Kellogg RT

In the time of the ‘great resignation’ in a post COVID-19 world, finding and retaining top talent is an ongoing and costly concern for businesses. As the employee value proposition evolves, employers may wish to use a change in the structure of the work week as a distinguishing factor for them as an employer.

This research investigates the efficacy of a four-day week amongst the office-based knowledge workers of the New Zealand dairy industry workforce. The key aims of this study were to identify the benefits that a four-day week could provide, establish the barriers to said four-day week, and to recognise how COVID-19 impacted the evolution of workplace norms. The research was undertaken by reviewing existing literature and conducting semi structured interviews employees in the dairy industry.

Thanks to COVID-19 and changes in the use of technology as an accepted modality within the business world, the line between work and home has continued to become increasingly permeable. This impacts work-life balance for employees and subsequently satisfaction in both life and work. An opportunity is presented for a reset of worker culture to benefit the mental health and wellbeing of the employee, increase employee engagement within their personal communities, all while simultaneously benefiting the company through more engaged employees and potential increases to productivity.

Employees have benefited greatly from the increased flexibility that has been normalised following COVID-19. There may be further advantages to both employers and employees by formalizing a four-day week variation. This could see further benefit to employee wellbeing and enhanced engagement within their community. However, implementing a four-day week might be difficult due to anecdotal reports that many employees are regularly working over their contracted hours. Others admitted to working to appear like they are still productive, but they admit to idly filling in time until it is socially acceptable to leave the office. As such, feasibility will depend on the team itself and specific circumstances, such as stakeholder availability or time zone cross over.

Transitioning from the current model straight to a four-day week is not the best approach, but instead opting for a four-day week variant would help to smooth the transition and address/overcome the key barriers.

Interviews with 12 current employees of the New Zealand dairy industry found that the key obstacles to a four-day week were perception (of shareholders, and other employees), and maintaining availability to an employee’s respective stakeholders. This reiterates the nuances that exist in each team. These would need to be accounted for in any change to the structure of the working week. Another important recurring theme that manifested was the importance of bidirectional trust between employees and their manager/company. Bidirectional trust enables managers to not have to time-keep their employees, while the employees feel empowered to complete the requirements of their role. Trust on both sides empowers the respected privilege of a four-day week variation.

The key recommendations from this study for a dairy company considering a four-day week are:

• Acknowledge the difference between task-oriented workers and knowledge workers within their employee base and structure workplace change specific to each worker type.
• Use a formalised process/framework and support from senior leaders within the company to overcome any negative stigmatism from current workplace attitudes towards long hours.
• Establish clear performance measures for both business and employee to ensure adequate outputs; and
• Allow individual teams to devise their own implementation plan within set boundaries to adequately consider team-specific nuances.

Climate change is a global issue with local influence. It will both impact New Zealand’s agricultural systems and be impacted by them. New Zealand farmers face significant agricultural emissions reduction targets. Achieving these will be heavily influenced by how agricultural methane emissions can be reduced. The methane from farmed livestock in New Zealand accounts for 76 per cent of all of the biogenic methane New Zealand produces.

This report seeks to understand the potential options for New Zealand livestock farmers to decrease their methane emissions. It considers the unique circumstances faced in New Zealand and assesses some of the drivers and impacts which should be considered in their uptake.

To understand the potential options for New Zealand farmers and the impacts they may have, several questions needed to be answered:

• What are the drivers pushing New Zealand farmers to decrease methane emissions?
• Where New Zealand agriculture has got to on reducing methane, and how it got to this point?
• What are the reduction options for New Zealand farmers to consider?

The methodology comprises of a conducting a stocktake of emission reduction targets faced by farmers to understand how the timing and intensity of these targets have changed. Datasets from peer reviewed, government, and industry, published sources were extracted to produce a time-series view of the livestock sector and enable interlinkages to be explored. Finally, a review of existing peer-reviewed and grey literature and a thematic analysis was conducted. This both identified possible options for New Zealand farmers and considered the implications for New Zealand farming systems of the options.

