Carina Ross

DairyNZ’s policy team is proud to go out of their way to support farmers, says Carina, by not only collaborating within the team and across DairyNZ, but also with sector experts at every level.

Based in DairyNZ’s Lincoln office in Canterbury, Carina’s involved in providing support, guidance and advice to inform DairyNZ’s input into local and central government policy, regulations and rules, on behalf of farmers.

She says the policy team is focused on being credible, basing their work and decision-making on clear, proven and robust evidence. “It means our research-based policy recommendations are more likely to be listened to and will support farmers to use best practice to achieve economic success and good environmental outcomes.”

Carina’s work involves several South Island regional plan processes, including appeals to the Environment Court. She also works on national freshwater policies, assessing regulations around winter grazing, nitrogen limits and stock exclusion. “As a large part of my job, I’m also part of different stakeholder groups with regional councils, which aim to find practical solutions that will work for farmers and the environment.”

“Our advocacy work is extensive too,” explains Carina. “Again, we use credible science and research to advocate for evidence-based policy-making that will support our farmers on the issues that matter most. Our team does much of this work, but we also help farmers and community groups advocate for themselves.

“For example, our regional Policy team members help farmers understand, navigate and work with regional councils on regulatory issues for their farm or local area; and upskills farmers on how to make their own submissions to plan changes in their region.”

Carina says the most rewarding part of her job is when an agreement is reached (with other organisations, groups or individuals) on anything from a small issue to a larger regional or national plan change.

“That often reduces time and money spent in the future. Since that’s money that comes from dairy farmers, I think we achieve a win-win situation when things work for both sides. However, when that’s not always possible, we’ll go out of our way to get good outcomes for our farmers.”

• Find out more about DairyNZ's other policy team members.
• Learn more about DairyNZ's policy, advocacy and regulation work on behalf of farmers.