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Our Team - Farm Management

Gareth Evans
Farms General Manager
BAgSci
As Farms General Manager Gareth Evans oversees the operation of 31 farm companies supervised by MyFarm in New Zealand and Australia.
Since joining MyFarm in 2008 Gareth has supervised the completion of conversions from forestry to dairy in the central North Island; overseen the company's move into four new farm syndicates in the Canterbury region and has been instrumental in achieving production targets on MyFarm's three Australian farm syndicates.
In his previous role as Director of Agriculture Services at Massey University Gareth was responsible for the administration of the university’s nine farms covering 2200ha adjacent to the university campus. The job required him to balance the need for farm research and teaching with managing a commercial operation.
Gareth also brings experience as a young sharemilker to his role. He sharemilked for two years in Manawatu and Waikato before returning to Massey to manage one of its dairy farms in the late 1990’s.
Gareth has worked internationally as a dairy production consultant. He travelled to Argentina and China under government grants to assist small herd dairy farms establish the New Zealand model of pastoral dairy production systems.
Main roles:
Farm supervision, farm management consultancy, equity manager recruitment.
Grant Payton
Farms Operations Manager
BComm (major Horticulture)
Grant Payton has a crucial role in the communication between farm investors and on farm management in his role as Farms Operations Manager.
Grant is involved with overseeing all MyFarm syndicated Southland properties and has been in this role for the past 4 years.
He ensures that shareholders and farm managers have shared objectives and then works with them at the farm level to achieve the desired production and financial outcomes as well as oversee all development and implementation of farm development projects. Grant provides regular farm and financial reports to all shareholders and deals on a direct basis with farm management and service agents for the farms.
Main roles: 
Farm supervision, communications and reporting, equity manager recruitment, procurement and logistics.
Jenny Hampton
Management administrator

Sharemilker/Equity manager recruitment is managed by MyFarm management administrator, Jenny Hampton, who is a former sharemilker and more recently an administrator at the Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC) Awahuri EU Semen Collection Centre. 

Jenny manages the database for recruitment and is the first point of contact for applicants. She also manages MyFarm’s input to DairyBase; and is the event manager for ‘Milk It’, the MyFarm Management Conference in July which will focus on introducing MyFarm processes and reporting expectations as well as giving the farm managers an opportunity to network and socialise.

Terry Carr
Southland farm supervisor
After more than 15 years sharemilking, in 2005 Terry and his wife Jacqui and four other investors formed a dairy farm syndicate (equity partnership) in an 850-cow South Otago farm. Terry and Jacqui have since moved from their initial role as hands-on equity managers and the partnership now employs a contract milker on a 1200 cow unit.
As Southland farm supervisor Terry is supervising 7 Southland farm syndicates working closely with MyFarm operations manager, Grant Payton and equity managers focussing on achieving business goals and regular reporting and communication with shareholders.
Main roles:
Farm supervision, communications and reporting, equity manager recruitment, procurement and logistics.
Steve Blyth
Southland farm supervisor

Just prior to joining MyFarm in June 2011, Steve was a variable order sharemilker on a 530 cow dairy farm in Manawatu. Steve brings more than 12 years practical dairy farm management experience to the supervisor role, progressing to 50/50 sharemilking and then choosing to realise their equity and invest in a syndicate three years ago when cow values were high. In 2008, he and Rebecca sold their 300 cow herd and invested in ‘Waipango’ a 550-cow Southland dairy farm equity partnership with MyFarm Director Grant Rowan.

“I’m looking forward to growing my skillset – I’ve got good practical experience and I think that’ll help with people -- for example I know what you can feel like in the middle of spring.”

Wayne Taylor
Southland farm supervisor

Wayne joined MyFarm in April 2011, fresh from two years of managing 1150+cow dairy farm operations in Southland. He brings a breadth of work and travel experience to his new role.

In his 20’s he spent six years travelling extensively across Asia, Europe, Sth and Nth America in between working on farms in Australia, the UK and USA. He returned to NZ and a role as a Farmwise dairy farm consultant at Taranaki for four years, followed by three years managing a 600-cow dairy farm in southern Hawkes Bay. In the early 2000’s he met his wife-to-be, Katie, moved to town and over the next six years completed a building apprenticeship and worked as a builder in Hawkes Bay. Wayne says in 2009 he and Katie decided to return the dairy industry and moved to Southland.

“This is a great time to be in dairying in Southland, it’s very dynamic.”

Lyn Berry
Southland farm supervisor

New Southland supervisor Lyn Berry has a passion for dairy farming that shines through in both her enthusiasm for the job and her CV. Lyn spent the first 15 years out of school on Taranaki dairy farms, including 3 years contract milking on a 160-cow farm by herself.

When sharemilking jobs dried up in the mid 1990’s she went to Massey University as a mature student and completed a Bachelor of Applied Science and diploma in horticulture. After graduating the mid 1990’s she moved south to Gore and has built a career in the region as a dairy farm consultant, agribusiness training tutor and sometimes guest on Jamie McKay’s Farming show!

Lyn is also an intrepid traveller. She managed a 1200-cow dairy farm in Chile for 6 months and has done a grain harvest in the USA and two hay and wheat harvests in Australia. In August she spent three weeks backpacking in China.

“I only ever stay in backpacking hostels, but they’ve changed a lot. Because of technology people don’t talk to each other as much.”

Lyn started part-time with MyFarm in June and will take on the role fulltime from the beginning of 2012.

“I’m enjoying working with the people on farm. The staff are progressive and switched on and that makes our job much easier.”

Richard Luxton
Canterbury farm supervisor

Canterbury supervisor Richard Luxton brings an impressive combination of project management and dairy farming experience to his new role.

As a supply chain analyst with UK company, British Gypsum Richard was responsible for improving the efficiency of the nationwide hardware chain’s warehousing and logistics. Systems he implemented including a nationwide delivery failure database and warehousing picking lists are still in use today.

 “I really enjoyed that role, but the next step was Europe and I was conscious that back home there were farms in the family with no succession plan in place.”

So five years ago Richard returned to Waikato. He is the 6th generation New Zealand dairy farmer in the Luxton family following in the footsteps of his father John (a former MP and current Chair of Dairy NZ) and continuing the 90-year family tradition of supplying the Tatua Cooperative. A manager is now running his home farm. 

He took up the MyFarm role in June because it was a “new challenge”. Richard supervises the seven MyFarm managed syndicates in Canterbury, which includes three recent conversions.

“I think the job matches my project management background, I’m enjoying the process of improving performance and working out how to make all these farms run well.”