Founding director Mark Cox retires from board

After nearly 14 years with Craigmore Sustainables, Mark Cox is stepping down from his role as a director on the GP board for Craigmore’s partnerships.

Mark founded Craigmore in 2009 with Forbes Elworthy with the vision to build a profitable farming business that would not only provide a financial return, but also help address environmental and social challenges in our rural sectors.  Mark applied his personality, commercial skills and unsurpassed network across rural Aotearoa to acquire Craigmore’s first portfolio of businesses. But more importantly, he also built a New Zealand team from scratch, around an operating model where business and property managers are trusted and empowered to deliver.

Mark started Craigmore by building the beginnings of our first forestry estate, then pieced together one of the country’s best dairy portfolios, and started Craigmore’s journey into horticulture – across squash, kiwifruit, apples, grapes and blackcurrants. His ability to operate across this variety of sectors comes from a lifetime of experiences in some out best industries.

Born and raised on a sheep, beef and cropping farm in South Canterbury, Mark went on to gain an agricultural management degree at Massey University. After graduation, Mark worked at Fletcher Challenge and Wrightson’s before joining agricultural food products company Cedenco Foods, where he spent six years as Fresh Crops Manager. When Cedenco was restructured in 1996 Mark purchased the company’s fresh division assets and formed Coxco, which is over 30 years old now and currently owned and operated by Craigmore in Gisborne.

Mark’s retirement from Craigmore’s GP boards will take effect from today, 1 December 2023. This will give him time to focus on running his grazing properties in Canterbury. Mark will continue with his role supporting Craigmore’s farming team through his role on the Farming Advisory Committee.