2020 Programme Update 2020 scholars were just starting Day 1 of their Contemporary Scholars Conference (CSC) and their 15-month programme with 70 other international scholars in Australia when the government announced new border and arrival measures. The scholars decided to return home the next day and the CSC programme was eventually cancelled three days later
Cameron Henderson (2019 Nuffield Scholar) used his Nuffield Scholarship to explore links between agriculture and energy and how technology can work to harness farmed energy sources including waste matter to supply national energy needs. Read the full Farmers Weekly article. Listen to the interview on Sarah’s Country (12th May 2020). Click here to read Cameron’s
Is Roundup our friend or foe? For more than 40 years glyphosate has been an invaluable chemical weapon in farmers’ arsenal as a low-residue, safe and simple weed control enabling greater flexibility and less soil disturbance. Canterbury arable farmer Hamish Marr devoted his Nuffield Scholarship to examining how glyphosate fell from grace in the public
Are farmers equipped to deal with social judgement? In this podcast interview on ‘Unpopular Farmer’, 2019 Nuffield Scholar, Corrigan Sowman talks about his Nuffield experience and how ‘Social License’ prompted his research topic – ‘Farming in a Pressure Cooker: How pressure impacts farmer decision making.’ Corrigan’s research started off as a technical problem and ended
Ryan O’Sullivan: Nuffield Farming Scholarship recipient (2017) – Major shareholder with wife Tina in a farm equity partnership, Fairlie, South Canterbury Nuffield farming scholarships focus on the international perspective – where New Zealand fits in the global agri-food sector and what’s driving things. Through my scholarship travels and research, I’ve learned New Zealand is very
Media Release, 8 January 2020 The New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust is pleased to announce the appointment of Chris Parsons, MNZM, DSD as their new Chief Executive Officer. Chris Parsons will replace Anne Hindson on 04 May 2020, following her stepping down as General Manager at end of April. “We were thrilled by the quality
Our final E newsletter for the year is slightly later than planned and will hit you as you are winding down for the Xmas break. We hope that this later timing might mean you have some holiday reading!! With the year now completed for the Nuffield Scholarships and the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programmes, focus is
WE ARE not alone as New Zealand farmers, feeling the weight of change bearing down on us. It is a global trend. It has many different, complex drivers but two stand out – consumers’ willingness to pay for sustainability and farmers ability to capture it. The resulting pressure is evident in a recent survey of
PRICES are good and interest rates are low but farmers’ moods are down because the regulatory pressure gives them little hope for the future. Researchers are furiously searching for more sustainable ways of farming food and fibre but what if there was a whole new sector that could provide a light at the end of
THERE is an increasing breakdown in the communications between young and older farmers and both are struggling to get what they want and need out of conversations. We have a generation of farmers raised by parents who lived through World War II, which shaped their childhoods and where no one spoke about the emotional stuff
FARMING the world over as much as the context, production and scale vary, shows, as the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. After nearly six months on the road of my Nuffield journey I was struck by the similarities across continents and farming systems. So many of the issues
AFTER almost half of this year travelling the world there are a lot of thoughts in my head regarding agriculture and farming. The biggest take-home for me is the universal problem of people wanting what they haven’t got simply through believing the grass is always greener over the fence and genuinely not understanding agriculture and
2 December 2019 Well done to Lucy Griffiths who was recently appointed by Minister Damien O’Connor to the independent Investment Advisory Panel (IAP) for Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures (SFF Futures). The advisory panel provides independent expert advice on both funding proposals and active programmes in NZ’s food and fibre industries. There is a $40
29th November 2019 Mat Hocken was announced as the 2019 Rabobank Emerging Leader at the Rabobank Leadership Awards on Thursday night (28th November). Our congratulations go out to Mat who is the first kiwi to receive this award! The Rabobank Leadership Awards are held annually recognising the contribution of leaders from across New Zealand and
14th November 2019 Ben McLauchlan, from Marlborough has been awarded a Nuffield Scholarship and has plans to study how to help agriculture reduce its use of fossil fuels. Read more about Ben’s Scholarship research plans over the next 12 months . Find out more about Nuffield NZ Farming Scholarships
Media Release, Tuesday, 5th November 2019 Waikato based, Dairy Environment Leader, Dairy Farmer and recently appointed Dairy NZ board member, Tracy Brown is one of five scholars from across industry sectors awarded a Nuffield NZ Scholarship. The scholarships were announced on Tuesday, 5th November at parliament by Hon Stuart Nash, Minister of Police, Fisheries, Revenue, and Small
The GFP has raised more questions than were answered of my understanding of global agriculture, but my understanding and empathy of the situations in which these questions are formed has expanded immensely.
Reflecting on six weeks traveling around the world with our China GFP group and the opportunity to contrast Asia, Europe and America, I am struck not by the differences between countries or continents but more importantly the similarities.
The GFP experience highlighted to me the diversity in opportunities and challenges that exist in agriculture around the world. Ultimately most agricultural markets were trying to do two things – at a macro level, feed 9 billion mouths by 2050 while at a micro level, add value to produce to generate greater profitability. And achieve both while minimising environmental impact.
Enthusiasm for a digital future key asset for Dairy Women’s trustee role 1 July 2019 Enthusiasm for a digital future is a key asset Auckland based tech enthusiast Sophie Stanley feels she can bring to the Dairy Women’s Network as the newest member of its trust board. “I’ve worked with the Dairy Women’s Network in the
New Zealand farmers are “more environmentally engaged” than their European counterparts, a North Canterbury dairy farmer says. Cam Henderson, who farms in Oxford, has just returned from eight weeks visiting the US, Mexico, Brazil and the Netherlands as part of an agricultural scholarship programme. Expecting the Netherlands to be ahead of New Zealand on environmental protection, he found they were
The government has introduced a Research and Development (“R&D”) Tax Incentive, to support and further promote R&D in NZ businesses. The R&D Bill has passed its first reading in Parliament and we expect legislation to be enacted in May/June this year, allowing businesses to access, and make the most of the incentive from the start
It is with great sadness that I share the news that 2000 Nuffield Scholar and former Chairman of Fonterra, John Wilson passed away aged only 54yrs. He is survived by his wife Belinda and four daughters, Sophie, Victoria and twins Tessa and Libby. In July last year, John made the difficult decision to step down
