Our team

Manager

Hamish Hodgson

Having worked both on-farm and in a range of industry leadership roles, Hamish has a great understanding of the exciting opportunities available in our dairy sector.

Hamish grew up on dairy farms in Whangarei and Taumarunui, and later managed the family farm. He came to DairyNZ in 2014 and has since project managed DairyNZ’s M. bovis response, implemented the valuable DBCAT initiative (helping farmers with their M. bovis compensation claims), and been involved in adverse events management and research. Most recently, Hamish has worked across DairyNZ’s COVID-19 response.

Based in Lincoln with his wife Lydia, Hamish is keen to explore Dairy Training opportunities with farmers and rural professionals both in the South Island and nationwide.

Operations Manager

Jenny Sinclair

Jenny’s passion is for helping others to learn and progress within the dairy industry. She started with Dairy Training as a tutor in 2002 and is now operations manager.

Jenny grew up on a dairy farm and loved the freedom and adventure that rural life offered.

Her original career was in teaching before she went dairy farming with her husband and made the most of the opportunities and support offered by the industry.

Training coordinator

Laura Littlejohn

Laura comes from a rural banking background and is very proficient at managing the logistics of all course timetabling, assessing venue suitability, and the printing and distributing of learner and teaching resources.

Laura also coordinates tutors training days, tutor conference, regional tutorials and study nights. She works closely with the PrimaryITO field team, as well as managing all student details in the Dairy Training’s learner management system.

Briar Yarrall

Briar grew up on a sheep and beef farm in the Hawkes Bay. After leaving school, she worked and trained as a kindergarten teacher. She and her husband went dairy farming in 2003 and have farmed in Hawkes Bay, Waikato and now Taranaki. Eight years ago, they settled in Taranaki, where they contract milk 800 cows and have an equity partnership on a 200-cow farm.

Briar completed the Agri-business Diploma in 2019, and Production Management in 2020.

Briar is passionate about the dairy industry and believes that education plays a vital role both on and off-farm in upskilling people starting from the ground up. Briar is continually learning new things and thinks this is really important. She believes the more that we can teach and learn by tutoring others, the better for the industry as a whole.

Bronwyn Cameron

Bronwyn has been tutoring the Human Resource module of the NZ Diploma in Agribusiness Management since 2013, and really enjoys creating the discussions and learnings in the trainee group environment. She is an independent HR consultant working across the Waikato region, with a background in HR management.

Bronwyn loves the rural environment – farming is in her blood! She also fits in some help with driving tractors / operating machinery for her agricultural contractor friend in the hay / silage season.

Crofton Hamilton

Raised in South Auckland, Crofton was educated at Massey University. Since then (25 years), he has managed and owned two farms with over 500 cows.

Crofton is focussed on industry improvement and imparts his knowledge tutoring levels 3, 4 and 5.

Cushla Smith

Cushla and her husband run a 300-cow farm east of Wellsford. They’ve worked their way up from sharemilking and leasing to owning their own farm. With a background in finance, Cushla has experience as a property valuer, agri-lender for Rabobank, and a financial farm consultant with AgFirst.

Now, Cushla serves as a Fonterra Co-operative Councillor for the lower Northland region. She’s passionate about the dairy industry and loves helping others reach their goals.

Donovan Croot

Born in Marton and raised in Auckland city, farming didn’t seem like a career choice for Donovan growing up. However, being forced to start a new life in his early twenties sparked a journey that opened opportunities for a dairy farming career and passion.

Donovan escaped the bright lights of Auckland in late-2008 and ventured down to Skeet Road (The Golden Mile) in remote South Taranaki. He started as a farm assistant and has progressed through to owning an exceptional herd and HOSM 200 cows in Manutahi, South Taranaki.

Early in his dairying career, Donovan realised he needed to ‘up his game’ by having all the relevant qualifications to fast track his progress. His journey started at Level 1 with AgITO, and after approximately six years’ training and working full time, Donovan achieved his Agribusiness Diploma.

Donovan feels very humbled by the opportunities and life the dairy industry has provided for him and his young family. He would love to help others achieve their goals and aspirations.

Donovan says the future of agriculture in New Zealand is exciting ad there has never been a better time to be a farmer.

Gaynor Tierney

Gaynor hails from Ireland/UK and has been dairy farming in New Zealand for over 20 years. Strongly involved in the dairy industry through DairyNZ, PrimaryITO, Federated Farmers and Fonterra, being face-to-face with farmers, training rural professionals and on numerous boards, Gaynor has a wealth of experience. Gaynor extends this knowledge by training farmers in the Diploma of Agribusiness.

