New breed of consultant scores top title

TOP CONSULT: Masterton farming consultant Sully Alsop (right), with Beef Lamb NZ chief operating officer Cros Spooner, has been named the Farmax Sheep and Beef Consultant of the Year.

Masterton's Sully Alsop walked away with the title of Farmax Sheep and Beef Consultant of the Year at Monday night's awards ceremony in Ashburton.

Mr Alsop, dubbed a "new breed" of consultant, is the director for Baker & Associates in Masterton and has worked as a sheep and beef consultant for nine years.

"There's so much more going on in farming now," Mr Alsop said. "More technologies, greater challenges.

"As a consultant you have to be up to scratch with both environmental and financial aspects of the industry.

"It's a matter of balancing the two, you can't run a successful business in the industry without being financially savvy and you can't do it without being environmentally sustainable."

Mr Alsop narrowly missed out on winning the ANZ New Zealand Young Farmer contest this year and said he wasn't expecting to win the Consultant of the Year against such fierce competition.

"There's some really good consultants that I was up against that have been around for ages so it was great to win this," he said.

"Ultimately, the award is a reflection of the good work that Baker & Associates do for businesses.

"Helping people is everything - just making sure we do all we can.

"I got to come through the ranks here and I would love to see more young people be developed like I was."

Mr Alsop said that although he was not raised on a farm, he has a passion for what he does, having trained at Smedley Station and Massey University.

"Sometimes people like me who weren't raised on a farm can be quite successful as farmers and consultants," he said.

"It means there are no preconceived ideas about the industry."

As the Farmax Sheep and Beef Consultant of the Year winner, Mr Alsop took home a Windows tablet, a paid overseas study trip, funds for personal development and 40 paid hours to undertake a research project to benefit NZ's agriculture industry which he said will be used to look further into integrated land supply chains.

Mr Alsop also runs a 3000-unit sheep and beef farm with his wife.