FAR CEO Nick Pyke was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours in recognition of services to the arable industry.
Nick Pyke was appointed Research Director of the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) in 1995. Under his leadership FAR has developed into a world leading arable research and extension body with a reputation for research excellence and innovative extension programmes.
Nick has developed and maintained strong links with farmer based research organisations locally and internationally, ensuring that FAR's research and extension is nationally and internationally informed and benchmarked. He has also worked hard to ensure that levy payers have access to research and demonstration sites. Trials are carried out in all arable regions, with particular focus on two long term research sites in Canterbury (Chertsey) and Waikato (Tamahere), and in 2016, FAR secured the lease of the 15.5 hectare irrigated Lincoln Arable Site.
Under Nick's leadership, FAR was one of the first organisations in the primary sector to recognise the importance of whole farm systems over individual crop and management issues. Biosecurity is another key issue for the industry and Nick was instrumental in facilitating an industry responses to recent black grass, velvet leaf and pea weevil incursions.