Long-serving PCA Managing Director Bob Hansen, (pictured, right, with his wife Julie), was farewelled at a sometimes emotional dinner for long-serving employees this week.

Bob announced his resignation from the PCA Board in August but stayed with PCA to assist the new management team through a three-month transition period.

Chairman Ian Langdon said Bob - or "Mr Peanut" - had become an icon of the industry since he joined the company in 1993.

"Bob has made a very big call to make the move to the next stage of his life. He is now at a stage in his career where there are new horizons to conquer," Ian said.

Bob is launching his own commodity consulting business, Sabio Pronostico ("wise forecast" in Spanish).

Mr Langdon said it was difficult to pick just two or three highlights from Bob's long career but the reality was PCA would not be around today unless he had been at the helm during some critical moments.

A quality issue in the mid-1990s could have finished PCA, and by extension, the Australian peanut industry.

Another highlight was the contribution that Bob and his staff had made with cultivars.

"You need a visionary to see a long way out. Bob instigated and drove the development of cultivars to be used with irrigation," he said.

Less than 15% of peanuts now come from dryland farming areas.

Bob admitted it had been quite an emotional three months since he had decided to resign but 16 years as CEO had been "a bloody long time".

"I needed a change; PCA needed a change, a new way forward," he told the assembled diners.

"It's been a very emotional decision but I'm grateful for the opportunity to lead PCA for the past 16 years and I appreciate the support I have received from everyone in this room as well as people like (former Directors) Doug Shears, Arch Winning and Jeff Rackemann.

"Honestly the real visionary was the late Jeff Rackemann. In the late 1980s there was a lot of heartache in the industry and Jeff steered it and asked that the right people be brought forward."

Bob recalled his first few weeks at PCA. Then Chairman, the late Arch Winning, contacted him before he'd even started work and asked him to drop in to soothe a major client in Melbourne.

When he eventually reached Kingaroy, Arch told him: "Here's your desk, here's your pencil and by the way, I've fired your secretary and marketing manager. Go to it!"

Bob also paid tribute to two other former Directors, Ken Neilsen and Neil Lister, who developed ways to work through the quality challenges of 1996.

"There's been a lot of change but I will never forget the day I deleted VB from the cultivar list in 1994," Bob said. "We replaced it with Streeton and Florunner and honestly the industry has never looked back since then."

Other highlights included the redesigning of plant systems to eliminate aflatoxin in 1997-98, the end of the Co-operative in 1998-99, and the introduction of Hi Oleic peanuts in 2003.

And he admitted he'd even enjoyed the debates that he'd had with farmers over the years!

Bob said he wanted to emphasise he had left PCA of his own accord.

"I want it well-known that I was not asked by the Board to go. I have no ill will for the company and I want the company to do well. I have good financial reasons for saying this but also good emotional reasons."

New PCA CEO Craig Mills, Director Niven Hancock, (pictured, left, with Chairman Ian Langdon), and Company Secretary Don Mackenzie joined PCA Managers and other employees to wish Bob well on his new career.

Niven, who was re-elected to the Board at the recent AGM, was also presented with a thank-you gift at the dinner.

Niven has served PCA as a Director since 1992.

Mr Langdon said many people would assume that Niven's contribution to PCA would be his farming knowledge but he has also brought something which he probably doesn't even realise himself.

"He brings a common sense approach to the running of a big business. We really appreciate the contributions that Niven makes to the Board," Ian said.