Wednesday, 01 January 2020 13:14

Honour well deserved, say sharemilkers

Written by  Sudesh Kissun
Tony Wilding. Tony Wilding.

The New Zealand order of merit awarded to Tirau farmer Tony Wilding in the New Years Honours List has been hailed by sharemilkers.

Federated Farmers National Sharemilkers Section chairman, Richard McIntyre says the honour is well deserved.

“Tony is an absolute gentleman who has represented the sharemilker farm owners well, for the betterment of the sharemilking industry,” he told Rural News online.

“His wealth of experience in governance and in resolving sharemilking disputes has been of great benefit.

“He understands the issues sharemilking faces from both points of view and then communicates this in a way to ensure a full discussion is had and a fair outcome is reached.”

Wilding chairs Federated Farmers sharemilker farm owners group. The award recognises his services to the dairy industry and the community.

“Mr Tony Wilding is an experienced director who has had a wide range of leadership roles in the New Zealand dairy industry, and has made significant contributions to conservation and local community organisations” the citation reads.

A dairy farmer in Okoroire, Wilding was a director of New Zealand Dairy Group for 14 years and of the New Zealand Dairy Board for six years. He played a key role in the establishment of Fonterra, and was a director of the Dairy Research Institute.

He was the first community/landowner co-chair of the Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust at the time when the Trust's governance model changed to a co-governance structure with mana whenua, and he has built strong relationships between landowners and mana whenua.

Wilding is currently a trustee and was chair of Leukaemia and Blood Cancer New Zealand until August 2019, and has also been actively involved with the Pohlen Community Trust Hospital, the Okoroire School, and the Tirau Golf Club..

McIntyre says at Federated Farmers Wilding has worked tirelessly on the revisions of the various sharemilking agreements and has “a near encyclopaedic knowledge”.

“On a personal note, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside Tony for the last five years.

“During this time Tony has taught me a great deal about governance, chairmanship, finding consensus and working together to achieve a ‘fair’ outcome for all involved. Sharemilking is and will be in a far better place due to Tony’s involvement.”

More like this

Bye bye Paris?

OPINION: At its recent annual general meeting, Federated Farmers’ Auckland province called for New Zealand to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

What's going on?

OPINION: On the 2nd of May, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced that the 'government remains on track to ban full farm-to-forestry conversion'.

Featured

Creating a buzz on World Bee Day

The message for the 2025 World Bee Day is a call to action for sustainable practices that support bees, improve food security, and protect biosecurity in the face of mounting climate pressures.

NZ supports rules-based system

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters often describes NZ as a small and isolated nation situated 'just north of the penguins' but says in terms of global affairs, NZ and other small nations should be judged on the quality of their arguments and not the size of their military.

National

Top ag scientist to advise PM

A highly experienced agricultural scientist with specialist knowledge of the dairy sector is the Prime Minister's new Chief Science Advisor.

Machinery & Products

Hose runner saves time and effort

Rakaia-based equipment manufacturer Pluck’s Engineering will soon start production of a new machine designed to simplify the deployment and retrieval…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Science fiction

OPINION: Last week's announcement of Prime Minister’s new Science and Technology Advisory Council hasn’t gone down too well in the…

Bye bye Paris?

OPINION: At its recent annual general meeting, Federated Farmers’ Auckland province called for New Zealand to withdraw from the Paris…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter