Rob McTague
Improved land and water management practices require a collaborative approach by all parties, North Otago Sustainable Land Management's new co-ordinator Rob McTague believes.
NOSLaM was revived several years ago by a group of farmers who were keen to improve water quality and promote good pastoral management practices.
Mr McTague, who will be working 20 hours a week, was excited about the new role, saying it was a ''match in heaven'' with his skills.
From Wellington, he and his wife moved to Oamaru two years ago to be closer to family.
Prior to that, he worked in the corporate sector, including the head office of Foodstuffs.
In 2001, he went into business for himself, as a business coach, working with a wide range of people and businesses.
He stressed it was coaching, not consulting, and there was a very big difference between the two. Many business owners knew what to do but had not realised that in their head yet.
So a lot of it was about ''breaking through the glass ceiling'' they put around themselves an giving them confidence.
He mostly worked with small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs), with up to about 10 or 12 employees, and it was about showing them they had that confidence, and teaching them new concepts, he said.
Often, they did not have to spend money to improve their business, rather it was about fine-tuning.
It was about seeking to understand what those issues were and what was ''holding them back'', he said.
Mr McTague co-founded a registered charitable trust focusing on educating teenagers and young adults in business, entrepreneurship, life skills and self-esteem. It was a sponsor of the Young Enterprise Scheme run in secondary schools.
He was also a member of WelTec's (Wellington Institute of Technology) and he is now a trustee with the Waitaki Community Gardens.
When the NOSLaM role arose, Mr McTague saw an opportunity to re-engage that set of skills that he had learnt.
From a farming background, the concept of farming was something that was not new to him.
With a varied career that included being a truck driver, a warehouse inwards good manager and a supermarket manager, he had developed skills to deal with people at different levels.
He was equally comfortable sitting in a boardroom with a managing director as he was talking with a cleaner, he said.
The NOSLaM role was not about having someone go and tell farmers what they had to do.
It was about what issues they had and with whom they needed to put them in touch.
''To get farmer buy-in, the secret will be to seek to understand the land and water management issues being faced by individual farmers and introducing them to the resource most appropriate to them.
''Part of the challenge in the past has been that there are plenty of great organisations out there who are willing and able to help. However, the need for a connecting conduit that is farmer-led is paramount in this process.
''I believe that NOSLaM is well placed to demystify this and place the onus of environmental stewardship firmly in the hands of the farmer - encouraging a heightened sense of responsibility and opportunity,'' he said.
His vision was to have NOSLaM recognised as the region's leading provider of best practice land and water management support and education.