Wider role for Mikkelson

GEA Farm Technologies is owned by the GEA Group, in 2012 earning EUR $5.7 billion. 

Mikkelson (40) was born in Matamata and has spent most of his life in Waikato. For 20 years he has worked at Milfos, Hamilton, where he helped grow the business from a start-up, alongside its founder, the late Philip Locke.  Mikkelson was a shareholder and the managing director of Milfos when Locke died last year. 

When GEA Farm Technologies bought Milfos in late 2012, Mikkelson became managing director of its New Zealand operations.   He is now one of eight global VPs, responsible for sales and performance of 190 employees and 50 service partners.

Mikkelson says the acquisition of Milfos by GEA completed the companies offering of a ‘total solutions provider’ for pastoral dairy farmers. New Zealand is being positioned by GEA as a ‘world hub’ for pastoral farming.  

He says business is about people first and products second. “My role is aligning people and the business to a common strategy and helping them deliver on that strategy.”

The challenge of managing Australia was not dissimilar to the challenges of managing the differences between farming in, for example,  the North and South Islands. 

“While New Zealand and Australia are similar, they are also very different – I don’t expect to take a NZ approach in Australia and likewise what works in Tasmania will not necessarily work in New South Wales. It’s about understanding in real detail the drivers, challenges and where we can add value,” says Mikkelson.

Ownership by GEA Group allows for products made in New Zealand, such as FIL and Milfos, to be marketed elsewhere in the world.  

In New Zealand GEA Farm Technologies owns and markets milking machine and farm management equipment from Milfos and WestfaliaSurge, dairy hygiene and animal health supplies from FIL, effluent handling equipment from Houle and barn equipment supplies from Norbco.