Erica is chairman of AgFirst NZ, New Zealand’s largest and most diverse grouping of Agricultural and Horticultural consultancy businesses.

Erica has extensive experience working at the interface of environmental management and farm systems at farm-level, industry level, and increasingly, how this connects to market. She provides strategic expertise for a number of clients and holds governance roles in several agribusinesses. Past roles include the inaugural environment extension manager for Beef + Lamb New Zealand having previously held the position as the Mid Northern North Island extension manager. Erica worked as a policy analyst for the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry where she worked in climate change policy initially and a range of sector performance based policy roles subsequently. She has a Masters of Science, majoring in agricultural science with a focus on sustainable agriculture. Erica is a partner of Morrison Farming, a 1,250ha sheep and beef breeding and finishing farm in the Rangitikei.

Strengths

• Strategic thinker with capabilities to explore and analyse farm systems including production, performance, people, and environment, and connect with new technology and the market place. 
• Strong networker with great relationships across New Zealand’s primary industries. 
• Experience with performance monitoring on-farm using tools such as Farmax, cost-benefit analysis, industry data such as B+LNZ Economic Service data, Farm Monitoring (previously MAF, now AgFirst) and applying these tools within farm systems.
• Excellent grasp of principles and practices in the land-based sectors in New Zealand.
• Strong knowledge of the relationship between primary production and the environment including practical mitigation strategies for farmers to reduce their impact, as well as a sound understanding of farmer behaviour towards this subject.
• Expert in farm environment plan development in a range of farm systems and environments across New Zealand, particularly sheep, beef and deer farms. 
• Ability to analyse risks, apply knowledge and solve problems effectively.
• Experienced facilitator having facilitated workshops and field days across New Zealand with sheep, beef, deer and dairy farmers.
• Strong experience in policy design and development, with a strong grasp on the legislative process and for presenting information to different end-users.
• Specialist in developing and delivering extension programmes.