2011 / 2012 Executive

Kathy Bentham

Kathy farms cows and goats near Te Aroha with her husband Doug. They are supplying Fonterra, Matatoki Cheese and the Dairy Goat Co-operative. They have been organic and involved in discussion groups since 2000.

Kathy has  had several years on the ODPG executive, three of them as secretary.
She is passionate about farmers supporting farmers and  feels  there is much still to be done in developing the direction and functions of the ODPG.

An area of particular interest to her is slotting (but not diluting) organic practices into mainstream learning, and developing courses and mentoring to better support newcomers.

Another area of interest is to change the public image of organics from being out on a limb hippie type farming to sensible use of the land to produce value added product and better prepare the planet for the future.


Bryan Clearwater


Bryan was co-opted onto the exec following the Lincoln AGM in 2010.
Bryan’s interest in organic food was sparked in 1982 and 83, wwoofing in the UK. His  farm and business is the realisation of a dream.

Bryan sees the ODPG as a grassroots organisation, enhancing communication primarily between farmers, and secondly between farmers and the rest.
Bryan will be advising, consulting, and mentoring a farm near Motueka , along its journey to certified organic management, using the wealth of knowledge within the ODPG.

His farm will host Ngai Tahau this October, and participate in their three day hui on proposals to develop 17000 ha of forestry in North Canterbury to ''dairy''.
With 25% of members in the South Island, Bryan is keen to see that the executive delivers on farm discussion, of organic pastoral issues, not just dairy industry matters.

For information about Clearwater’s farm and yoghurt business try www.clearwaterorganic.co.nz


Nick Collins

Nick Collins farms in Piopio with his wife Jo and 3 daughters.
They milk 260 cows on 130 effective ha, having been USDA NOP certified for 4 years.
He comes from a sheep/beef and shearing background and has milked cows for the last 19 years, including 1 year on wages,4 years contract milking,7 years sharemilking and 7 years farm ownership.
Nick was a member of the ODPG executive committee for 3 years from 2006-2009 but stood down due to on farm commitments.
Nick is eager to see the organic sector moving forward in a unified way.
He is keen to support farmer to farmer interaction and feels one of the best forums for sharing of knowledge and providing inspiration is through discussion groups, making the most of the experience all organic farmers have to offer.
Nick is also keen to help improve the linkages between suppliers and processors and continue to develop cohesion between organic dairy, drystock and grazing properties.


Anne Cumming

Anne sees her involvement on the OD&PG Executive Committee as a great opportunity to be part of a forward thinking group that has organics in New Zealand uppermost in their thoughts.

She would like the core values and vision of the group to become the focus, keeping in mind that farmers supporting farmers is how things have worked for many years, there are experts among us who have most of the answers to most of the questions.   Anne thinks the ODPG needs to make use of professionals as required to further enhance members’ knowledge and with this facilitate discussion groups and meetings to a wide range of people right around New Zealand, accessible to those already within the organic family, to people considering making the move to organics and also to the wider community.

Anne is married to Ian and has three adult children.  They are in conversion to organic dairying on a farm just outside Woodville with sharemilkers who have been with them for the past 16 seasons. 


Janet Fleming

Janet and Stephen have been married for 26 years and are the proud parents of 6 children ranging in age from 14 to 24.  They live on their fully certified organic dairy farm on the Watino Road, Pihama, Taranaki, have a fully certified organic dairy farm at Oeo, and a fully certified organic drystock farm at Waverley.  Janet looks after the administration of the farm, helps with relief milking and works off-farm in Hawera as an administration manager.

Janet  joined the ODPG Executive at the 2006 AGM and has since held the roles of Processors Liaison Officer and Treasurer. Since joining the ODPG she has enjoyed meeting a wide range of organic farmers and related industry providers and learnt and shared success and failure stories both through the email serve and in person.

The Flemings have been a part of the Research Team of the Grow Organic Dairy Project for the last 3 years which they say has helped increase their own knowledge, and it has been great to be able to contribute to a project that they believe will help to grow and promote Organic Dairy Farming across New Zealand.

Janet believes the  ODPG has benefitted as the umbrella organisation of the Grow Organic Dairy project by having information produced from the Research Teams’ findings promoted on the ODPG website and at field days , giving greater exposure to the ODPG. Interest earned from Grow Organic Dairy funding has been retained by the ODPG

Janet also believes the email discussion group is a great open forum for sharing knowledge, for suppliers to be updated on farmer needs, and making new friends


Su Hammond

Su Hammond is an organic farmer from Taranaki also known as the cheesemaker.  Su and her partner Roydon Phillips have an Organic Dairy farm in Okato.  This is their third year fully certified with AsureQuality.  Su has a history in organics - initially with gardening and in the more recent years supporting Roydon in the farm conversion and then working alongside him on the farm.  

