“There is growing pressure on the boards of irrigation schemes to understand the liabilities of nutrient management on an individual shareholder and catchment basis,” says IrrigationNZ Chairwoman, Nicky Hyslop.

“Irrigation scheme boards have a responsibility to get this right in order to prevent consents being breached,” says Mrs Hyslop. “In response to this, IrrigationNZ, along with the Institute of Directors, will be offering a workshop on these issues in mid-October.

“Directors need to understand the importance of assessing their scheme’s nutrient management risk, getting the strategy right, their role and responsibilities and the consequences if things aren’t well thought through and executed.

“Managing water and nutrients responsibly is fundamental to all irrigation and it is now expected that irrigation schemes have governance expertise on nutrient management.

“We hope that this workshop will help upskill and educate more scheme directors in what needs to be done,” said Mrs Hyslop.

Course information
The new ‘Risk Essentials and Strategy’ workshop will be launched with the help of the Institute of Directors. The one day course on 14th October will be jointly presented by Andrew Curtis, CEO of IrrigationNZ and Giselle McLachlan, a director and lawyer with significant background and experience in governance. She has served on a number of boards, including the Earthquake Commission, and sat on a number of audit and risk committees (one as Chair) with particular expertise in compliance, HR and project governance.

This workshop will focus on irrigation schemes’ directors understanding their role, responsibilities and potential liabilities in this new era of nutrient allocation and management. It will include assessment of risk appetite, alongside the identification and evaluation of risks and a Health & Safety component. More information about this workshop can be found on IrrigationNZ’s website www.irrigationnz.co.nz/training. Or you can contact Chris Coughlan on ph (03) 341 2225.

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