Incoming Haifa Australia managing director Chris Potts says he is looking forward to working hand-in-hand with the company’s distribution partners to deliver fertiliser solutions which also improve soil health and industry growth and sustainability.
Haifa Australia announced the new appointment to its industry partners recently, as part of a planned transition from long-term Haifa Australia leader Trevor Dennis, who has significantly strengthened local foundations for the business in the past 17 years.
Chris joins the business with recent experience as a marketing manager of speciality fertilisers with a major supplier.
This followed various management roles in the dairy, finance and banking industries across the rural sector earlier in his career.
Chris has family links on the Hay Plains of western NSW, and he completed a Bachelor of Agricultural Science, including a strong focus on intensive pasture systems, before working in banking and finance at a number of locations across Victoria.
Gaining an understanding of various agricultural businesses, the importance of their relationships with financiers and assisting their business decisions was highly valuable before Chris joined global dairy co-operative, Fonterra.
He worked in a number of roles with Fonterra through to leadership positions with the business, supporting and growing producer contracts; assisting farm enterprise expansion and the adoption of nutrition and agronomy tools; guiding milk pricing; improving the performance of some of its local business assets; and enhancing its finance and service offerings to farmers.
A strong interest in horticulture, nutrition and sustainability prompted Chris’ career move to the fertiliser industry and particularly to marketing horticulture and specialty fertilisers, including liquid biological products designed to reduce nitrogen losses to the environment.
He said Haifa Group is a global leader in specialty fertilisers and nutritional solutions, as well as with its approach to soil health and future sustainability, and, hence, he is thrilled to be joining the organisation.
“Developing the next solutions for enhancing our soil health and sustainability is an exciting area to be working in,” Chris said.
“Haifa continues to show its strength along this path with the recent release of its biostimulant fertiliser range and other biological products, as well as with its commitment to global sustainability under the United Nations’ global compact initiative.”
He said Trevor had powered the business’ strong development and excellent service and support levels in Australia over a long period and he recognised he now had the opportunity to take this into the next phase with its distribution partners.
“Haifa Australia has shown a great ability to develop strong partnerships with its distributors and that will be our focus to the market – building genuine partnerships and strong connections across the industry that are rooted in finding solutions for farmers. This is what is exciting moving forward.
“We are a small team as part of the Haifa Group in Australia, but this allows us to be nimble and deliberate in the way we go to market, and to have very close relationships with our partners and key decision-makers. The key is to nurture those partnerships well for the benefit of our relationships and our grower customers.”
Chris says he looks forward to meeting with all of Haifa Australia’s partners and the wider industry in the coming months to better understand their businesses and help guide how the company could further improve its support to the industry into the future.
