“I had already started assisting the national organisation, working on new partnerships and commercial relationships,” Maclean, the president of Auckland Federated Farmers, said.
“They considered someone from a non-rural environment had merit as the organisation needed to reconsider how it operates in the commercial partner space as well as alternative sources of revenue and different business relationships than in the past.”
The 55-year-old had strong connections with the rural sector despite living in Auckland’s Remuera. He was brought up in Wellington and Wairarapa.
“Family were farming in Wairarapa so a passion for country life was hard-wired from an early age,” he said.
After working on farms throughout his college holidays he started out as a shepherd on John Daniel’s Wairere stud at Bideford followed by rural contract work that included fencing, scrub cutting, mustering and working in shearing gangs in the North Island and on properties in Marlborough.
Then it was off to Lincoln College, more contracting, and a stint in the Territorial Army, after which he went on to manage a 500-hectare sheep and beef farm at Elsthorpe in Central Hawke’s Bay.
“I loved the challenge of stepping up and gaining new skills.”
But an accident where he was dragged by a horse when mustering fractured two vertebrae in his back and meant a total change of career was required.
“One of the biggest wrenches was giving away my dogs,” he said.
“And having to abandon rural life was difficult.”
Overseas travel called and he spent 15 months in the Americas working for three months for a legal firm in El Salvador during that country’s civil war.
In London he found work as a financial analyst before moving to Scotland where he met his wife, Vikki, and became involved in marketing, helping launch a strategy to promote and export high-end products and services.
“It was an invaluable experience and I worked with a number of primary industry organisations,” he said.
“It was ground-breaking marketing at the time.
“Both Scotland and New Zealand have small economies heavily reliant on food and drink exports with high quality perceptions.”
After 15 years in Scotland it was time to move home with sons, Angus, now 23, and Oliver, 19.
Initially Maclean consulted for NZ Trade and Enterprise on a project in China then went to Auckland with the Australian infrastructure development group, Leighton.
He joined Auckland Federated Farmers three years ago and was persuaded in 2016 to step up to become president.
“At first I was dead against it because I felt a non-farmer in the role might have some unintended consequences,” he said.
“But one of the reasons for getting involved was that I felt the way farming had been portrayed was inaccurate and unfair and respect for those in the primary sector was being challenged.
“But that doesn’t exclude us from the need to change and continually improve our management practices.”
While the federation had a strong voice the perception some New Zealanders had of food producers didn’t reflect the facts when it came to the benefits delivered to the national economy, he said.
“It’s hugely significant for tourism, the thousands of jobs it supports and hundreds of rural communities around the country.”
After a relatively stable period the changes now demanded had taken some farmers by surprise.
“There’s more scrutiny on the source of food and food safety and that’s escalated in a way no one could have predicted.”
He believed agriculture had been slow to tell the market and consumers the story of contemporary food production in NZ and the positive stories around environmental responsibility.
“It’s not that farmers aren’t doing more.”
The talk of a rural-urban divide during the election campaign showed the extent to which there could be a disconnection.
“But it was also an opportunity to reframe the economic importance of the primary sector,” he said.
“It got a lot of things out in the open and on the table.
“Transformation is here to stay and our primary sector has much to be proud of as demand for high-quality food and drink products continues to grow.”
