Membership

Categories of membership

There are eight categories of membership: Life Member, Fellow, Honorary, Registered Member, Member, Affiliate, Student and Foreign Resident. The majority of the membership are categorised as Members. To be a Member the person must fulfill the following requirements:

  1. Have an appropriate tertiary qualification.
  2. Be employed as a Primary Industry professional. (This is defined as a person who manages primary industry resources and/or provides professional services to the Primary Industry sector, whether in management, sciences, education or industry services or a combination of them).
  3. Have had three years continuous employment as a Primary Industry professional.
  4. Be acceptable by Council as a suitable and proper person to be a member.

Affiliate membership is available for people who have a professional interest in the Primary Industry sector, but who are unable to fulfil all the above 'Member' requirements. People who reside outside of New Zealand and have a professional interest in the Primary Industry sector and who wish to join the Institute may do so as Foreign Resident members.

Student membership is restricted to those doing an approved (full-time) course at a NZ University or Polytechnic. Membership ceases when the course of study is completed, but naturally ex-students are warmly welcomed to join as full members after completing their studies.

Members are attached to one of ten branches which run activities for the membership of that branch. The National Office is administered by an Executive Officer and governed by an elected Council (see Contact Page).

Application form

You must complete an application form to join - CLICK HERE to download the form in PDF format, or CLICK HERE to download a Student application form in PDF format. Alternatively you can request an application form be mailed or faxed to you.

Activities:

Check out the What's On page to see a list of the local activities being organised by the branch. This will include a contact name and information about attending an activity. The annual Conference/s programme will also be shown.

Consultants:

Many of the members are farm management consultants, rural valuers or agri-business consultants and other professionals. Go to the Registered Consultants page and you will see a list of all Registered Consultants. By clicking on a consultant's name you will see details of their background, fields of expertise, areas of operation and their contact information. You may also carry out a fields of expertise search on the consultant page.

Registration:

Registration is designed to protect the interests of the public and to promote and encourage very high standards of professional education and conduct among Primary Industry consultants and other professionals. The registered members must have:

  1. knowledge
  2. professional skills and ethics to apply the knowledge and
  3. the backing of a professional organisation which endorses standards and provides a system of recourse.

The Institute's registration process is a rigorous assessment of the competency and professionalism of members. A person applying for registration must fulfill the following requirements.

  1. Have an appropriate tertiary qualification.
  2. Have had at least three years experience of at least 1000 hours per annum as a Primary Industry professional.
  3. Have high levels of expertise and a very good standard of delivery in the five core competencies of: knowledge, ethics, business practice, communication and management.
  4. Have had their written reports evaluated, had referees checked and submitted to an interview by their peers.
  5. Have met the minimum hours of Continuing Professional Development each year.

This rigorous assessment is to provide a clear message to the public that the standards of registration are very high and to be registered is no mean feat. Members of the public may be assured that if they use a Registered Primary Industry professional then they have the backing of a process that ensures the registered member has the competency, skills, knowledge and ethics to do their job.

Complaints:

A complaints procedure can be invoked if the professional services provided by a member are unsatisfactory. To lay a complaint you may set the process in action by contacting us through email at admin@nzipim.co.nz or phoning (04) 939 9134