{"id":31820,"date":"2018-05-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/macfarlane-takes-out-deer-industry-award\/"},"modified":"2018-05-31T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-05-30T12:00:00","slug":"macfarlane-takes-out-deer-industry-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/news\/macfarlane-takes-out-deer-industry-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Macfarlane takes out Deer Industry Award"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

Macfarelane, the Deer Industry New Zealand chairman from 2010-2017, was honoured for his leadership at the deer industry conference in Timaru.<\/p>\n

He is principal of Macfarlane Rural Business agricultural consultancy and a member of the deer industry Passion 2 Profit (P2P) advisory group. He entered the deer industry with a single purpose \u2013 to put more money in the pockets of all participants.<\/p>\n

He identified the scope of onfarm improvement and in-market value. The result was a $16m P2P programme.<\/p>\n

Farmers were engaged, improving knowledge and profitability and industry players were capturing more value from the marketplace with new Cervena initiatives.<\/p>\n

Macfarlane\u2019s vision resulted in a unified front with clear goals and the industry is now reaping the rewards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

P2P advisory group chairwoman Mandy Bell said Macfarlane was pivotal in leading change in the industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has passionately given time and energy to set the industry on a very solid footing from pasture to plate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing unprecedented behaviour change in the farming stakeholders that is creating enduring value but is also setting up a different way to respond and act to challenges and change.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be a critical positive for the industry in the next five to 10 years as the primary sector faces a number of significant external challenges,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that we will look back on this period as a significant, key event in the history of the industry moving from the entrepreneurship of the founders to a period of visionary consolidation.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his tenure Macfarlane inspired and led the industry into a critical evaluation of productivity, especially related to onfarm reproductive and growth performances relative to other livestock options.<\/p>\n

With the board and then chief executive Mark O\u2019Connor he established the Industry\u2019s Productivity Improvement Programme.<\/p>\n

It set out clear opportunities on deer farms to systematically improve performance and profitability through reducing waste and managing breeding, feeding and deer health.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While MacFarlane and his board led this process it has been inclusive of the Deer Farmers Association, deer farmers and the venison marketing sector from the start.<\/p>\n

The DFA is one of several who nominated Macfarlane for the award.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAndy\u2019s contribution to the deer industry during his tenure as chairman has been huge,\u201d DFA executive member John Somerville said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he came onto the board and became chairman he saw an industry that was lacking in strategic direction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cProductivity gains in large parts of the industry had been very poor and farmers were over-reliant on product price increases alone to improve profitability,\u201d Somerville said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many farm systems hadn\u2019t changed in decades and were unsuited to the modern competitive farming environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cAndy led his board to view the possibility of accessing government money through the PGP to help the industry achieve its goal of enabling farmers to improve onfarm productivity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vision involved development through localised farmer groups backed by national projects involving themes around animal health, feeding and genetics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PGP application also envisaged that accessing new venison market opportunities was an equal part of the equation and developed, ensuring that the industry proposal was accepted.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Macfarlane retired from the board the farmers Advance Parties groups were still growing and proving very successful in enabling farmers to upskill and the increased\u00a0 interaction helped increase farmer\u00a0 confidence, Somerville said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

New venison market opportunities through the rejuvenated Cervena appellation are being developed in Holland and Belgium.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The major plus in marketing is having all five main venison processors signed up.<\/p>\n

\u201cRetaining their individual company identity but working on a common goal is a first for any meat industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Somerville said the entire P2P programme is the legacy of Macfarlane\u2019s time as DINZ chairman.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the changes he has initiated and led in the deer industry Andy is a very strong and well-deserved winner for this year\u2019s deer industry award.\u201d<\/p>\n

Humbled but \u201ctruly honoured\u201d, Macfarlane said it was not all about him.<\/p>\n

The success of his vision had been a very wide team effort, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably more that I was a leader in a good space at the right time to drive a vision that had to be and was shared and supported by all in the industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe I can take all the credit,\u201d Macfarlane said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man with an industry vision, passionate to a fault, an exemplary inspirational leader committed to industry-wide success on all fronts \u2013 that is Andy Macfarlane, the winner of the Deer Industry Award 2018.\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":31821,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t