Beef + Lamb NZ chair: Farm-to-forestry conversions surge ahead of new rules
The chair of Beef + Lamb NZ, Kate Acland says the rush appears to be on to purchase farms and convert them to forestry before new rules limiting this come into effect.
She is B+LNZ’s first female chair and was voted in by the board shortly after its annual meeting in New Plymouth yesterday.
She replaces Andrew Morrison, who was voted out of the board by farmers this month.
Acland says discussions at yesterday’s AGM “underlined the need for deeper conversations with our farmers about some of the key issues we’re advocating on and why the board has taken the positions it has.”
Acland and her husband David own a range of businesses including Mt Somers Station, mid-Canterbury.
The couple have three children and employ 30 staff and run 30,000 stock units in a mixture of sheep, beef and deer, as well as an 850-cow dairy unit.
The Mt Somers Station property also includes a standalone honey operation with 500 hectares of native vegetation and beech forest supporting 400 hives that produce Manuka, Honeydew and Clover honeys.
Before moving to her husban family farm, she developed her own vineyard and winery (Sugar Loaf Wines), processing and export business in Marlborough.
Acland said she’s humbled to be appointed chair.
“This is an exciting opportunity to represent farmers and the sector I’m enormously passionate about,” she says.
“I’m personally optimistic about the future. New Zealand has a great history of innovating and adaptation, but right now farming is tough, and farmers are facing unprecedented challenges and change. I look forward to leading the organisation that helps farmers through that change.”