Each themed option was explored to understand:

• What the option is.
• The methane emissions reduction impact.
• How applicable the option is for New Zealand farmers.
• The cost of implementing the option on a farm.
• When the option will be available for New Zealand farmers.

While government targets have historically been the main driver for agricultural emissions reduction, industry and businesses are now bringing in commitments. These will need to be met by farmers or they may face challenges selling their products.

New Zealand’s agricultural sector is a dynamic mosaic. It is constantly changing to adjust to outside pressures and its methane emissions have grown and shrunk over time. It’s mosaic nature also means different parts of the sector are further through realising methane reductions than others. Beef, sheep and dairy all face the same challenge, but are at different stages of responding to it. Not all options can be applied equally.

Farmers already have some tools to hand which can be used to reduce methane emissions. These need to be embraced early if methane is to be reduced in time. Some technologies are under development for the future, which may be easier to implement, have lower costs, or achieve greater reductions, but they are also still unproven. Significant research is still required for these to become useable options for New Zealand farmers.

It is recommended that:

• All groups work together to ensure methane reduction options are adopted on farm as early as possible.
• Farmers consider the full impact of methane reduction options on all emissions and the wider environment, how the different options may fit with their farm, and how they will operate in a changing operating environment.
• Government and industry work together to encourage and enable farmers to reduce their methane emissions as rapidly as feasible.

There is still significant progress to be made on reducing methane, but some change has already occurred. Each year, new ideas and technologies become a reality, so the options for farmers needs to be regularly reviewed. There is a low methane future for New Zealand’s farmers.

The glass ceiling has long been smashed by women, but in recent times there has been ever slowing progress made in achieving gender diversity in board rooms in the New Zealand food and fibre sector.

The aim of this research report is to examine the current state of women in governance in the New Zealand food and fibre sector, and to build understanding as to why there is still a short fall when it comes to gender diversity on the boards of so many organisations in the sector. The main question this report addresses is, how can gender diversity be increased on governance boards in the New Zealand food and fibre sector?

The methodology is made up of a literature review, to provide base knowledge in order to perform thematic analysis along with eight semi-structured interviews to provide real world context of women in governance in the New Zealand food and fibre sector. From this, three high level themes which included nine insights were distilled:

• Societal Factors
  • Workplace Culture
  • Food and Fibre Gender Roles
• Support and Representation
  • Mentoring and Role Models
  • Personal Relationships
  • Unconscious Bias
• Gender Equality in the Workplace
  • Role Availability
  • Pay Gap
  • Experience and Competency
  • Talent Management

Analysis of these themes and insights, whilst also taking in consideration the literature review, provided 3 main areas of discussion around the value of women, looking future forward to continue making positive progress, while also recognising some unintended consequences of aiming for a perfect 50/50 split of gender diversity in the board room.

The recommendations made following this are for those who are in governance in the New Zealand food and fibre sector and see the need to increase gender diversity in the sector.

• Know the current workforce that New Zealand Food and Fibre Sector have available for development
• Raise awareness and have the conversation with peers about the benefit and need for gender diversity
• Implement gender diversity recommendations in the relevant boards corporate governance codes
• Create inclusive workplace culture
• Training for all levels of people throughout business workforce
• Create an accessible, supportive network of mentors for women interested in governance.

Family farming businesses make up a large proportion of agriculture production in New Zealand. The size and scale of these businesses have been steadily increasing. They have now become medium-scale businesses with large financial commitments and a mountain of compliance and regulation to contend with.

In the corporate world, the concept of governance is spoken about often, but how well is good governance understood in the family farming business, and, if required, could a better understanding of governance provide opportunities?

The research project’s first aim was to investigate what literature had already been researched about governance and its application in agriculture. Then the next aim was to understand what current family farming businesses understood of the concept of governance and whether it was being practised. The ultimate objective was to uncover if improved governance was something that family farming businesses required, and if so, how could it be implemented.

The methodology comprises a literature review to gain a deeper understanding of the concept of governance and how might it be applied in agriculture. From the literature, questions were raised to uncover the attitude and understanding of governance in family farming businesses. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken on family farming businesses and the answers and information gathered were analysed to find the key themes. These key themes identified were then reviewed in conjunction with the literature reviewed to explore possible solutions.

Key findings

• While agency theory is the oldest and most widely recognised theory of corporate governance it may not be applicable to family farming businesses as owners and managers are the same people.
• Resource dependency theory, stewardship theory and stakeholder theory are corporate governance models that uncover opportunities to help family farming businesses grow and thrive.
• Family farming businesses interviewed were only accountable to themselves and considered themselves the key people. They focused on management as opposed to governance and lacked documented plans for their businesses. They rely heavily on insurance as a contingency and have concerns about the future. Last but not least they need to see value from the cost of a third party helping with governance.

Recommendations

• A possible family farming governance model has been designed which is primarily based on resource dependency theory but also incorporates stewardship and stakeholder theories.
• The directors and shareholders of the family farming business (referred to as “Mum and Dad”) continue to run the business as good stewards.
• An advisory board is introduced which includes the accountant, vet and farm consultant already used by the business but with more structure.
• The Advisory board provides advice, counsel, and knowledge to “Mum and Dad” while in return, concerns, ideas, and intricacies of the management of the business are fed back up to the advisory board.
• Information is provided to stakeholders to keep them informed relative to where they fit into the business.

New Zealand is a nation heavily reliant on its primary industries. Many horticulture organisations within the primary industries operate seasonally, relying on a changing workforce each year. This presents unique challenges which the horticulture industry has struggled to overcome and as a result, there is room to improve seasonal staff retention and productivity.

This report was written to investigate how rostering technology can improve the wellbeing, and therefore the retention and productivity, of New Zealand’s seasonal workforce and to establish what this technology would look like. Through a comprehensive literature review, initial assumptions were validated:

• There is a problem with retaining good seasonal workers in the horticultural industry
• Current seasonal work practices in the horticulture industry contribute to negative staff wellbeing.
• Improving seasonal worker wellbeing will improve retention and productivity for organisations.

A series of nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with key seasonal employers to understand what factors employers considered important for staff wellbeing and how organisations are currently contributing positively to staff wellbeing. Thematic analysis of these interviews demonstrated several tangible pathways to improve seasonal staff wellbeing.

These pathways are focused on:

1. Reducing fatigue within the staff pool
2. Giving staff clearer expectations on working hours
3. Considering staff’s physical environment

A competitor feature analysis of existing rostering software revealed that few had any features which utilised these tangible pathways to improve wellbeing, and so a conceptual software solution was developed. The proposed software would assign each employee a ‘ready to work’ score which accounts for several wellbeing factors and this is used to generate optimal rosters.

Based on the conclusions of this report, the recommended next steps are:

• Seasonal employers in the horticulture space including post-harvest and orchard management companies should improve the wellbeing of their seasonal staff because it improves financial and ethical outcomes.
• A business plan should be created to commercialise the proposed software solution – the right organisation or individual to do this will be technology-forward, business smart, and have a strong understanding of the horticultural industry.
• The aforementioned employers should adopt wellbeing-focused automated rostering software such as the one described here.

Businesses that improve their staff’s wellbeing see financial and ethical benefits, and this report provides the industry with a pathway to achieve this.

New Zealand stands at a pivotal crossroads, amidst growing calls from various stakeholders, to reevaluate its approach to how genetic modification technology is regulated. This report serves as a resource for policymakers tasked with the responsibility of reevaluating New Zealand’s biotechnology regulations. It offers historical context, explains the current situation, and outlines the fundamental principles that should guide the development of a new approach.

Key recommendations are provided for developing a bespoke policy framework that addresses the values and priorities of all New Zealanders while leveraging international best practices.

The HSNO Act of 1996, which forms the basis of New Zealand’s current regulatory framework, was enacted over 20 years ago. Since then, there have been substantial technological advancements that present new opportunities for New Zealand, but also new concerns. The existing approach is viewed by some researchers as overly cautious and cost prohibitive to engage with, and there is concern that New Zealand is falling behind trading partners and competitors.

Genetic modification has historically been a controversial topic in New Zealand, resulting in a lack of comprehensive national discourse since the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification report in 2001.

Concerns have focussed on the potential impact on the environment, health, and agricultural exports, while the effect on cultural values holds special significance for Māori. However, with growing understanding of the potential benefits for genetic technologies, New Zealand has a fresh opportunity to engage in this essential conversation and ensure that it leads to a modern, fit-for-purpose approach.

The methodology for writing this report began by identifying a primary research question – Is New Zealand’s current policy settings for the regulation of genetic technologies fit for purpose? Finding that it wasn’t led onto secondary questions of what a modern approach would look like for New Zealand and how this should be developed.

A wide range of sources were used to research these questions, from academic papers, primary sources such as government legislation, and publicly available reports written by scientific organisations and government departments. This research was supported by eight semi-structured interviews which aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the topic, test assumptions, and provide a range of expert views.

Key areas were identified for deeper research using peer reviewed papers. This included a focus on understanding Māori views towards genetic technologies and comparison of international regimes. Of particular interest for this report was international partners who had recently reviewed and updated their policies and the public views on this change.

New Zealand has the opportunity to develop a New Zealand-specific approach to genetic modification regulation, by taking learnings from the international context and incorporating key New Zealand values. This report outlines the principles that should underpin the development of a new regulatory regime and provides suggestions on how to proceed. It is crucial to understand that these are not exhaustive recommendations; the objective is to outline a process that should be followed and principles that should be included in any updated policy.

The initial step in this process should be gaining a deep understanding of the core values of New Zealanders. By creating a draft regulatory framework that aligns with these values, the Government can foster constructive discussions and develop a distinctively New Zealand approach that effectively balances both risks and opportunities.

This report recommends that the New Zealand Government:

• Review in detail the international context, taking learnings from what works well and what doesn’t and use these findings to develop a draft policy for consultation.
• Build on and test the work that has already done to understand the values that are important to New Zealanders with special regard to Māori views.
• Develop a New Zealand-centric policy towards the use of genetic technologies that address the priorities and incorporates the values of all New Zealanders.
• Explain how these values have been incorporated into any draft policy for consultation.
• Communicate clearly what risks have been identified and how they have been addressed, as well as the opportunities a new approach would provide.
• Develop a strong engagement package that aims to minimise the contentious nature of previous engagements. This includes the use of communicators trusted by the sector of society that you are aiming to reach.

Kiwifruit exports contribute $2.8 billion to New Zealand’s total horticultural export revenue, with Zespri International operating as the exclusive exporter and marketer. Harvesting of New Zealand grown kiwifruit can be categorised into two main groups, KiwiStart for early shipments and main pack for long-storing, later shipping supply across the remainder of the season. Growers, aiming to maximise orchard gate returns (OGR), consider taste payments, KiwiStart incentive, and time payments. These commercial incentives encourage growers to supply high-tasting fruit early and/or over an extended storage period.

KiwiStart incentives and taste payments comprise a significant proportion of grower OGRs and play a crucial role in on-orchard and harvest decisions. Time payments, distributed through packhouse pooling systems, vary among packhouses to manage storage risks and incentive, and ensure relative equity across growers. Storage pooling formats, such as 100% direct, high-risk pools, low-risk pools, and regional pools, are defined by grower councils or entities within the kiwifruit industry. The complexity of packhouse storage incentive pools diminishes the impact of published time-based payments for growers, influencing their decisions to supply fruit with sub-optimal storage potential.

