NSW Farmers’ CEO Pete Arkle and President Xavier Martin today announced that Pete will be moving on from NSW Farmers in late 2023 to take the next step in his professional career, having led the organisation for nearly 5 years.
“Pete has been an excellent leader through what has been a period of great challenge and more recent prosperity for farmers across NSW” said NSW Farmers’ President Xavier Martin.
“Pete has built a strong team, modernised many aspects of NSW Farmers’ approach, developed and delivered a successful strategy, and helped secure multiple advocacy wins for our 6,700 members”
NSW Farmers is in very strong shape, having grown our full producer membership over the last three years and our overall membership for the last six straight. This growth reflects the hard work our elected reps, branches and professional team, under Pete’s leadership.
In reflecting on his time, Pete said he was proud to have helped build “an unrivalled public profile for NSW Farmers, trusted relationships, strong commercial partnerships, and a compelling membership offer”. “It has been really satisfying to lead and work with our professional team, Boards, EC and our members to stabilise the Association, put a clear strategy in place and to deliver sustained growth over recent years, including through COVID”
“Advocacy is our core business, and we’ve taken up the case for farming families confronted by devastating drought, severe bushfires, a mouse plague and then multiple damaging floods – it’s been a roller coaster of a period for NSW agriculture and NSW Farmers has worked closely with governments to secure comprehensive recovery assistance for farmers hit by these major natural events.
“This has certainly helped NSW Farmers’ members to bounce back and to capture the opportunities the last year or two have presented, allowing NSW ag to take big steps towards our goal of 30 by 30”.
NSW Farmers has secured some transformative advocacy results in Pete’s time, including helping to remove the legislated barriers constraining the Port of Newcastle from developing a world-class container terminal, securing additional funding to modernise biosecurity capabilities and keeping governments focused on technology-led and incentive-based approaches to enable sustainable agriculture in our changing climate.
“The commitment from the new NSW government to legislate the agriculture commissioner will also be critical in ensuring land use change across NSW doesn’t put at risk our State’s best farming land – the resource we depend on to feed us, put clothes on our back and to drive our State’s $10.9 billion agricultural export economy”, Pete said
Our Strategy, developed under Pete’s leadership, has put a strong focused on building NSW Farmers’ partnerships in a way that delivers genuine value to members and our Association. We have grown our commercial services revenue by nearly 80% over the last 4 years, allowing added investment in our advocacy.
Xavier Martin said, “the health of NSW Farmers’ political relationships, built under Pete’s leadership, was clear to see with the Premier, Opposition Leader, Leader of the Nationals, multiple key Ministers and shadows, and representatives of all political parties in the NSW Parliament actively contributing to our recent Annual Conference”. “It’s clear that our Association is seen as a formidable advocate, respected across the political divide for our dedicated focus on making a positive difference for our farming members”.
“The only certain thing in advocacy is that if you aren’t at the table, you won’t influence a thing. I’m proud of the work we’ve done to build a strong reputation and trusted relationships – these have ultimately enabled us to secure some key advocacy results for farmers across NSW” Pete said.
“It has been a privilege to lead such a hard-working, capable and committed staff team. The last 5 years have asked a lot of our farm members, and our dedicated and talented staff have always been there, morning, noon, and night – striving to make a difference on the things that matter most to our members”.
“I am really excited about future opportunities for me, and look forward to being able to sharing more on role I’ll be looking to play in continuing to shape a sustainable agriculture and regional landscapes in the years ahead”, Pete said
Mr Martin noted that “the Board has appreciated the approach Pete has taken in sharing his future intentions, and he leaves NSW Farmers with our deep thanks and best regards for his next challenge. The Board is working to ensure NSW Farmers can transition to a new Chief Executive in a way that maintains the strong momentum built under Pete’s leadership”.
