Excellence in farming recognised

Pictured L-R: Grant Watson Synlait CEO, Dion Gordon, Kirstie Gordon, John Penno Synlait co-founder.

Craigmore’s Kirikiri Dairy Limited in Mid Canterbury were the proud recipients of the Synlait Supreme Lead With Pride Award for 2022.

Business Managers, Dion and Kristie Gordon, accepted the award which acknowledges the very best of the Lead With Pride farms. Kirikiri Dairy was also recognised for their achievement gaining gold elite certification for last season.

The winners are assessed based on their ability to demonstrate a high level of engagement through supporting Synlait to grow and develop the program; going above and beyond the standards expected in areas of their farming operation; and consistently maintaining high standards on the farm and achieving excellent farm audit results.

In presenting the award to Dion and Kristie at the ceremony in July, Synlait said the whole team takes pride in being fully prepared for audit and the excellence they achieve in audit scores reflects this.

“This team are supportive and generous with their time in order to continue evolving Lead With Pride and have recently participated in a number of initiatives which will provide value to other farmers. These include trialing the new reduced scope audit process as well as being part of our webinar to discuss the new ‘enjoyable place to work’ requirement which reflected the farms emphasis around team engagement and encouraging learning about interesting stuff outside of the more traditional courses.

They are genuinely curious to investigate options to achieve results on farm with a willingness to try practices such as soil conditioners and solar energy. They ensure their teams know what is happening and that they are involved with the initiatives on farm. They clearly have an outstanding partnership with their farm managers – who are achieving some great things across both farms.”