Over recent seasons, growers have tended to prioritize the KiwiStart incentive and prioritize taste payments over actively seeking time-based payments – albeit some growers are unable to actually grow KiwiStart fruit (due to regional or other orchard factors). This has been a result of the relative weighting between Kiwistart and time payments, and the discrepancy between returns earned by Kiwistart and mainpack growers.

The study aimed to understand the challenges related to storage pools in the kiwifruit industry and examine how storage pool formats might influence grower behaviour regarding earning time payments. Interviews with industry leaders from packhouses, growers, and grower entities/councils were conducted, focusing on open-ended questions to generate discussions about storage pools and their impact on growers’ behaviours.

The key findings were that storage pools in the kiwifruit industry serve to shield growers from storage losses – in other words, diluting both the risk and the reward of storing fruit over the season. Although packhouses may present various pool formats/rules, there is generally no definitive advantage of one pool over another from a different packhouse. Growers would opt for a high-risk or low-risk pool depending on their financial and philosophical motivations to share the risk with other growers while aiming to maximize their OGR’s. Some growers also prefer a 100% direct pool. Industry leaders expressed a common concern that many growers lack an understanding of pool structures and associated rules.

The importance of growers comprehending these rules and their impact on returns was emphasised. From the packhouse’s perspective, grower’s pool preferences do not affect them as pooling offers flexibility for inventory management. The packhouse would utilize load-out priority models for load-out decisions regardless of the pool structure or grower preference.

From a grower’s perspective, pooling protects them from storage risk but they cannot interfere in packhouse load-out decisions. Most of the growers would prefer to be in the KiwiStart pool and accumulate as much taste payment as possible. There is also a perception that firstly growers don’t see much value in the time payments and secondly, money gets diluted by the pool, so pool structure doesn’t matter in their view. Some growers put more emphasis on taste which was sometimes at the detriment of fruit quality as they know a low-risk pool would protect them from any unintended storage losses. To some extent, the packhouse could influence grower’s behaviours by introducing pool rules around maturity. However, the packhouse also has to consider the competitive risk of losing the growers. All of the participants also agree that there is an imbalance between the KiwiStart incentive and taste payment vs time-based payments and suggested the review of the overall incentive system.

Key recommendations are summarised as follows;

• Review and rebalance the incentive system in the kiwifruit fruit industry and bring certainty to the time payments.
• Educate growers by providing technical information and tools (e.g. time payment calculator) to understand time payments, pool rules and highlight the value of growing for long-term storage.
• Introduce a sub or combination of pools to incentivize or penalize depending on fruit quality and overall losses.
• Growers should proactively provide feedback to the packhouse regarding the impact of pools on grower’s returns.

The New Zealand kiwifruit supply chain is faced with the complex challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions while continuing to grow economic value in new and existing markets around the world. As the focus on climate change continues to intensify, New Zealand grown kiwifruit must demonstrate a willingness to adapt to maintain market share and international market access.

The main objective of the report was to investigate both the current and future emission reduction efforts in the New Zealand Kiwifruit supply chain. Further, the report also sought to analyse the economic implications of implementing these emission reduction efforts. The intersection of emissions reduction and economic consequences is of significance as it demonstrates how efforts to combat global warming can lead to financial well-being and security for those involved in the industry.

Further, this report aimed to provide an objective evaluation of the global market for kiwifruit grown in New Zealand, and to outline the potential outcomes of either reducing or not reducing emissions throughout the supply chain. The scope of the report was limited to the four key segments of the supply chain within New Zealand’s jurisdiction: kiwifruit growers, post-harvest operations, Zespri, and shipping.

The methodology of the report included a literature review, seven key interviews with sustainability staff, kiwifruit growers, and government officials, and then a thematic analysis guided by the overarching principle of triangulation. The literature review provided context around the reasons and methods of emission reduction, as well as outlining the metric of eco-efficiency and what this means.

Semi structured, qualitative interviews played an important role in providing insight into the emissions reduction efforts and economic effects. The use of triangulation methodology enhanced the validity of the results and ultimately produced a more credible set of findings.

