An appointed Advisory Committee guides MRC on policy, research and funding. Committee members are drawn from the New Zealand wine industry, pastoral and agricultural producers, research organisations, universities and the Marlborough District Council.
Ivan Sutherland
Interim Chairman
Ivan is a Trustee for MRC and is filling the role of interim Chairman for the MRC Advisory Committee. Ivan has extensive experience in the grape and wine sector. He has been involved with Wine Marlborough the unified local grape and wine organisations since its establishment. He was the founding chairman for the Marlborough Wine Research Centre Board established In 2003 now MRC Board.
Graduated from Lincoln University in 1972 with a VFM, he entered the wine industry in 1979, being one of the earlier private pioneers of the Marlborough viticulture industry.
Over a period of many years he established his own vineyards on selected sites in the Wairau and Southern Valleys. In 1986 Ivan joined Cloudy Bay in its establishment years as their viticulturist, a position he held for 18 years.
In 2002 he established the Dog Point label in partnership with James Healy.
Warwick Lissaman
Agriculture Representative
Warwick is from one of Marlborough’s early farming families; the fourth generation of his family to farm in the Awatere Valley.
After completing a Bachelor of Agriculture and a Bachelor of Commerce with a post graduate diploma in Rural Valuation at Lincoln University, Warwick followed his grandfather and his father onto the family property.
After an active role within New Zealand Young Farmers, Warwick has gone on to take positions of responsibility within the rural sector. In 2008 Warwick chaired the local organising committee for the New Zealand Grassland Association Annual Conference held in Blenheim. Warwick went on to serve eight years on the NZGA executive committee including two years as Vice President and two years as President and has served terms with NZ Meat & Wool and NZ Beef & Lamb Marlborough Monitor Farm executive committees. He also has served as an elected Trustee to the Awatere Community Trust; and is currently Chairman of the Chilean Needle Grass Action Group and a member of the NZ Beef & Lamb Pastures for Profit, Marlborough group.
Warwick’s efforts to help secure funding for dryland pastoral research and a direct involvement in a dryland legumes technology transfer research project precede his appointment in 2011 to the MRC Board.
Amongst his priorities is the wish to see the pastoral sector make greater use of the research capacity of the Research Centre. He believes that science and research is the key to unlocking future opportunities and that it is in the mutual interest of each of the productive sectors of Marlborough to work closely together to fulfil the potential of the district.
“To go forward to new, levels of productivity and/or production systems, site specific solutions are required and an understanding of the natural capital is needed first and foremost. This Site Specific Technology Transfer is very problematic for science as a provider due to resource cost. The direction MRC takes must reflect this need.
A worrying trend is the rise of advertorials in the press, so many choices and so many pseudo-science statements, often farmer testimonials are used instead of peer reviewed scientific evidence.”
Andrew Naylor
Pernod Ricard Representative
Andrew is the Senior Viticulturist for Pernod Ricard Winemakers, responsible for coordinating the productivity and quality of the crop and the technology used on the company and contract grower vineyards.
He liaises with our company operational and planning managers, viticulturists and Grower Liaison Team, to ensure that parcels of fruit are meeting their quality and crop level targets. He spends time in the vineyards looking at the vines and their fruit, as well as time in the office reviewing and planning. There is a lot of information to keep up with and many people who need the information shared with them.
Andrew graduated from Lincoln College with a Diploma in Horticulture and a Diploma in Field Technology. He spent 13 years with MAF / HortResearch before moving to Pernod Ricard (Montana Wines as it was then) in 1995. In the late 90’s he got all keen and began a Masters in Applied Science through Lincoln which he completed in 2002.
Pernod Ricard has supported the Marlborough Research Centre and the Wine Research Centre especially from its beginning. I’m pleased to be continuing the company’s representation following on from the good work of Andy Frost and look forward to valuable interaction with the wider business community of Marlborough.
Alan Johnson
Marlborough District Council Representative
Alan is the Marlborough District Council Environmental Science and Monitoring Manager who is responsible for a team of 30 staff. The team have responsibilities for State of the Environment Monitoring of natural resources (land, water, air) including investigations of environmental issues and the implementation of measures to protect and restore the environment (e.g. biosecurity, catchment care, biodiversity programmes).
Paul Johnstone
Plant & Food Research Representative
Dr Paul Johnstone joins the Advisory Committee of the MRC as a representative of Plant & Food Research where he is the General Manager of Science – Sustainable Production.
In his role Paul leads a group of 150 researchers from across the motu who are passionate about making a difference to food production through science discovery and application. Key areas of focus include tomorrows high productivity systems that are designed to have a lighter touch, and are adapted and resilient to future changes.
Paul studied horticultural science at Massey University and gained his PhD in the area of crop nutrition and irrigation management in 2005. He worked for 5 years in research and extension supporting the horticulture industry in California before returning to New Zealand in 2006.
Paul has held a variety of roles at Plant & Food Research since then including as a ‘hands on’ researcher, Programme Leader, and Science Group Leader. He has a strong interest in seeing science applied and making a difference to the opportunities and challenges before New Zealand’s horticultural sectors.
Richard Dawkins
Agriculture Representative
Richard Dawkins is a fifth-generation Marlborough Sheep and Beef Farmer.
He has held representative roles with Federated Farmers and Beef + Lamb NZ and founded and chaired the Avon Valley Catchment Group.
The Dawkins family have previously won the Marlborough Sheep and Beef Farmer of the Year and the Supreme Award of the Cawthron Marlborough Environment Awards.
Richard is a Kellogg Scholar and sits on the Board of Governors for the Kathleen Spragg Research Trust.
He currently farms sheep and beef at The Pyramid in the Waihopai Valley and takes pride in farm productivity and sustainability.
Amber Parker
Lincoln University Representative
Dr. Amber Parker completed her PhD at Lincoln University in collaboration with Bordeaux Sciences Agro-ISVV-Ecophysiology and Functional Genomics of Grapevines, France. From there, she worked as a scientist in grapevine modelling at Plant & Food Research, then started at Lincoln University in 2015.
Her research focusses on phenological modelling and understanding environmental drivers of phenology, investigating the effects of source-sink modifications of the grapevine on phenology and asynchrony of fruit composition, and understanding impacts and adaptations for viticulture in the context of climate change.
She also has a keen interest in developing and implementing precision agriculture techniques in viticulture.