Michael has been in the Invercargill-based role about six weeks and works alongside 62 Farm Source personnel to support 1,000 dairy farmers across the Otago/Southland region.
The Waikato-raised Michael started with the Dairy Board in 1993 and has since been mostly on an overseas journey. He's been in planning, selling and management roles with international interactions from the Philippines, Australia and Dubai, and South Africa for the past 13 years. The timing to join Farm Source is right, especially with his children at university and late school age. As to be expected, he's on a steep learning curve, but notes as an initial impression there's been a positive culture shift within the business.
"There's more sharing of information, acting as one, a team, not siloes. It's coordinated. And within Farm Source there is a huge support base for farmers and shareholders. We're helping connect with our customers, understanding it starts with the grass. Farm Source is part of that two-way alignment, including working and communicating with our farming community, building awareness of things that are coming our way. Part of our role is to live to our name and be a source of knowledge for farmers."
The Farm Source offering includes sustainability teams, agronomists, sales specialists. All visit farms, and all provide information based on what a farmer is trying to do.
If Farm Source doesn't have an answer, it points farmers in the right direction, says Michael. "We're effectively an enabler for information from lots of others including DairyNZ, rural professionals, and other parts of the value chain," he says.
"By working together, we bring strengths which allow us to continue to build a more resilient business and deliver sustainable value to our shareholders."
Michael says success for him will be strong connectivity with Farmers and the Co-Operative. "We have built a great global business and we are the envy of the dairy world," he says. "However, the market is very dynamic, and we need to ensure we keep moving forward with the marketplace. Being proactive and looking forward to maximise opportunities and/or minimise potential risks, rather than being reactive and waiting for change, has allowed Fonterra to continue to lead in dairy in our customers' eyes.
"We are delivering a record farm gate milk price in times of a global pandemic, global supply chain disruptions and in times of conflict. We couldn't do this if we weren't all aligned and working together - this is the power of the Co-Op."
Part of Michael's philosophy is that one always strives to deliver value and make a positive contribution, and his view is that the future of the Co-Operative is bright and in good hands.
"However, it's up to all of us to continue to work well, together - tātou tātou."