Gary Stokes is Waikato born and bred and spent his childhood growing up on dairy farms in the Waikato and Thames. His initial career was as an electrician, and he spent three years in the UK after completing his apprenticeship. After returning to New Zealand in 1989, he leased a dairy farm with 150 cows while working as an electrician. Gary is familiar with the process of climbing through the dairy farming ranks, having worked his way up the sharemilking ladder, to finally buying his own farm in Ngatea, by 2000. In 2006, Gary became part of a New Zealand farm syndicate in Chile, which used New Zealand dairy practices to run the farms. By 2019, the farm extended to 4000 hectares, with 7500 cows milked. The farm also ran 2500 beef units, and had 1000 hectares planted in crops. From 2016 Gary spent around six months a year in Chile, personally participating in the project, and leaving him with extensive experience in a variety of agricultural fields. In 2014 to 2016 Gary sold agriculture machinery for Claas Harvest Centre, gaining valuable insight into that aspect of the farming industry. Having obtained his Real Estate sales licence in 2019, Gary is now positioned to share his wealth of agricultural knowledge to assist clients looking to sell or buy rural and lifestyle properties across the Waikato region. Gary currently lives with his wife on a three-hectare lifestyle block in Puketaha, and they have four adult children. He enjoys playing tennis in his spare time.