March 3, 2025 • 9 mins
South Otago farmer and the "Chairman of Everything". Today we ask him why he’s picked a fight with carpet company Bremworth and why he wants to roll the Chairman and the Board. We also discuss the Paris Climate Accord and carbon farming - both very contentious issues on NZ farms.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
He's a South Otago farmer and twenty twenty three he
was named the Deloitte Top two hundred Chairperson of the Year.
No wonder because he's literally chairing everything in this country.
His name is Rob Hewitt, current chair of Silver Fern Farms.
To be fair, he's retiring from that this year, Chair
of Farmlands war Works AGRI Zero en Z. I want
(00:21):
to come back to that one, Hilton Haulidge, Pioneer Energy,
Fern Energy, Rewiring ar TROA, as well as being a
director of TNG Global. Hey Rob Hewitt, you've got a
lot on your plate. Why are you picking a fight
with Bremworth? You want to be the chair of that
entity as well? What are you a bit like Tim Shadboll.
I just want to be chair, it doesn't matter where.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, good die Jamie. It's not the first time I've
heard that line, Jomie. Look, I do quite a lot
of governance work and for some reason, these opportunities come
up and it seems to work. So I don't have
any secret source, but these opportunities come along and look,
(01:03):
I wasn't looking for this one with PREMW but the
shareholders approached us probably after the AGM which was late
last year was when it first started heating up, and
it got quite a bit of attention later on sort
of over the January period, and the whole thing's culminated
with the six month en year result that came out
last week, which is, you know, the Shielders verd to Gutsville.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
So they're looking around going, what the hell can we do?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
We have lost confidence on the board as it stands
at the moment.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yeah, so here we are.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Well, apparently eleven percent of signed the formal requisition notice
you reckon, you've got backing from thirty five percent of
the shareholders. The mat still doesn't work on that.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah, they've been a little bit. Yes, that's true. Eleven
and a half percent of the shareholders have signed the
requisition form, which is only four Shielders. We have spoken
to over thirty four just around thirty five percent of
the share register or the shareholders who own thirty five
percent of the shares, and we have got support for
what well we are acting on what they want to do.
(02:07):
So I can tell you right now that thirty five
percent at least of the SHAAR register is supportive of
this direction. So the eleven and a half just sign it. Need,
you need five percent of the shareholders by volume to
sign a requisition and then the board is obligated to
take it forward to a meeting. And that's all that is.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
All right, Let's have a look at Bremworth, admirable as
it was, was it a mistake in twenty twenty one
when they decided to produce only wool carpets.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Look, it's a really interesting comment and the short answer
I think is possibly. But you know, first blush, I mean,
we've got to get a head under the hood and
have a look. I guess a couple of ovisations I
make Jamie, is it natural sustainable? There is absolutely cast
customers for that product around the world. We know that
at Silver fir and Farms, and quite frankly, this is
a New Zealand opportunity. Bremworth is one of the strong
(02:58):
brands that we need to be strong because it really
underpins the product that we make on our sheep and
bee farms and takes that product to market, so we
know those customers are out there. What appears to have
not happened is that costs have not well, costs haven't
been taken into account.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
By the look of it.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Costs are significantly higher than what you would expect with
the volume of business is being done, and nothing's been
done on the outside looking in to trim it. And
that's the problem. You know, the sales have diminished. And
to be fair to Bremworth, there has been you know,
a couple of little instances like COVID and then the
ow Toto flood with Cyclon Gabrielle where they had significant
(03:37):
amount of water through the plant. Both of those sort
of things, they bug it things up for a couple
of years and so to give them credit, it hasn't
been played in sailing, but fundamentally the direction of travel
for the business has been downhill and the shareholders have
run out of patients and that's why we are where
we are today. Now.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
As I said, you chair Woolworks which operates a wool
scale opposite brimwidths plant and napier. Is that a conflict
of interest?
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Na, Na, No, it's not.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
I mean Warworks, well not at the moment.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
And you know Warworks has a.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Commercial relationship with Breamworth to supply s guard wills. That's
you know, that'll that'll be noted on the conflicts register
if it does go eventuate and I just don't have
anything to do with those negotiations anyway, And even if
I did.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
I'd be out of the room. I'll be in the
naughty boys room.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
But look, it's the same conversation where I might Hilton
Hallers provides logistical services for Silver Zeen Farms. You know,
it's listed on the interest register and and we deal
with it accordingly if it comes up, and it usually doesn't.