As a tutor Gaynor is motivated to help farmers help themselves. She enjoys working with amazing people who are self-driven and inspired to undertake learning off-farm to increase their understanding of the business of farming and for many to enhance their careers going forward. She loves the topic of agri-business and has good fun in the class environment whilst working towards positive change for their enterprises.

Hannes Nagel

Hannes grew up on a 23-thousand-hectare sheep and cropping farm in South Africa with 500 dairy cows as a side-line. He joined the military straight from school and after 8 years left to go back to farming.

In 2005, Hannes came to New Zealand and has been managing farms with 300 to 1,000 cows ever since.  He has worked on a DairyNZ dairy farm for the last 7 years.

Hannes wants to share his industry knowledge with young and up-and-coming farmers.

Helen Connole

Helen and her husband have been farming since 2009, moving through the industry up to sharemilking. They have farmed in South Waikato and are currently farming 260 cows back in Taranaki with the help of their four boys.

Having completed the Diploma in Agribusiness in 2012, and Production Management in 2020, Helen is now tutoring Level 4 in Taranaki. She believes education not only provides important farming information but also gives the students invaluable opportunities to get off farm and engage with other like-minded people within the industry.

Jim Henderson

Born of Taranaki farming stock, Jim went dairy farming after schooling and advanced, with wife Cheryl and three children, to farm ownership at Kampongs via the typical sharemilking route. Exiting farming after 40 years and moving to Te Awamutu to be closer to grandchildren allowed Jim the opportunity to branch into a new role tutoring for Dairy Training, which has been his vocation for the past decade [or so].

Jo Loe

Jo grew up on a farm near Hawarden and now lives with her husband on his family farm in Scargill. They have two daughters – one works as a shepherd in Southland, and the other is in high school in Christchurch.

Jo has a strong commitment to her community. She’s active in local sports clubs and groups, serves as a Civil Defence coordinator, and Chairs a new Trust for a major ecological restoration project.

With a passion for education, Jo started her career in Early Childhood Education, earned a Bachelor of Teaching and Learning, and taught in primary and area schools across the Hurunui district for 25 years. After that, she became the Liaison Manager for Growing Future Farmers in North Canterbury and Marlborough, overseeing the programme.

Jo is excited to bring her skills and experience to the NextGen Dairy Farmers Programme, where she will manage the programme and offer pastoral support to the trainees.

Julie Morgan

Julie is a Taranaki dairy farmer, born and bred, and owns a 450-cow dairy farm and a 200-cow dairy farm in coastal Taranaki. As well as working on the farm, she has worked for LIC and Agriculture NZ.

She enjoys tutoring and working with her students to upskill and gain new knowledge. Julie teaches Level 3 and 4 Animal Husbandry and Strategic Planning.

Julie has  Diploma in AgriBusiness Management, and an Adult Teaching Certificate.

Linda Evens

Originally hailing from the United Kingdom 30 years ago, Linda has for the last 25 owned, managed and overseen a dairy farm in the Waikato, increasing the platform over time to 1000 cows. Her partner mostly worked off farm.

Linda currently teaches Level 4 courses within the Waikato and King Country and goes above and beyond to support students to be successful in their training. She knows first-hand about coming to the industry with no knowledge or experience, and so how important practical learning is and how development can enhance your future.

Liz Sanders

Liz has been tutoring for nearly 20 years. She oversees Dairy Training’s Level 4 programme and has recently been delivering Level 3 husbandry and feeding.

Having been involved in the New Zealand farming industry for over 20 years, Liz has farmed on some of New Zealand’s smallest and largest farms from the Central Plateau, through to the Bay of Plenty. Her particular passion is for animal health.

She has a National Diploma in Agriculture, and Rural Environmental Protection Degree, both from the United Kingdom.

Lizzy Wilding

Lizzy was born and raised in South Waikato, and owns, leases, and operates a 470-cow farm in Okoroire.

She has been involved in the dairy industry for nearly twenty years, working as a training adviser for AGITO in South Waikato and the central plateau, an assessor for QCONZ, a consulting officer for DairyNZ, and more recently as a facilitator for SMASH and a tutor for Dairy Training.

Lizzy is passionate about seeing people progress in the dairy industry. Her strengths lie in financial budgeting, benchmarking, and helping others achieve profitable positions.

With two young children, Lizzy is actively involved in her local school PTA and Board of Trustees, and she loves to see her local community thrive.

In her spare time, Lizzy enjoys hunting, playing tennis and netball, and water and snow skiing.

Natalia Benquet

Natalia’s passion is for growing people within the dairy sector.

Natalia has more than ten years’ experience including farming for a few years, working at DairyNZ, and now working in the private sector. Her experience, along with her vet degree and Diploma in Coaching, means she has the right combination of skills to ensure students gain the knowledge they need to achieve their goals within the sector.

