How to navigate a volatile rural market
It’s wise to make decisions based on care and planning, not market volatility, Mike Bain discovers for our
Cambridge businessman Andrew Giltrap recalls a journalist asking him ‘‘how many staff will you lay off?’’.
Driving to work listening to the news about the lowest pay out dairy farmers would receive for milk solids, Giltrap was unsure if any staff in his business would be laid off.
‘‘It was a silly knee-jerk question, as it’s something you’re not going to consider in the car having just heard the news,’’ he said.
He runs Giltrap Agri-zone which is one of the biggest rural machinery suppliers in the Waikato.
He has never been one to make knee-jerk business decisions.
Instead he is meticulous in detail when it comes running his business, from its base at Hautapu in Cambridge.
The original company started by Giltrap’s father Wilfred in 1959 as Giltrap Engineering and then split into two divisions.
The farm machinery side of the business focussed on tractors, agricultural equipment sales and service.
In 2001 a purpose-built dealership was opened in Otorohanga, followed by Cambridge eight years later with another branch established in Rotorua in 2012.
Now trading as Giltrap Agrizone, the company committed to Case IH as its major brand, supplying tractors ranging from 25-600hp along with harvesting and other machinery.
In 2015 a new dealership was opened by Prime Minister John Key in Cambridge and established as head office for the company.
It is challenging having to project sales demand 18 months ahead in a volatile market like the dairy industry.
Last year was a ‘‘horrible one for farmers’’.
For Giltrap, streamlining
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‘‘The rural economy is improving and predictions are we are going to have a really good year,’’ he said.
Proud to still call his business ‘‘local and family owned’’, he believes in the big business model where care and understanding for what farmers and rural contractors need comes first.
‘‘We have world-class customers and their expectation is high. And in order to meet demands it’s become harder operating from a small business model.’’
Giltrap feeds back into the community with his 80 employees, an apprenticeship programme, plus sponsorship of rural and school events.