02/01/2019
Get to know the Agriplanz Staff!
Lyndon Taylor
I have spent the majority of my working life involved with the land and the agricultural industry, having been brought up on a sheep and beef farm close to Gore.
With the changes to regional councilās water plans I saw a real need for a service that supplies a combination of farm mapping, farm nutrient budgeting and environmental planning.
AgriPlanz evolved from this need and my skills and expertise in these areas.
For the last 10 years I had worked for the Otago Regional Council as a Senior Technical Advisor.
Tasks included management of the business unit which included; financial and staff management as well as, recruitment, performance reviews, along with contract tendering and management, client relationships, and reporting.
I was and still remain a member of Maritime NZ National Response Team for oil spill responses. I was involved in the Response by Maritime New Zealand to clean up the Rena spill.
I also remain a member of the National Biosecurity Capability Network ā which is the National Response Team for MPI and AsureQuality that protects and responds to exotic pest or disease incursions that could seriously threaten our agricultural industry.
I was involved in the Christchurch earthquake Civil Defence and Emergency Management response of February 2011 as the Emergency Coordination Centre Manager.
Other tasks that I carried out include managing agrichemical collections, waterway bylaws, wetland inspections, air quality, sampling of rabbits for RHD, pest control, rabbit monitoring along with being a registered assessor for staff training.
While at the Otago Regional Council I gained valuable GIS mapping experience using predominantly Garmin handheld GPS units in the field, downloading of the data and mapping the information for all regional council activities using both ARC GIS and Mapinfo mapping software.
Prior to working at the regional council, I was employed by Agriquality NZ for 17 years as a Livestock Consultant mainly in Otago based out of the Invermay Research Centre.
Major responsibilities included TB testing of cattle and deer at a time when Otago had close to 300 movement control herds for TB.
I was the South Island exotic disease and pest response training manager involved in developing training systems for all frontline response staff.
As a result I was selected as part of the 3rd veterinary contingent that went to the UK in 2001 to assist the British Government to control the Foot and Mouth outbreak.
Other responsibilities included, bleeding cattle, deer, sheep and goats for trace elements/diseases etc post-mortem of animals, running field days, surveillance programmes and generally anything animal health related.
Outside of work, my wife Janice, who is a registered property valuer in Dunedin, and I have bought up 2 girls that have both gone on to study at Lincoln University.
I was Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Queens High School from 2008 to 2013.
I have played competitive squash for 25 + years, enjoy boating, both salt and freshwater fishing, golf, watching most sports and relaxing at our holiday home at Otematata in the Waitaki valley.
