WORDS BY ANITA BODY, IMAGES BY TONY CARTER - WHITE WOLF STUDIO AND SUPPLIED.
Two new Directors have recently been welcomed to the Ruralco Board bringing a wealth of experiences and farming knowledge to the table.
Dave Barron, the current Managing Director of IT consulting and services business, Nectar Group Limited, based in Christchurch and director of farming enterprises, Tallarook Dairies and Rahi Partnership; along with Kate Beaumont-Smith, a Mid Canterbury dairy farmer who has been contract milking for the last four seasons and was formerly a lawyer both locally and in the UK, were elected unopposed.
As per the Society’s rules, current Chair, Sir David Carter retired by rotation. He was available for re-election and was duly re-elected.
The two new Directors filled vacancies created by the resignation of a sitting Director earlier in the year, and a new vacancy created by the Board, following a decision to widen the Board’s skillset and increase the number of Directors. This means there are now six elected Directors: Sir David Carter, Kate Acland, Rhea Booker, Tony Coltman, along with the newly elected Dave Barron and Kate Beaumont Smith.
KATE BEAUMONT SMITH
Finding a role which combines a love of farming and the ability to flex her legal and governance skills were behind Kate Beaumont-Smith’s decision to stand for the Ruralco Board of Directors.
It was a case of second time lucky, after the former lawyer turned contract milker from south of Hinds, Mid Canterbury was elected unopposed at the November Annual General Meeting last year after previously vying for a place on the Board at the 2022 election.
“I really wanted to do something that was a hybrid mix between law and farming.”
She describes joining the Ruralco Board of Directors as a great way to be involved in a co-operative which she has admired during her time in Mid Canterbury. “I’ve always felt it’s a good, established, local business and I like that it is prepared to support and supply locals, and that it is run by farmers for farmers.”
Originally from the UK, Kate has been in New Zealand for almost 10 years, based solely in Mid Canterbury. Prior to moving to New Zealand Kate worked as a lawyer mostly with private clients, with her area of practice predominantly being wills, estates, and trusts. She continued working in similar roles when she moved to New Zealand in 2014 until deciding to give it up in favour of working on the farm.
“Now I’m on the farm doing calf rearing, and a variety of admin tasks like the bookwork and staff management.”
She and her husband, James, are contract milkers with 565 cows and operate the farm’s run-off block. Originally from Doubtless Bay in the far north and after serving in the New Zealand Army, James was already farming in Wales and it’s through those connections the couple ended up in Mid Canterbury, with the best man at their wedding also hailing from the UK and now settled in the district.
Family and community is important to Kate and James. The couple have two daughters, Lexi 7 and Holly 5, who both attend Hinds Primary School and are playing rugby for the local Southern Rugby Club. The girls are also involved in Brownies, Pippins, swimming, and Lexi also shares her father’s passion for golf.
As a member of Hakatere Ceramics & Pottery Ashburton, Kate gets to indulge her creativity by making pieces for friends and family. “I have a very organic, free form style and I don’t do wheel work. I like to include other materials such as melting glass in my pieces.”
Kate has a strong desire to give back. As the parent of a daughter with Turner Syndrome, Kate is not only the treasurer on the national board (the Turner Syndrome Association of New Zealand), but was instrumental in creating a governance structure, writing a new constitution, policies, and procedures, as well as implementing financial systems.
Turner Syndrome affects women and girls who have a missing or partial X chromosome and affects one in 2,500 female births. Next year the national organisation, in conjunction with its Australian counterpart, is hosting a world-wide conference, which she says is very exciting and will keep her and the national board busy.
Kate is looking forward to continuing her work as a Ruralco Director and appreciates having the opportunity to give back to the farming community and continue to grow professionally, while also working around her family commitments.
“I’m really enjoying my director role. In the UK I was involved in a lot of tax advice and planning, especially around things like inheritance tax. That’s not part of a lawyer’s role in New Zealand (to provide financial advice), so it’s been great to be involved in the financials and to see the logistics around what makes Ruralco tick.”
DAVE BARRON
Growing up on the family farm on the north side of the Rakaia River instilled in Dave Barron a life-long love of the great outdoors and farming. It would have been logical to assume a career in farming beckoned, but the economic downturn in the late 1980s and early 1990s took him down another path instead.
The newly elected Ruralco Director says while at St Andrews College, his top marks were in the agriculture course “but I decided to not go into farming because of it being in the doldrums at that time. Instead, I went to Christchurch to begin a career in accountancy, going straight into the workforce and studying part-time.”
Dave began work as a costing clerk with manufacturing business, Moffat Appliances, and by the early 1990s discovered computers. “My time at Moffat Appliances gave me exposure to manufacturing processes and provided an excellent foundation to develop my IT career.”
He then moved to Ernst & Young’s computer department where he installed and configured accounting applications for various companies from a variety of sectors and industries. “It gave me the opportunity to set up and experience many computer systems. At that time, computer courses were only in their infancy—you could learn more on the job than through anything else,” he says.
From there, Dave went to CommArc Consulting where he moved back into an infrastructure role as an IT consultant, and later progressed to become the General Manager. He spent 13 years with the business before moving to The Laptop Company, again in the GM role, seeing through the difficult challenges of the GFC (global financial crisis) and the Christchurch earthquakes.
He was also seconded throughout this time to undertake project work for a variety of clients, including Connetics and Fonterra. Career highlights included the project management of the implementation of a milk collection data system for Fonterra which included over 500 trucks and 1500 drivers over seven sites. “It was really hard work but we got it done and it was very successful.”
Currently Dave is a director and controlling shareholder of Nectar Group Ltd, having started the business in 2012. In simple terms, the business specialises in designing, installing and maintaining client’s computer systems. Nectar has lots of fantastic customers in and around Ashburton, giving Dave a good understanding of the district and a greater understanding of Ruralco and the communities it serves.
He quips he has promoted himself out of harm’s way by appointing a GM to grow the business. This gives Dave more time for his latest venture, e2e Limited, which focuses on helping organisations to optimise process and software applications to improve business efficiency and profitability.
“I’m in my happy place when I’m consulting and assisting businesses, especially agricultural ones.” He says it almost feels like he’s come full circle, although in reality, he has never lost his connection to farming. “I’m a director for the family farm. When we converted to dairying in the early 2000s, we were part of Spectrum Dairies and built some great relationships.” Now the farm is in a partnership ownership arrangement, with Dave’s father still owning the land.
Family is important to Dave and his wife, Tracy, and their two children—Emily, 22, and Elliot, 18. Freeing up some of his day-to-day business commitments means he can take up opportunities, like recently tackling the Kepler Track with his daughter.
It also means he can” give back”. “I can take the time to focus on strategy and governance, and bring my IT, management, and governance skillset to the table, like I do in my role on the Ruralco Board.” He’s also a councillor for North Canterbury Fish and Game and says it’s a great way to blend his passion for the outdoors and farming.
“It’s my belief that Fish & Game can and should work alongside farmers. Farmers are caretakers of the land and they understand that. We are more aligned than some might think and it’s really important that we have a great relationship.”
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