So if there are no conflicts at the moment, apart
from that commercial relationship, the fact that we're over the
(04:45):
road makes no difference. Really, this, this, I must stress
thisss this initiative with Bremworth is the Bramworth shareholders have
asked for this to happen. This is not a warworks
gig and so they're two completely separate issues. Although it's
all around wall.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Well, Bremer's got two thousand and six hundred shareholders. I
think ACC's one of them. But is this just a
few of your rich mates getting the pip?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Well, to be fair, we've only spoken to thirty five
percent of the share registry, so I guess they hold
a few shares. Whether they're rich or not, I don't,
I don't know, but that's not really the issue here. Look,
the shareholders have had enough. There's been ten years with performance.
If you go back and have a look at the
end your results that have been put into the company's office,
(05:35):
which they'll be there because Brentworth is a listed company
and they have to report on this sort of thing,
you'll see the direction. I think the shareholders have been
long suffering.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Quite frankly, Rob, let.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Me change direction on you put on your agri zero
in z hat A lot of talk out there amongst
certain fraternities and farming that we're wasting our time being
a part of the Paris Climate accordal or climate agreement.
I'm sure you'll disagree with that.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
It's an interesting one, Jamie. Yeah, it's it's been interesting
since Trump's come in in the States as to what
people's attitudes towards this around the world has been, and
it feels like there's been a relaxation. Look a couple
of observations i'd make you know, those descending consumers I
talked about before, the ones of silver foen farms are
trying to reach the ones that Bremworth is trying to reach.
(06:22):
Those customers value this sort of stuff. The fact that
Trump's in power at the moment, and he's apparently taken
the hammer off these environmental initiatives. It sort of masks
the observation that about forty nine percent of the voters
over there didn't vote for them, and those customers are
the ones that want this sort of stuff. So climate
and sustainability are going to continue to be important metrics
(06:45):
and absolutely for New Zealand because those consumers are the
ones that want to buy our products.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
So you know, quite.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Frankly, I couldn't care about the legislation. The government as
a regulator is the last stop. The first stop is
the customer. They want something, you better listen because are
the ones that will pay the premium. That's where it
starts to finishes for me.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Well, the market will always decide farmer behavior.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
It should well farmers should listen to it. Yeah, that's
absolutely right, and that's part of what I'm saying here.
You know, there's still going to be a big market
for commodity feed. You know, whether it's grind to beef
or whether it's factory farm chicken or pork. You know,
those consumers that eat that stuff. Quite frankly, it's price
sensitivity and they environmental sustainability would be well down the
(07:30):
list of attributes that they're looking for, because I probably
can't afford the product, to be completely blunt about it,
but there are consumers that we sell to that do
want those products, are prepared to pay for it and
value those attributes that the Paris Accord are espousing. So
as a country, we'd be wise to listen to that
because they're not going away, and that's where our premiums
(07:51):
come from. We've really got to listen to it. It's
actually very disruptive, Okay.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Can I get a quick final comment from you when
you're not sharing every board known to mankind? And Rob Hewitt,
You're a South Otago farmer based near a little town
called Lawrence, of course, famous for Gabriel Scully and the
gold mining boom of the eighteen sixties. Beautiful little town.
The only problem is you're surrounded by pine trees and
(08:15):
getting surrounded by more and more by the day. Will
you be known this beautiful little town as the carbon
capital of the country shortly?
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Well?
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Should I hope not, Jamie. I mean the community will
be gone and this is replicated. I mean, you just
need to go up to Warrappa and you had the
same conversation. You know, we grow trees well here, that's true.
I've got a bunch of trees on my place, but
they're all in gullies where the gorse was and the
ridges and the paddocks are still paddocks. And that's my
fervorent hope that as farmers we get the optionality to
continue to make those choices. You know, trees in the
(08:48):
right place are a good thing. Trees everywhere is not.
And it's probably fair to say that livestock everywhere is
not either. You know, the production mentality that we had
in the seventies, Sister doesn't probably last. But you know,
those concerning consumers look for our own farm production systems
as well. And communities like Lawrence, they absolutely need people
in our schools full, our sports club's full, our ambulance services,
(09:09):
all that sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
We need people to be here.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Trees just don't allow that to happen.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
If they come at scale.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Well, rob, if it continues on the way it's going,
you're going to need a good fire brigade and Lawrence
in about twenty or thirty years time, if you don't
mind me saying so, yes.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Jesus, I hope, I hope not Jovie.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Hey, good that we've got a good that we've got
a fiber gate that they tend to get called out.