Key Findings

• Emission reduction activities are already taking place throughout the supply chain. For example, reducing fossil fuel use, fertiliser and compost use, effective waste management, installing solar power, refrigerant management, electrification, investment into technology, scope 3 influence among others. These have varying levels of success, and it isn’t always clear what the economic implications are.
• General consensus among interviewees found that emissions need to be reduced, however there is a lack of clarity regarding process and economic implications. This particularly applies to kiwifruit growers as part of the carbon neutral trial, but also for post-harvest facilities implementing emission reduction initiatives.
• Eco-efficiency is an important metric when measuring the convergence of emission reduction and economic value. One of the advantages is it can be standardised across the entire supply chain and used as a collaboration tool.
• International Trade Agreements showed a strong increase in demand for reduced embedded carbon in produce out of New Zealand. In the European Union’s case, New Zealand products must meet Paris Climate Accord obligations by 2030 or risk losing this market.
• Economic analysis yielded insight into current emission reduction activities and their economic impact, cost and payoffs. An example is the investment in electric vehicles for post-harvest facilities. Although costly up front and dependent on the electricity source, the cost-savings can be high and the payoff scope very low.
• Further research and investment into green shipping is necessary, given kiwifruit and New Zealand’s primary exports rely on maritime transport.

Recommendations

• Industry Advisory Council (IAC) to introduce eco-efficiency as a standard measure of emission reduction efficacy across the kiwifruit supply chain in the next five years.
• Zespri to adjust the Carbon Neutral Trial to provide participants with more information on future direction as well as economic benefits and drawbacks. Zespri to encourage collaboration among participants.
• Zespri, in conjunction with Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade as well as Ministry of Primary Industries to create a ‘Green Shipping Council’ in New Zealand, to proactively manage the rapidly evolving shipping environment.
• Kiwifruit stakeholders and New Zealand trade experts to advocate internationally for efforts aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the kiwifruit industry.

Background:

For generations New Zealand sheep farmers have been world leaders in the production of high-quality protein from pasture raised sheep, livestock raised with animal welfare at the forefront of their minds. For sheep to meet production targets, farmers have used anthelmintics (anti worm drench) for 60 years as a tool to control worms in sheep. However due to various management practices on farm, many drenches have lost effectiveness and now drench resistance is becoming more and more common on New Zealand farms.

Currently 27% of New Zealand sheep farmers have triple drench resistance. With only two more drench options on the market, being Zolvix and Startect, farmers are now at risk of developing resistances to these final options. Worldwide consumers demand sheep to be raised in a clean green environment with high animal welfare standards. It is critical that farmers use every tool possible to mitigate the risk of drench resistance and continue to farm sheep in a sustainable way while meeting consumer demands.

As well as animal welfare and the threat to market concerns, drench resistance presents significant financial implications to farmers. Trial work has shown a 14% reduction in potential carcass weight for sheep experiencing drench resistance. For a property marketing 4000 lambs annually, this equates to a $81,200 reduction in gross farm income from undetected drench resistance.

Methodology:

The methodology comprises of a literature review to provide insight into the current state of drench resistance on sheep farming in New Zealand. This aimed to provide a clearer understanding of what drench resistance is, what causes it and what can be recommended to farmers to mitigate the risk or how farmers can farm with it. Semi structured interviews were used to gain insights and findings from farmers and industry professionals as to what causes drench resistance and what management practices can be used to mitigate the threat or to farm with it.

Findings:

• Generally, farmers don’t invest their time into understanding drench resistance until they discover it, 90% of those interviewed didn’t understand drench resistance until it occurred on farm.
• Regardless of farming system, topography and climatic challenges, there is many different management practices that can be used to mitigate the threat of developing drench resistance or to successfully farm with it.
• As drench resistance is a scientific area, a key finding was that farmers need multiple experts such as consultants and advisors involved in the business, although this can create inconsistent advice.

