- Print Friendly - Help

Previous page  | Contents  |  Next page

MAF’s new D-G recognises the importance of agriculture

MAF’s newly appointed Director-General, Murray Sherwin, is well aware of the importance of the primary sectors, and consequently MAF, to New Zealand’s economy.

As an economist with more than 25 years’ experience in the public sector, Mr Sherwin says the huge amount of capital invested in agriculture and forestry is crucial to the state of the economy – whether that’s negative or positive.

"When you’ve got that much capital invested you’ve got to be getting good returns from it," he says. "If you are, the economy’s booming and if you’re not, it’s going to be struggling."

Murray Sherwin’s career has included working for the Reserve Bank, which involved substantial work in the field of agricultural economics including export forecasting where, he says, he was up to his ears in agriculture sector issues and policy. He was also elected to the board of the World Bank representing the interests of a number of Pacific countries.

Mr Sherwin worked at the OECD in Paris in 1979, and was a member of the Prime Minister’s advisory group in the early 1980s.

Mr Sherwin says his new job represents a whole new range of issues and challenges and he’s looking forward to the task with considerable pride and eagerness. The new D-G says his initial task will be to familiarise himself with the organisation, its work and its people.

Early priorities will be to look at a raft of issues including risk management, HR strategies, communications issues and overall strategic issues.

"I see an interesting question around the way MAF conceives of itself. Is it as a holding company with a number of more or less independent subsidiaries or as an integrated operational unit?" he considers. "The question is where the boundaries lie."

Murray Sherwin hails from a rural background. Born and raised on a Waikato dairy farm, near the village of Pirongia, he did his secondary schooling at Te Awamutu College before spending a year in the USA under an exchange programme. His university studies were completed at Waikato University where he majored in economics with, he says, some dabbling in politics, geography and philosophy.

"My studies were funded by working in the Te Awamutu Dairy Company – operating a milk powder plant – and later by truck driving for a rural transport company," he says.

Mr Sherwin has maintained an interest in things rural – he is a regular speaker on agricultural economics, exchange rates and broader economics matters at a variety of rural events and has been a commentator in the rural media, including lengthy debates in the pages of The New Zealand Farmer. He retains a small hands-on contact with the land through a half share in a 275 ha forestry block in the Wairarapa. And he has a passion for old cars, running and maintaining a 1964 Jag. "I’m a bit of a car nutter," he enthuses.

Standards and Guidelines

ACVM Standards and Guidelines are available via the MAF website: www.maf.govt.nz/acvm/index.htm

Alternatively they can be ordered directly from:

Manor House Press Ltd
PO Box 38-071, Wellington Mail Centre
Phone: 04 568 6071, Fax: 04 568 7282
Email: office@manorhouse.net.nz

An order form for this purpose is available on the MAF website.