Words by Annie Studholme
Ruralco has a proud history of staff achieving significant tenure records, with a select few racking up more than 25 years of service. Today Peter Jacob joins these ranks, and he credits passion, pride, and commitment as the recipe for this remarkable milestone.
Ruralco is proud to recognise Peter’s long service which has coincided with many changes and challenges in the rural sector and his ability to adapt and respond to these along the way. It’s a testament to Peter’s unwavering commitment, hard work, leadership, dedication, adaptability, and invaluable contribution to the co-operative.
During this time, he’s worked under four CEOs, held four job titles, been through a couple of restructures, and watched 415 different staff pass through the doors. He’s also been on hand to witness farming’s notorious cyclic nature, with peaks and troughs driven primarily by fluctuating global commodity prices, climate conditions (droughts and floods), and regulatory changes roughly every seven years.
“The job has changed a lot over time, and that’s what has kept me interested. There has always been something for me to hook my teeth into and look forward to,” he says.
Currently the Safety and Facilities Manager, Peter, is in charge of organising security, cleaning, gardening, and building maintenance, plus the company’s health and safety programme, assisting with HR, project management, and events. Peter first joined Ruralco (then known as ATS) in January 2001, after 15 years at Allenton Nurseries with the last few years as General Manager. Having grown up on the family farm at Lismore, Peter’s rural roots ran strong. He spent two years at Lincoln College studying horticulture before returning home to Mid Canterbury and joining Allenton Nurseries.
“I was already growing and selling trees to farmers, so when the job came up at ATS, I already knew everybody, and I haven’t regretted it at all. It’s the people that have really made the difference and it’s what I have really enjoyed over the last 25 years. So many fantastic staff, Shareholders, farmers, and Supplies who I have had the privilege of working with. It's definitely what keeps me here.”
He started as Back Shop Manager, reporting to then Retail Manager Neal Shaw, and CEO Bruce McPherson. Back then, the Ashburton Store was ATS’s only branch, but significant changes were on the horizon, as the co-operative experienced massive growth on the back of the dairy boom.
Having purchased the Ideal Electrical building on Burnett Street, Peter was integral in its demolition to make way for the new Ashburton Inwards Goods building. After decking it out, his attention swiftly switched to the purchase of the Rakaia store, which opened in late 2001, followed by the Methven store in 2003. That same year, the Ashburton car park on Burnett Street was extended through the purchase and demolition of the Masonic Lodge Hall. This was later followed by the opening of a new Rakaia store in 2008.
The 2011 Christchurch Earthquake signalled further changes, with the finance team moving off-site, initially to a building on Havelock Street, then to the old EA Building on Kermode Street, before moving to the former Gabities building across the road from the retail store. In 2014, part of the offices on Burnett Street shop site were removed due to earthquake damage, and in 2024, the entire Ashburton team moved back under one roof.
It was during the earlier changes that Peter’s focus and job changed to Operations Manager, moving away from day-to-day shop operations. His role later evolved again, with him becoming Compliance Manager, as the Government introduced stricter dangerous goods compliance regulations and new on-farm health and safety requirements for farmers.
Suddenly, compliance became a significant issue, especially around chemical sales and storage. “Initially, there were no Approved Handler Certificates, no SDS’s (Safety Data Sheets) , little health and safety, and no compliance officer. That all changed. Over a period of 12-18 months, we put 390 farmers through the Approved Handler course. We were doing twenty farmers at a time, two to three times a week.”
Some of the most significant changes during his tenure came with improvements in technology. Peter recalls the days when their rooms were filled with paper files. “Even up to a decade ago, statements were sorted by hand, first by farmers’ wives and later by students and office staff. Suppliers used to turn up with wads of invoices. There were fifteen people employed as glorified envelope stuffers. Now, it’s virtually all electronic,” he says.
The use of barcodes in the past few years has revolutionised retail, especially when it comes to completing stock takes. When Peter started, stock takes were all hand-done on numbered bits of paper. They began on Friday night and were still doing it at 11.30 pm on Saturday, whereas now all three stores are done and dusted by 11.30 am on Saturday, using mobile phones and specialist apps. “It used to be hell; no one wanted to do it. Now, it’s so easy and fun, everyone wants to do it.”
Although COVID-19 was a difficult time for the co-operative with so many unknowns, Peter says, on the upside, it had yielded many positives. “It was remarkable how everyone pulled together despite the remote working locations and other challenges Covid brought.” It also created opportunities to look at how the co-operative communicated and connected with Shareholders. “We were forced to look at different ways of doing things. Ultimately, the changes have been for the better.”
While his ever-changing role had kept work interesting for the past 25 years, Peter says it was the people who had a fair amount to do with it, from the customers sharing stories to his colleagues. “It’s just gone that fast - it doesn’t feel like 25 years.”