I’m born and bred in the Nelson region. I am a local business and homeowner with my wife Ruth, and have four adult children in the region.

I have been a farmer and an orchardist, business owner in innovative industries like marine farming, tourism, and preservation of rare breeds of animals. I am passionate about sustainable horticulture and working in harmony with our natural resources.

I believe we need to protect these natural resources and maximise the benefits our diverse region offers for the benefit of the whole community. We need to act smart, and act now, with our community’s resources.

And we need to get real about safeguarding our future pipelines of water and food to avoid vulnerability of supply. To encourage innovation and investment, jobs, and housing in our region, we need to simplify the obstacles of bureaucracy, or the burden to do this becomes too great.

We need to make our city’s basic infrastructure more resilient to natural events that are going to become more common. You cannot bludgeon nature into submission, you have to work with her.

Authorised by Matthew Benge matthew@nelsonmerino.co.nz