Landcorp Farming Ltd’s (Pāmu) shareholding ministers have made a new appointment to the board.

Dr Tanira Kingi will join the board from 1 July. Dr Kingi (Ngati Whakaue/Te Arawa) has an extensive background in agricultural systems, land economics and forestry and is currently the research leader in primary industry systems at Scion. He has previously held a number of research and academic roles with AgResearch and Massey University.

Dr Kingi has a PhD in agricultural economics and development from the Australian National University and an MAppSci(Hons) in agricultural systems management from Massey University. He is currently on several ministerial advisory groups for freshwater and climate change and has been a member of Pāmu’s Environment Reference Group since its establishment in 2015.

Dr Kingi has a wealth of experience in New Zealand’s primary industries that goes back to working in the forestry sector in the late 70s and horticultural management in the 1980s. He has held governance positions on agricultural entities for almost 30 years and is currently the chair of the Te Arawa Primary Sector Group (Te Arawa Arataua) and sits on the boards of several Māori economic authorities.

“I am delighted to welcome Tanira to the board and look forward to working with him. Tanira’s extensive work in a range of agricultural related research and development projects, along with his in-depth knowledge of the forestry sector, will be invaluable to Pāmu as we continue to execute on our strategy. This includes a strong focus on land use optimisation and increasing profitability and business resilience along with environmental sustainability, ” said Warren Parker, Pāmu Chairman.

Dr Kingi replaces Tony Reilly, who is retiring from the board after six years.

“I want to thank Tony for his enormous contribution to Pāmu. His agricultural and governance experience has been hugely useful to the board and his recent chairing of the Performance and Safety committee of the Board has seen good progress on people and safety related initiatives. We will miss Tony’s wise counsel,” Dr Parker said.