The car crash is actually more than anything else.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Okay mate, good to catch up. Thank you very much
for your time. Rob Hewett, the Chairman of Everything, see
you later.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Yeah good only Jamie, Thanks very much
He's a South Otago farmer and twenty twenty three he
was named the Deloitte Top two hundred Chairperson of the Year.
No wonder because he's literally chairing everything in this country.
His name is Rob Hewitt, current chair of Silver Fern Farms.
To be fair, he's retiring from that this year, Chair
of Farmlands war Works AGRI Zero en Z. I want
(00:21):
to come back to that one, Hilton Haulidge, Pioneer Energy,
Fern Energy, Rewiring ar TROA, as well as being a
director of TNG Global. Hey Rob Hewitt, you've got a
lot on your plate. Why are you picking a fight
with Bremworth? You want to be the chair of that
entity as well? What are you a bit like Tim Shadboll.
I just want to be chair, it doesn't matter where.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, good die Jamie. It's not the first time I've
heard that line, Jomie. Look, I do quite a lot
of governance work and for some reason, these opportunities come
up and it seems to work. So I don't have
any secret source, but these opportunities come along and look,
(01:03):
I wasn't looking for this one with PREMW but the
shareholders approached us probably after the AGM which was late
last year was when it first started heating up, and
it got quite a bit of attention later on sort
of over the January period, and the whole thing's culminated
with the six month en year result that came out
last week, which is, you know, the Shielders verd to Gutsville.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
So they're looking around going, what the hell can we do?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
We have lost confidence on the board as it stands
at the moment.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yeah, so here we are.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Well, apparently eleven percent of signed the formal requisition notice
you reckon, you've got backing from thirty five percent of
the shareholders. The mat still doesn't work on that.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah, they've been a little bit. Yes, that's true. Eleven
and a half percent of the shareholders have signed the
requisition form, which is only four Shielders. We have spoken
to over thirty four just around thirty five percent of
the share register or the shareholders who own thirty five
percent of the shares, and we have got support for
what well we are acting on what they want to do.
(02:07):
So I can tell you right now that thirty five
percent at least of the SHAAR register is supportive of
this direction. So the eleven and a half just sign it. Need,
you need five percent of the shareholders by volume to
sign a requisition and then the board is obligated to
take it forward to a meeting. And that's all that is.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
All right, Let's have a look at Bremworth, admirable as
it was, was it a mistake in twenty twenty one
when they decided to produce only wool carpets.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Look, it's a really interesting comment and the short answer
I think is possibly. But you know, first blush, I mean,
we've got to get a head under the hood and
have a look. I guess a couple of ovisations I
make Jamie, is it natural sustainable? There is absolutely cast
customers for that product around the world. We know that
at Silver fir and Farms, and quite frankly, this is
a New Zealand opportunity. Bremworth is one of the strong
(02:58):
brands that we need to be strong because it really
underpins the product that we make on our sheep and
bee farms and takes that product to market, so we
know those customers are out there. What appears to have
not happened is that costs have not well, costs haven't
been taken into account.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
By the look of it.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Costs are significantly higher than what you would expect with
the volume of business is being done, and nothing's been
done on the outside looking in to trim it. And
that's the problem. You know, the sales have diminished. And
to be fair to Bremworth, there has been you know,
a couple of little instances like COVID and then the
ow Toto flood with Cyclon Gabrielle where they had significant
(03:37):
amount of water through the plant. Both of those sort
of things, they bug it things up for a couple
of years and so to give them credit, it hasn't
been played in sailing, but fundamentally the direction of travel
for the business has been downhill and the shareholders have
run out of patients and that's why we are where
we are today. Now.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
As I said, you chair Woolworks which operates a wool
scale opposite brimwidths plant and napier. Is that a conflict
of interest?
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Na, Na, No, it's not.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
I mean Warworks, well not at the moment.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
And you know Warworks has a.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Commercial relationship with Breamworth to supply s guard wills. That's
you know, that'll that'll be noted on the conflicts register
if it does go eventuate and I just don't have
anything to do with those negotiations anyway, And even if
I did.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
I'd be out of the room. I'll be in the
naughty boys room.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
But look, it's the same conversation where I might Hilton
Hallers provides logistical services for Silver Zeen Farms. You know,
it's listed on the interest register and and we deal
with it accordingly if it comes up, and it usually doesn't.
