48 | RURAL SERVICES » Tractor and Machinery Association TAMA conference The Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA) advocates for the entire industry including importers, manufacturers, and retailers. Kelly Deeks Proudly representing New Zealand’s tractor and farm-related machinery industry since 1949, the Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA) is bringing new value to its membership with meaningful communications and helpful resources that support its members to enable their businesses and their people to grow and advance. TAMA general manager Phil Holden says the tractors and machinery marketed, sold, and maintained by TAMA members are the essential components the keep the wheels of New Zealand’s agricultural industry turning. Representing almost the entire industry including importers, manufacturers, and retailers, TAMA’s strength lies in its ability to unify and consolidate the opinions and views of its sector, to advocate and take a stand for its members on industry issues and opportunities, ensuring all members’ voices are heard and represented. Phil is on a drive to increase membership and bring more value to TAMA members. In the past 12 months, TAMA has relaunched its website, lifted its communications, held a couple of small events, and is now planning its biennial conference for August 27 and 28 in Wellington. This year’s conference is themed ‘Geared for Success’ and aims to provide TAMA members with some strategies and motivations for harnessing the current feeling of optimism across the agricultural sector. “The change of government has brought some optimism to the sector, and we now have more members of parliament with an agricultural background than ever before,” Phil says. Minister of Agriculture Todd McLay grew up rurally and worked on farms before getting into agricultural politics in Europe, and his support and trust of farmers is going to be quite pivotal for the primary sector. Minister for Biosecurity and Food Safety and Associate Minister of Agriculture Andrew Hoggard is a Manawatu dairy farmer and former president of Federated Farmers, and Minister for Rural Communities and Associate Minister of Agriculture Mark Patterson is a sheep and beef farmer, former chairman of Otago Federated Farmers, and deputy chair of the New Zealand Century Farms committee. Minister for Women and Associate Minister of Agriculture Nicola Grigg also comes from a farming background in Mid-Canterbury. “They’ve all got a greater understanding of some of the challenges that are in the primary sector and what’s actually happening right now, and that brings a degree of optimism to the sector. We want to use our conference as an opportunity to capture that optimism and talk about what we can do from a business perspective to gear up for success.” Phil sees some room for TAMA membership growth in the dealership space but is mindful of the fact that some of the information TAMA can provide for dealers is also provided by their distributor. “We needed to find a vehicle to support what the distributor is doing,” he says. “One of the key reasons people join TAMA is to access information and the latest insights into the tractor and farm equipment market. We now have a new research partner, Kynetec out of Australia with reach across the world, which collates that information and makes it meaningful for our members. Kynetec gives us the opportunity to really take that core information and provide insights in a way he haven’t done in the past.” Leading NZ Importers & Distributors for Agricultural Machinery Components For more than 30 years, ITEC Products (1992) Ltd have been the NZ importers and distributors for high quality European agricultural machinery components for New Zealand’s agricultural sector. OUR PRODUCTS INCLUDE: � Battioni & Jurop pumps � Metaltecnica slurry tanker parts � Scharmuller K80 towing systems � Simol jack stands � Comer PTO & Rogelberg Hydraulic Gearboxes ...and many more! | www.itecproducts.co.nz
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