Wayne McNee has been appointed chief executive of AgriZeroNZ, a public-private joint venture helping farmers reduce emissions.
The company is half-owned by major agribusiness companies ANZCO, Fonterra, Rabobank, Ravensdown, Silver Fern Farms and Synlait, and the other half by the Crown, through the Ministry for Primary Industries.
Mr McNee was initially appointed interim executive director to support its establishment after being instrumental in setting up the world-first public-private partnership, AgriZeroNZ board chairman Sir Brian Roche said.
Mr McNee said he was excited to take AgriZeroNZ beyond its start-up phase and address the challenge of reducing emissions from ruminant animals in New Zealand pastoral farming.
“AgriZeroNZ is unique because of the breadth of its sector expertise and commercial focus, along with our collective ambition and advocacy to help farmers reduce their emissions while maintaining profitability.
“We have a great board and supportive shareholders committed to this long-term partnership, and I look forward to working with them, other funders, the Government, and the companies we are investing in, to get tools into farmers’ hands and deliver on our ambition to reduce agricultural emissions by 30% by 2030.”
Funding to the joint venture from agribusiness shareholders is being matched by the Government dollar-for-dollar, to provide around $165 million for its first four years to 2026.
Brought up on a small farm at Enfield in North Otago, Mr McNee studied pharmacy and was later chief executive of Pharmac, the national pharmaceuticals-buying agency responsible for buying publicly-funded medicines.
He later led the merger of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Ministry of Fisheries and the New Zealand Food Safety Authority to form the Ministry for Primary Industries and he was director-general until 2013. That year he became chief executive of LIC, until standing down in 2021.
