Grappling with the devastating Mycoplasma Bovis (M. Bovis) disease outbreak has kept Jim van der Poel busy since he took over the top job at Dairy NZ.
Since M Bovis was finally identified on farms in 2017, some 180 properties have been confirmed as having the disease, and 108,000 animals have been culled. Hundreds of MPI staff have been trained to help farmers eradicate the disease, with the aim of trying to avoid over a billion dollars of economic damage.
Jim van der Poel had to grapple with M Bovis very quickly when he was elected to the top job at Dairy NZ after the death of previous chairman Michael Spaans in 2017. He has had to walk a tightrope between supporting and working with farmers while at the same time reminding them of their biosecurity obligations and seeing through a levy on dairy farmers to fight the disease.
Before being elected as chair of DairyNZ van der Poel was a director at industry giant Fonterra, where he served from 2002 to 2014.
He lives with his wife Sue in Ngahinapouri, south of Hamilton. The couple, who married in 1980, first entered the dairy industry as sharemilkers, milking 120 cows on a farm west of Te Awamutu. They now have interests in farms in Waikato, Southland and Canterbury, as well as the US. In partnership with others they own Ashpouri Ltd, a 50/50 sharemilking company, and land-owning company Singletree Dairies.
Van Der Poel is also a director at Tower Peak Station, a 1200ha dry stock farm that specialises in rearing young dairy stock.
2018: $75 Million