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Dairy InSight, the industry good organisation for the dairy industry, boasts three new faces today following results of the postal ballot which closed yesterday.
It was the first dairy farmer election for the Dairy InSight board, and followed the formal authorisation from the Minister of Agriculture for Dairy InSight to be
funded from a levy on milksolids under the Commodity Levies Act.
Of the total seven members on the board, three are newly elected, two have been returned and two are existing appointed members who have yet to complete their term.
The new members are Ken Kirkpatrick, of Wellington; Doug Leeder, of Opotiki, and John Penna, of Rakaia.
The returned members are Philip Luscombe, of Manaia and Ian Robb, of Kumara, while the existing members are Nick Pyke and Mike Dunbier.
The new board will elect a chairman at its first meeting on Thursday as incumbent chairman Alan Frampton did not stand for re-election.
Chief executive Peter Bodeker said the election was "an important milestone" for the organisation.
"From July, Dairy InSight will be funded by dairy farmers rather than through dairy companies and it will be governed by its first elected board, as the previous board was appointed by the dairy companies.
"We regard this funding as an investment by dairy farmers and we will be looking to get the best possible return for the investment," he said in a statement.
Dairy Insight was established to fund activities that are beneficial to all farmers within the dairy industry as a whole.
These are likely to include farm staff education, university scholarships, disease control and research, environmental research and education, economic farm survey and dairy statistics.
Dairy InSight will announce its first round of grants totalling $39 million over the next few weeks.
- NZPA
