper worked in management accounting and financial risk management both in New Zealand and Britain before taking over the family dairy farm in Waipu in 2000.

"What brought me back into farming was the fact that you were achieving something tangible," Couper said. "I like the outdoors existence and the lifestyle of farming."

Couper said the priority was to see that the recently approved introduction of share trading among farmers was implemented correctly, while representing the views of shareholders and monitoring the board's performance.

Getting share trading among farmers through had been a vast undertaking, and Couper paid tribute to the time and effort of exiting chairman Blue Read and deputy chairman Campbell Shearer.

"[I'm] looking forward to it, but there'll be challenging times and also a lot of responsibility, which I'm very aware of," Couper said.

"We have 35 elected members, and it's going to take all of our talent to steer the best path for shareholders and the co-operative."

Federated Farmers Dairy chairman Lachlan McKenzie welcomed Couper and new deputy chairman Ian Brown and reminded them of the council's critical role.

"The council is not there to rubber-stamp Fonterra board decisions but to ensure these decisions are in the long-term interests of shareholders and the co-operative," McKenzie said.

"Only when the board has satisfied the questions of farmer/shareholder/ suppliers put to them via the council can they be confident that they have the full support of Fonterra's 10,500 shareholders."

Exiting chairman Read said it was an incredibly demanding role.

"You act as a conduit between the board and shareholders ... and there's 35 farmers on that shareholders' council, 35 very strong-minded individuals, and it takes a fair bit of energy and effort to keep alignment on a group like that."

Read had not seen much of his North Taranaki farm in recent years.

"So I'm just going to go and sit on a hill and look at the sea maybe and calve some cows," he said.

But he did not expect to be out of circulation forever. "I've always been active outside the farm gate and I don't think that that'll change."

SIMON COUPER

Age: 40.
Home: Waipu.
Education: Bachelor of commerce degree in economics, Otago University.
1996-2000: Banking in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
2000: Took over the family farm in Waipu.
2004: Joined the Fonterra Shareholders' Council.