Foundation Trustees

Anders Crofoot

Anders lives and farms with his family at Castlepoint Station, a large sheep and beef property in the Wairarapa. He holds a number of positions including on the National Board of Federated Farmers (he was also Wairarapa Provincial President for four years), on the executive of the NZ Grassland Association (two years as President), and director of Grow Wellington, the economic development agency for Greater Wellington.

Prior to emigrating from the US in 1998, he earned a double degree in Computer Science and Psychology from Dartmouth, worked in hospitality and construction, set up a computer consulting practice and worked as a quantitative analyst.

Mike Smith

Representing Horticulture New Zealand

Mike has been in the kiwifruit business for more than 20 years, and has a background in dairy farming and the stock and station industry. He is an alumni of the HortNZ Leadership Programme, a member of the New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc Forum and the kiwifruit industry representative to the Horticulture Industry Forum. Mike is also chair of the Green Kiwifruit Growers Association and a member of the Bay of Plenty Young Fruitgrower Committee.

Mike is also a kiwifruit grower, shareholder and manager of Welcome Bay Farms Ltd, and a director and manager of Net-Man Ltd: Kiwifruit Management Company. He was appointed as trustee to the Foundation in 2015.

David Molloy

Representing Rural Contractors New Zealand

David joined as a Trustee in March 2013 and represents Rural Contractors New Zealand, the national association for contractors primarily in agriculture, horticulture and viticulture.

He is Managing Director for Molloy Agriculture Limited – a spraying business he started with his wife Sonia in 1985 – which now sprays over 100,000 hectares each year and employs 16 full time staff, plus an independent agronomy service, Mountainview Agronomy.

Before starting in the spraying business, David was involved in a family farming operation and maintains his passion for farming, along with a keen interest in sports, fishing and the great outdoors. He lives in Methven with Sonia, and enjoys spending time with their two adult daughters.

Alec McNeil

Representing Marlborough District Council
(on behalf of local government)

Alec joined as a Trustee in November 2016 and brings a local authority perspective to the table. He is the Solid Waste Manager at Marlborough District Council responsible for the regions waste management, including minimisation strategy and service delivery.

He has been involved in the waste industry since the 1990s, working in senior management and directorship roles within the UK corporate sector and start-up companies, before emigrating to New Zealand in 2008. He lives with his wife and two children in Blenheim.

Co-ordinating public and private sectors and progressing product stewardship are Alec’s priorities.

Gavin Kerr

Representing Animal and Plant Health NZ

Gavin is Co-President of Animal and Plant Health NZ, previously named ‘Agcarm’.

With a diverse agricultural background, Gavin’s focus is ensuring that the crop protection and animal health industries continue to deliver innovative solutions for our farmers and growers.

Gavin manages the Nufarm New Zealand business where he enjoys developing great teams, driving strategic innovations, solving problems, creating value-added customer solutions, and developing planned and proactive solutions for a rapidly changing industry.

Having started his career as an agronomist, he has first-hand experience of the value these solutions can provide for growers in the field. This experience has helped him to keep the end user front of mind when developing any innovative solutions and opportunities.

Gavin is a chartered member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors and has a Master of Agribusiness from the University of Melbourne.

Outside of work, he is kept busy with a young family of four who thoroughly enjoy the amazing number of outdoor activities and sports on offer in New Zealand.

Gavin is driven by continual improvement in all that he undertakes, both professionally and personally.

Darryl Stretton

Representing distributors of agrichemicals and over-the-counter animal health products.

Darryl is Head of Merchandise for Farmlands Co-operative and was appointed as a trustee with Agrecovery in September 2022. He also sits on the board of Animal and Plant Health NZ.

Darryl brings to the role a strong understanding of rural retailer dynamics and agri-value chain expertise with a desire to see continuous improvement transpire across rural recycling pan wide. Previous roles include working for Bayer Australia and Kiwicare Holdings Ltd.

Qualifications include a Bachelor of Viticulture Science, Post Graduate Diploma in Commerce and a Master’s Degree in Management through Massey University. Darryl is also a Kellogg alumni and most recently completed the Institute of Strategic Leadership executive programme sponsored via Agmardt.

Bridie Virbickas

Representing DairyNZ

Previously employed by Ballance Agri-Nutrients and based in the Bay of Plenty, Bridie is a dairy farmer contract milking 670 jersey cows across two neighbouring properties. Key drivers for her business are the health and happiness of her people, animals and the environment.

Bridie holds positions within Federated Farmers including the Vice Chair for Whakatane and Districts, Chair of the BoP and on the National Executive for the Sharemilker Section. She has completed the Fonterra Governance Development Programme (2020), Institute of Directors Finance and Governance Essentials Courses (2021) and is finishing her time as an associate Director on the DairyNZ Board in October.

Bridie holds a Bachelor of Agri-Science – Agriculture major, and through her experiences has combined her business knowledge, practicality of farming, governance training and commitment to the sector to the benefit of the organisations she has engaged with.