Jane Smith

Sheep and Beef Farmer

Jane farms 9,500 sheep and beef stock units at Newhaven in the Five Forks hills of the Kakanui Mountain range with her husband Blair and their 3 children; including an Angus Beef Stud and Perendale Sheep Studs in both New Zealand and Victoria, Australia.

Armed with a B.Com Ag (FM) from Lincoln University and career experience including rural banking, the fertiliser industry and sheep and beef genetics, Jane is a passionate advocate for New Zealand's primary industries and takes any opportunity to critique pretty much everything through her involvement as a correspondent on ‘The Country’ radio show and writing a variety of columns for both rural and urban publications, often noted for being a good ‘bullshit barometer’ on sector issues and government regulation.

Jane is a director of Fossil Creek Angus, Livingstone Creek Farming, Newhaven Farms and Mount Monmot Perendales Australia, a Justice of the Peace, a founding member of the North Otago Sustainable Land Management catchment group (‘NOSLAM’), a NZ representative on the Global Farmer Roundtable, member of the North Otago Business Group, Chair of Fundraising at the local primary school, judge of the Ballance Farm Environment awards and recently spent 3 years as Crown-appointed Director and Judicial appointee of the Veterinary Council of New Zealand and 5 years as an independent director of the Red Meat Profit Partnership, a $64 Million on-farm change programme. In her spare time she enjoys running, hunting, politics, crutching lambs, coaching sport and multisport adventure racing - generally not all at the same time!