Beca named as NZ Farming Systems Uruguay managing director

Beca named as NZ Farming Systems Uruguay managing director

By Peter Kerr

Jan. 27 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand Farming Systems Uruguay, which is controlled by Singapore-based Olam International, named David Beca as its new managing director.

Beca takes over from Alastair de Raadt, who temporarily took the role early last year as NZFSU extracted itself from a management contract with PGG Wrightson. Olam owns 78% of the company, which develops dairy farms in South America.

Beca will be based in Uruguay, and has had more than 30 years experience in agriculture, including dairy farm ownership and management. He was recently managing director of Red Sky Agricultural, which provides farm business analysis software, benchmarks and business advice.

He has previously served as a director of a cooperative diary company, a Brazilian dairy farm and a dairy consultancy business with substantial presence in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, the company said in a statement.

Beca was also adviser to Olam in planning and implementing its turnaround strategy for NZFSU.

The announcement of Beca's appointment follows the January 11 change in NZFSU's chair role, with John Parker stepping down for Vivek Verma. Verma has been with Olam for almost 20 years, and was primarily responsible for establishing the food conglomerate's coffee business.

When announcing its new chairman, NZFSU also advised that its current chief financial officer, Andrew Clark, has decided not to relocated to Uruguay for family reasons. He will leave the role in late February, and is to be replaced by former CFO of PGG Wrightson Uruguay, Silvina Crosa. She has had a strong involvement in NZFSU since its 2006 inception.

(BusinessDesk)

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