Rod Pearce

Rod Pearce has strong views on sustainable farming and is standing for Horizons Regional Council.

He said Horizons' One Plan used aspects of the NZ Farmsure programme he developed for the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development - but didn't use all of it.

"It was a beautifully balanced programme and they didn't achieve the balance," he said.

Farmsure used triple bottom line reporting - giving equal weight to environmental, welfare and economic concerns. "When we implemented our Farmsure programme on 50 farms every farmer embraced it and made more money by embracing the programme as well as doing the environmental work, and that's triple bottom line for you."

Mr Pearce farmed 1500ha at the top of the Waitotara Valley for 54 years. Much of it was very steep and eroding, like much of the Horizons' region hill country. He planted trees, managed grazing and did drainage work. By the time he left, there was virtually no erosion on the hill country, he said.

In 2005, Taranaki Regional Council gave him an award for environmental sustainability.

He's been involved with a lot of public bodies, starting back in the early 1970s with New Zealand's Romney survey group. Since then he's sat on school, pest destruction and farming organisations.

In 1987, he was the founding chairman of the Waitotara Meat Company, which later merged with Richmond Ltd and then was sold to Silver Fern Farms. He said it was to the forefront of the resurgence of the sheep meat industry in the 1990s.

Five years ago he left the farm and moved to Wanganui. Now aged 78, he's concerned about the profile and performance of Wanganui's local councils. But he said he would not arrive at Horizons with fixed ideas about what should be done. "I want to find out where I can be helpful, in improving both performance and profile."