Her goal is to ensure that every student leaves each course with a higher level of knowledge and understanding about themselves, their goals and their business.

Pete Morgan

With a Masters in Agricultural Science, a Diploma in Agribusiness and 30 years farming, 20 as a farm owner, Pete is well placed to disseminate his wealth of knowledge to others. Pete teaches the Production Management course and and runs short courses on his South Waikato farm. He sees the training the others as a great way to challenge and energise his own love of farming and the need to continually improve.

Peter Mark

Peter has been tutoring agriculture part-time for the past 17 years. He enjoys facilitating the learning of people in the farming community and witnessing ‘lightbulb moments’ in his students.

Peter and his wife own a 280-cow dairy farm in the Western Bay of Plenty hills.

Having been involved in farming for most of his life, after graduating from Massey University with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science, Peter worked on farms throughout New Zealand before embarking on his OE for 18 months. He then returned to become the owner/operator of the family sheep and beef farm, which he converted to dairy in 2014.

In 2004, Peter completed a Certificate in Adult Education and has been tutoring various Agricultural papers part-time.

Rachael Foy

Rachael didn’t grow up on a farm but made dairy farming her career choice from a young age.

After completing a Bachelor of Agriculture at Lincoln University, she went straight on-farm to begin a hands-on dairy farming career, progressing through the ranks to her current position as a 50/50 sharemilker. She has collected a number of accolades along the way including winning Auckland Hauraki Dairy Manager of the Year in 2017 and then winning Sharefarmer in 2021. She is currently on the Owl Farm Management Committee and is involved with Young Farmers and a number of community groups.

As a tutor, Rachael is keen to pass on her knowledge and experience to up-and-coming future farming leaders. She enjoys working with, motivating and teaching people to progress themselves and their businesses and set them up for the future.

Regan Kempson

Regan and her husband have been dairy farming for 20 years and spent some time managing a new conversion in America.

Having achieved the New Zealand Diploma in Agribusiness Management in 2012, Regan is now teaching it in Taranaki where her family now live and farm.

Rob Brazendale

Rob is a passionate agricultural professional with over 30 years’ experience in the agricultural industry.

The business of farming is becoming increasingly complex, and the industry needs highly capable people to run our businesses. Learning is continuous and Rob believes training is critical to equip people with the right skills and knowledge to meet current and future challenges.

Rob’s experience includes past roles in farm advisory, farm management research, rural banking, and dairy farm systems development. Rob has extensive experience leading on-farm change projects and a strong background in people leadership; which includes 13 years working for DairyNZ in a range of roles but all with a common purpose to help dairy farmers be more successful.

Rob also runs a lamb and beef finishing operation in the Manawatu, so brings a good understanding of farming, from milking cows and shearing sheep to the regulatory processes in Wellington.

Sarah Adams

Sarah enjoys building students’ confidence and capability in on-farm technical skills.

She has gained hands-on farming experience through various roles including relief milking, calf rearing, working on a dry-stock block, and running her lifestyle block.

Sarah has a strong interest in New Zealand farming, science, and animal welfare, and has a Bachelor of Science majoring in Animal Behaviour from Waikato University.

She has worked for DairyNZ as a research technician and as a developer in the Animal Husbandry and Welfare team.  She has also worked for DBCAT, assisting farmers affected by M. Bovis.

Tania Burrows

Tania tutors short courses for Dairy Training in Canterbury and on the West Coast.

She also works with farmers as a leadership and wellness coach, and is passionate about helping people learn the attitudes and behaviours required to be successful in all areas of their lives.

Tania grew up on farms near Paeroa. Her family farmed an apiary and dairy goats and are agricultural contractors. Tania has three daughters and lives in Mid-Canterbury with her husband where they have been lower order sharemilking between 650 to 1000 cows for the past twelve years and previously involved in an equity partnership.

Tania has a Bachelor of Education (teaching) Early Childhood. She has taught, managed and led early childhood centres throughout her farming journey.

She is a keen gardener, loves outdoor adventures, connecting with people, and the freedom and challenge of a dairy farming life.

Tessa Geddes

After Tessa graduated from Massey University with a degree in Agriculture and Animal Science, she began working at DairyNZ as a Research Technician for the Science and Development Team. After two year’s in the team, she changed roles to a Consulting Officer which allowed her to do what she loves most – working with people. She was a Consulting Officer for four years.

Over the past eight years, Tessa and her partner Mike have been contract milking and lower order sharemilking in Otago/Southland, along with growing their business and family – they have three young boys. Tessa and Mike sharemilk 650 cows in Northern Southland. One of their core business values is to enable people to reach their goals growing their skill sets along the way.

Along with being a mum, Tessa is a relief milker, calf rearer and administrator of their sharemilking business. She is also a Certified Body Condition Score Assessor.