Su has been active on many local committees, holding positions including; Chairperson, Treasurer, and Secretary.  She also tutored workshops for the Taranaki Playcentre Association.  She has recently finished a 6 year term with COGS (Community Organisation Grant Scheme), a funding organisation under the Internal Affairs.


Di Handley

Di stood for the Executive Committee because she believes it’s time for new direction. As organic has now become a household word, she feels we need to be maximizing the acceptance of it.

Di’s farm Moturunga was fully certified with AsureQuality in 2002.  It is the first farm in South Taranaki, near Waitotara.  They winter milk and supply Fonterra.
Di has previously been on the ODPG Executive Committee from 2004 until she resigned in 2008.  She was also the ODPG rep for OANZ during most of that time.
One of the issues Di successfully lobbied for with Fonterra was supplying Organic branded clothing, and getting the yellow grass changed to green in their organic logo. And for those in the South Island, Mainland’s “Save the Yellow Eyed Penguin” campaign was hatched in her home some years ago.
Di says “It’s an exciting time for us all in organics, so let’s make the ODPG into a vibrant and professional body.”


Glenn Mead

Glenn Mead and his partner Kate run a 260Ha sheep and beef property in South Otago. They are certified Bio-Gro and NOP. They are also members of the South Organic Group. Glenn is also the chair of Bio-Gro’s livestock and dairy technical committee, being the sheep and beef, and South Island licensee representative on the committee. He is also am a member of the local bio-control committee, CalTAG, which imported the thistle control beetles. Their farm was the first in NZ to receive these.

Glenn would like to see the ODPG become the national “umbrella” group, involving all the local pastoral groups across the whole country, whether they be regional groups, supplier groups, facilitated groups or specific interest groups. He says “The more unified we can become, the more benefit we can gain from our combined technical, intellectual, and financial resources.” He thinks this is probably essential for the future growth of pastoral organics in New Zealand.


Mark Nicholson

Mark Nicholson is married to Vicki. They are on a 700ha Sheep & Beef farm in Gore, Southland.  Bio-Gro certified in 2004. 6700 stock units, 70% sheep 30% cattle. Supplying Silver Fern farms lambs & beef.

His journey to becoming organic was farming in a family trust with his late father. They both began to question the ever increasing animal health costs and lack of profit and satisfaction in conventional farming. Mark started to read about organic farming, a lot of the theory behind organics made them view farming from a different angle. In 2000 they began conversion to organics, after several challenging years they became fully Bio-Gro certified in 2004.

Mark would like the ODPG to become an effective nationwide voice for organics,
and enable contact with like minded farmers. He wants the group to be financial enough to be able to bring top quality speakers to New Zealand and  support research into organics.

He brings to the ODPG executive a southland sheep & beef farmers view on the challenges that face organics in southland.
Mark would like to see the benefits of organics promoted more to other farmers and the general population, by having internationally  recognised speakers addressing not only to farmers, but also local councils.


Neville Parkinson

Neville, his wife Marlene and their son Cameron, farm a 400ha sheep and beef property in Southern Southland bordering the Catlins. Neville  was originally co-opted onto the executive to help represent the South Island and sheep & beef farming. He also felt it was a good way to keep the Southern Organic group, of which he is a member, informed and linked to ODPG.

During the last 2yrs Neville has been involved in setting up a company called Organic Futures. This company has created partnerships with processors, markets, retailers and organic producers. It helps to facilitate buying and selling of stock, feed, grazing and coordinating the supply of stock to processors. By doing this they are able to build cooperative strength.

A cooperative strength is what Neville can see building up with the ODPG by working constructively together. If we can keep the ODPG on track and moving forward surely ODPG can be our nations voice for organics in New Zealand.


Mark Pike

Mark and Jane Pike own their own 140 hectare dairy farm in Waharoa, where they live with their 2 princes, William and Harry. They have lived there for over 18 years now and have been certified organic since 2000 or so. They have both long been involved with the ODPG in some shape or form, and are very keen to see it not only survive, but to grow and succeed also.

Mark is passionate about the organic movement as a whole, but admits he has a preference to organic dairying in particular. With the increased awareness of the need for healthy food, and its production, he feels that  organizations such as the Organic Dairy & Pastoral Group have an increasingly important role to play in the greater acceptance, and continuing expansion, of organics. In turn, he enjoys playing a part of that role by being a member of the ODPG Executive