Recommendations:

1. Farmers must carry out FECRT, Pre and Post drench checks to identify current worm challenge and to assess efficacy of drench.
2. Farmers need to engage support into their farming businesses from external advisors who specialize in the field of drench resistance, ideally using more than one from different companies.
3. Farmers need to implement changes to their farming system where appropriate to enable a sustainable farming business.
4. Industry professionals must drive the movement of developing more effective on farm testing for faecal egg count reduction tests, larvae culture testing, and larvae level testing in pasture.

New Zealand’s primary industry is a key economic pillar for the country, contributing 5.13% to the GDP in the year to March 2023, and exports of $57.4 billion with agriculture/horticulture contributing over $43.9 billion of those exports in the year to June 2023 (Beehive New Zealand, 2023), and there is a goal to boost sector exports to $100 billion within the next decade (Ministry for Primary Industries, 2020). The workforce to support the agriculture/horticulture sector has consistently had approximately 145,000 people over the past five years, but at the end of 2022, there was a 19,000-worker shortage. The days of relying on skilled workers from overseas to fill the vacancies has reduced so there needs to be a focus on building a local workforce pipeline and this starts in the education sector.

This report “Who’s Next – How is New Zealand’s secondary school education system supporting the pathway to a career in agriculture/horticulture?” examines New Zealand’s secondary school education system’s effectiveness in guiding students towards careers in agriculture/horticulture to address employment shortages and meet future export targets and prevent negative impacts on New Zealand’s global brand.

The report involves a literature review on educational pathways in New Zealand’s secondary schools, focusing on agriculture/horticulture careers. It includes reviewing reports both in New Zealand and Australia on similar topics, case studies and surveys with key stakeholders and teachers.

Key findings:

New Zealand’s secondary education pathway has a solid foundation offering agriculture/horticulture science as a subject in the NCEA and some strong supporting programmes. However, only 4% of students choose agriculture/horticulture subjects.

This report identifies potential areas for increasing student numbers, particularly in major city centres where 14.5% of secondary schools in Auckland, 23% in Wellington, and 49% in Christchurch offer agriculture/horticulture as a subject option.

Whilst there is a strong foundation, growth is hindered by roadblocks identified in the literature review, case studies, and teacher surveys from secondary schools in New Zealand and Australia and the below themes are what the agriculture/horticulture education sector requires to assist in creating a stronger pathway for students to select a career in agriculture/horticulture:

• Need for Collaboration: The education sector is seeking collaboration from the government, industry bodies, and the education sector to simplify the educational pathway.
• Lack of Resources: A centralised resource centre wanted by the education sector that is up to date with industry resources to utilise for course planning, teaching and upskilling of teachers.
• Shortage of Teachers: A simplified pathway to encourage more teachers to choose a career in teaching agriculture/horticulture from within the school and primary sectors, including funding.
• Perception of Agriculture: Misconceptions of the industry and agriculture/horticulture courses being perceived as a “dummies or easy” course needs to be changed to assist in obtaining more students.
• Financial Constraints: Limited funding spread thinly across numerous programmes is restricting student numbers growth. Funding is required to retain/train teachers and provide New Zealand on-farm/orchard specific resource material.

Recommendations:

Recommendations to help grow a stronger educational pathway in agriculture/horticulture are:

• Re-establish an ‘Industry Working Group’ to enable collaboration across the educational and industry sectors, driven by Kellogg Alumni to assist in its establishment.
• Establish a ‘centralised managed resource centre’ for planning, teaching and upskilling of teachers, overseen by Industry Working Group with assistance from MOE and industry organisations/businesses.
• Investigate the creation of a graduate qualification for teachers in industry systems and processes with MOE and a graduate qualification in basic teaching skills for skilled industry people who wish to give back to the industry.
• Implement a ‘Sponsor an existing teacher’ programme to upskill in agriculture/horticulture by industry organisations/businesses.
• Personally wish to implement an in-school career education programme “Urban Heart, Rural Soul: embracing agriculture/horticulture” focussing on main city centres’ secondary schools.