Three winners have been named in the third annual Farmax Consultant of the Year Awards in Ashburton overnight.

The winners are:

Sully Alsop of Baker and Associates in Masterton who won the Beef + Lamb NZ Sheep and Beef Consultant of the Year title; Phil Journeaux of AgFirst Waikato who won the DairyNZ Dairy Consultant of the Year; and Lycinda Lett, also from AgFirst Waikato who was named the NZIPIM Emerging Rural Professional of the Year.

Sponsored by Dairy NZ, Beef + Lamb NZ, New Zealand Institute for Primary Industry Management and the Ministry for Primary Industries, the awards are open to all agricultural consultants and the prizes won by each category winner include:

• A Windows tablet
• A paid overseas study trip
• Funds for personal development; and
• 40 paid hours to undertake a research project to benefit New Zealand’s agriculture industry.

Sully Alsop

Alsop trained at Smedley Station and Massey University and for the past nine years, has worked as a sheep and beef consultant and director for Baker & Associates in Masterton. He also runs a 3000-unit sheep and beef farm with this wife.

Alsop also recently came second in the ANZ New Zealand Young Farmers Contest.

Farmax general manager Gavin McEwen said Alsop is a great example of the “new breed” of consultant.

“Sully promotes excellence, gets involved and puts himself out there,” he said.
“His areas of expertise are strategic planning, business management and high performance sheep and beef production.”

Phil Journeaux

Journeaux joined AgFirst’s Waikato office in 2012, after 25 years with what was then the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. He has worked in agriculture all of his working life, covering a wide range of the industry.
Farmax general manager Gavin McEwen said that Journeaux was not your typical consultant.

“He doesn’t do a lot of one-on-one work, but rather works at a higher level on projects for organisations that use his experience to get a wider reach than others could achieve.

“His ability to rationalise really stands out and that’s an attribute that the industry needs during good times, as well as tough times,” he said.

Journeaux has been a member of the New Zealand Agricultural and Resource Economics Society for 23 years and on the executive team for 10 years, most recently as treasurer.

He has two Masters’ degrees: MAgSc (Hons) and an MBA. Phil’s specific areas of skill are economic analysis, risk management/disaster recovery, and water quality issues.

Lycinda Lett

Lett began consulting as a dairy advisor with the AgFirst Waikato team in early 2011 and has a Bachelor of Agricultural Science with second class honours from Lincoln University.

She has recently completed a Kellogg Rural Leadership Scholarship, with her project investigating barriers and opportunities to improving dairy farm rosters in the Waikato.

“Lycinda’s nomination displayed expertise in a range of areas, as well as plenty of good experience in larger scale, industry focused projects,” said Farmax general manager Gavin McEwen.

“Her involvement in the likes of the Kellogg Rural Leadership Scholarship proves she is self-driven and motivated to improve, while her involvement in NZIPIM and Young Farmers shows commitment to the industry.”

Lett says she has a keen interest in on-farm environmental challenges and is also passionate about staff/labour management on dairy farms. She is a farm systems specialist with vast experience using the Farmax farm systems model.

The Consultant of the Year Awards were initiated in 2013 to recognise the expertise and value agricultural consultants and rural professionals provide to the New Zealand pastoral farming industry.

“Once again, we were incredibly impressed with the quality and calibre of nominations put forward for this year’s awards. Thank you to those who took the time to nominate their consultants or colleagues,” said Mr McEwen.

“At Farmax, we see on a regular basis the invaluable service that rural professionals provide to their farming clients. The feedback we receive from farmers about their consultants is really uplifting and it shows just how much of a difference consultants can make to their clients’ businesses.

“The agricultural industry has really got behind the awards this year, and we are very excited to have such a high calibre of sponsors supporting New Zealand consultants and rural professionals.

“We wouldn’t be able to recognise our peers through the Consultant of the Year Awards without our sponsors’ ongoing support. They have helped Farmax provide the winning consultants with the opportunity to further their knowledge and undertake research projects that will greatly benefit the industry.”

For more information about the Farmax Consultant of the Year Awards visit www.farmax.co.nz

 Sully Alsop and Beef + Lamb New Zealand chief operating officer Cros Spooner.