So if there are no conflicts at the moment, apart
from that commercial relationship, the fact that we're over the
(04:45):
road makes no difference. Really, this, this, I must stress
thisss this initiative with Bremworth is the Bramworth shareholders have
asked for this to happen. This is not a warworks
gig and so they're two completely separate issues. Although it's
all around wall.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Well, Bremer's got two thousand and six hundred shareholders. I
think ACC's one of them. But is this just a
few of your rich mates getting the pip?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Well, to be fair, we've only spoken to thirty five
percent of the share registry, so I guess they hold
a few shares. Whether they're rich or not, I don't,
I don't know, but that's not really the issue here. Look,
the shareholders have had enough. There's been ten years with performance.
If you go back and have a look at the
end your results that have been put into the company's office,
(05:35):
which they'll be there because Brentworth is a listed company
and they have to report on this sort of thing,
you'll see the direction. I think the shareholders have been
long suffering.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Quite frankly, Rob, let.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Me change direction on you put on your agri zero
in z hat A lot of talk out there amongst
certain fraternities and farming that we're wasting our time being
a part of the Paris Climate accordal or climate agreement.
I'm sure you'll disagree with that.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
It's an interesting one, Jamie. Yeah, it's it's been interesting
since Trump's come in in the States as to what
people's attitudes towards this around the world has been, and
it feels like there's been a relaxation. Look a couple
of observations i'd make you know, those descending consumers I
talked about before, the ones of silver foen farms are
trying to reach the ones that Bremworth is trying to reach.
(06:22):
Those customers value this sort of stuff. The fact that
Trump's in power at the moment, and he's apparently taken
the hammer off these environmental initiatives. It sort of masks
the observation that about forty nine percent of the voters
over there didn't vote for them, and those customers are
the ones that want this sort of stuff. So climate
and sustainability are going to continue to be important metrics
(06:45):
and absolutely for New Zealand because those consumers are the
ones that want to buy our products.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
So you know, quite.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Frankly, I couldn't care about the legislation. The government as
a regulator is the last stop. The first stop is
the customer. They want something, you better listen because are
the ones that will pay the premium. That's where it
starts to finishes for me.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Well, the market will always decide farmer behavior.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
It should well farmers should listen to it. Yeah, that's
absolutely right, and that's part of what I'm saying here.
You know, there's still going to be a big market
for commodity feed. You know, whether it's grind to beef
or whether it's factory farm chicken or pork. You know,
those consumers that eat that stuff. Quite frankly, it's price
sensitivity and they environmental sustainability would be well down the
(07:30):
list of attributes that they're looking for, because I probably
can't afford the product, to be completely blunt about it,
but there are consumers that we sell to that do
want those products, are prepared to pay for it and
value those attributes that the Paris Accord are espousing. So
as a country, we'd be wise to listen to that
because they're not going away, and that's where our premiums
(07:51):
come from. We've really got to listen to it. It's
actually very disruptive, Okay.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Can I get a quick final comment from you when
you're not sharing every board known to mankind? And Rob Hewitt,
You're a South Otago farmer based near a little town
called Lawrence, of course, famous for Gabriel Scully and the
gold mining boom of the eighteen sixties. Beautiful little town.
The only problem is you're surrounded by pine trees and
(08:15):
getting surrounded by more and more by the day. Will
you be known this beautiful little town as the carbon
capital of the country shortly?
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Well?
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Should I hope not, Jamie. I mean the community will
be gone and this is replicated. I mean, you just
need to go up to Warrappa and you had the
same conversation. You know, we grow trees well here, that's true.
I've got a bunch of trees on my place, but
they're all in gullies where the gorse was and the
ridges and the paddocks are still paddocks. And that's my
fervorent hope that as farmers we get the optionality to
continue to make those choices. You know, trees in the
(08:48):
right place are a good thing. Trees everywhere is not.
And it's probably fair to say that livestock everywhere is
not either. You know, the production mentality that we had
in the seventies, Sister doesn't probably last. But you know,
those concerning consumers look for our own farm production systems
as well. And communities like Lawrence, they absolutely need people
in our schools full, our sports club's full, our ambulance services,
(09:09):
all that sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
We need people to be here.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Trees just don't allow that to happen.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
If they come at scale.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Well, rob, if it continues on the way it's going,
you're going to need a good fire brigade and Lawrence
in about twenty or thirty years time, if you don't
mind me saying so, yes.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Jesus, I hope, I hope not Jovie.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Hey, good that we've got a good that we've got
a fiber gate that they tend to get called out.
The car crash is actually more than anything else.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Okay mate, good to catch up. Thank you very much
for your time. Rob Hewett, the Chairman of Everything, see
you later.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Yeah good only Jamie, Thanks very much
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