When Gabrielle Thompson was approached to put her name in the hat for the Silver Fern Farms board she saw a chance to be involved in governance of a company that is a big part of her farm business.
A sheep an arable farmer, Thompson farms in partnership with her husband Peter and his brother Chris on 530 hectares at Dorie near Ashburton.
The trio finish up to 14,000 store lambs a year and for three generations the family has been a loyal SFF supplier.
“I was approached by a couple of directors who thought I would be a good person for this new appointment to the board.
“When I thought about I thought it would be as we are suppliers to SFF for three generations and it is a big part of our business with the store lambs.
“It’s good to use your energy to improve something that your own business can benefit from.”
Thompson submitted her CV and was shortlisted to five then down to two and finally one.
“I was pretty chuffed.
“Obviously, there’s a lot for me to learn but that’s the whole point of the appointment – to get younger thought patterns around the table, someone maybe not so well known but someone with skills and experience willing to learn while part of the board.”
Thompson works full time on the family farm with the sheep as well as cropping responsibilities helping cultivating and harvesting.
She is responsible for the farm’s administration and health and safety, banker and supplier relationships, sales contracts and has full involvement in the strategy and succession planning for the farm.
“Yes, I’m full time, that’s school time and I have school holidays off so pretty much I work my farm hours around Frankie, our eight-year old daughter.”
Originally a dryland sheep farm, irrigation was introduced by Thompson’s father-in-law Selwyn and further developed by Gabrielle and Peter when they turned to store lambs and arable about 10 years ago.
“We are a lot greener and lot more fertile now. It’s just growing.”
Alongside the store lamb finishing the Thompsons run their cropping operation growing grass seeds, wheat, barley, peas, clover seed and swedes and giant rape for the lamb finishing.
“So, I’m never short of something to do on the farm.
“Peter’s in charge. I just drive the tractor wherever I’m told and do lots of sheep work.”
As a trained vet Thompson opened her first companion animal clinic and retail business in Ashburton in 2004 then grew her business by 2008 to five clinics across the lower South Island turning over $5 million and employing 40 staff.
She sold the clinics to pursue other business interests but not before she gained extensive business experience.
“The business had some interesting times with rapid growth.
“Through the start-ups I have learnt how to deal with issues such as low profitability and poor cashflow and successfully steered it through these to become a top-performing company.”
The performance was recognised by Veterinary Enterprises, the largest clinic-owning company in New Zealand which bought the clinics in 2013.
Thompson went on to buy a suffering business that sold artisan bread in supermarkets.
“This business was an opportunity for me to learn about fast-moving consumable goods, supermarkets, importing and exporting.”
Thompson extended the range of Pipi’s Artisan Bread in NZ and started exporting into Asia but then sold the business because of a conflict of interest for an upcoming directorship.
A director of Ashburton farm services co-operative Ruralco since 2012, Thompson heads the board’s risk and audit committee and previously chaired the health and safety committee.
She is a member of the Institute of Directors having completed governance and essentials courses and the company directors’ course in 2013 and the risk and audit course in 2014.
She also gained governance experience as a member of the Veterinary Association’s business board and the Christchurch Employers Chamber of Commerce.
A passionate driver for rural and agribusiness Thompson expressed her eagerness to get her feet under the SFF board table.
“There’s massive change to be effected right across agribusiness.
“Some people have their heads buried in the sand but I’m futuristic with my outlook, which I expect, given my appointment, will be fresh thinking at the board table.
“Accountability and traceability are key to opportunities in agriculture moving forward and I’m looking forward to the day we put a microchip in every lamb.”
Thompson believes NZ is well placed to use technology to become the world’s delicatessen.
“We need to be offering high-quality meat and crop products. That’s the space NZ should be headed for and I’m excited about that, especially in the sheep industry where numbers are not going to grow so we need to make more out of what we have got.
“There will always be space for a good quality steak, leg of lamb or venison.
“Traceability and accountability will enable us to market to the right people and even though producing less we will get into restaurants rather than into every supermarket.”
Thompson said SFF has put a lot of effort and investment into that space.
“We are getting the grass-fed and environment story out to consumers about how we raise beef, sheep and venison the way we do versus other countries such as American and Europe do in barns.
“But I’m not saying NZ is squeaky clean.
“We do need to step up in addressing our environmental sustainability.”
Admitting she is a bit of a social bunny Thompson makes sure she has time to enjoy with family and friends.
“We like to travel a bit around NZ and overseas. I love reading, going to the gym and going out with friends for dinner, going to rugby and concerts and having time to go swimming or play a game of chess with Frankie.”
