Rural Leaders News Archives

Hopkins family’s long history of support for Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholars.

One of the most memorable moments of the Nuffield New Zealand 75th Anniversary Dinner, held in Wellington last year, was a heartfelt announcement from the Hopkins family, reaffirming a long history of generosity that has supported the programme and its scholars for decades.

John Hopkins, a 1979 Nuffield Scholar, often spoke of the life-changing impact the scholarship had on him. Together with his wife, Elaine (both pictured above), he became a longstanding supporter of Nuffield, giving generously to ensure others could benefit from the same opportunity.

John passed away in 2022, and Elaine, who continued to champion the programme following his death, sadly passed away in September 2025 after a short illness. Their generosity has already helped shape the journeys of future leaders, including through the scholarship they funded for Ben Anderson’s Nuffield experience in 2021.

Representing the family at the anniversary dinner were John and Elaine’s son, Andrew Hopkins, and granddaughter, Chelsea Hopkins. In a moving address, Chelsea announced that the Hopkins family would once again support a Nuffield Scholar, continuing the family’s commitment to developing New Zealand’s future agricultural leaders.

That generous gift was awarded to Canterbury dairy farmer Jared Clarke, who is currently completing his 2026 Nuffield Scholarship.

(2026 Nuffield Scholars Clare Bradley, Kelly Heckler, Tracey Perkins, and Jared Clarke pictured below).

Reflecting on the evening following the celebration, Chelsea said:

“My grandfather, John Hopkins, was a proud Nuffield Scholar. I have fond memories of him telling me how the scholarship transformed him and the lasting impact it had on his life.

To give back to the programme that gave us so much, we are pleased to have provided a scholarship for 2026 Nuffield Scholars to support the next generation of agricultural leaders.

Being a part of the Nuffield 75th celebration was super special for Dad and I. It was a reminder that life’s moments, although sometimes small, can have big impacts.”

Chelsea’s announcement was warmly received by those gathered in Wellington and served as a fitting tribute to John and Elaine’s enduring belief in the power of leadership, learning and giving back.

Through their generosity, the Hopkins family have helped scholars such as Ben Anderson and Jared Clarke pursue opportunities that will benefit not only their own leadership journeys, but also New Zealand’s food and fibre sector for years to come.

(Chelsea Hopkins with father, Andrew Hopkins at last years’ 75th Nuffield dinner, Wellington).

Nuffield and the global perspective.

Our four 2026 Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholars are gaining first-hand insights into the future of global food and fibre systems as they travel through Europe, Asia and Africa as part of the Nuffield Global Focus Programme (GFP) and their independent study tours.

For Jared Clarke, Clare Bradley, Kelly Heckler and Tracey Perkins, the journey has been far more than a study tour. It has challenged assumptions, expanded global networks and exposed them to the opportunities and pressures shaping agriculture worldwide.

Seeing agriculture through a global lens.
Although each scholar is following a different research pathway, several common themes are emerging.

In Indonesia, Kelly Heckler and Tracey Perkins reflected on the importance of understanding the people behind agricultural systems. Rather than viewing countries simply as export markets, they described gaining a deeper appreciation of the cultures and communities that shape food production.

Kelly was struck by an intensive food system focused on feeding a large population, where efficiency and minimising waste are essential. Tracey too, observed that understanding people is as important as understanding production systems.

Innovation driving change.
Innovation has been a consistent theme throughout the tours. Jared Clarke’s independent travel has focused on energy and technology. Across Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, Spain and France he explored renewable energy systems, hydrogen projects, anaerobic digestion, large-scale horticulture and highly automated farming businesses.

His visits demonstrated both the rapid pace of technological change and the influence of government policy on investment decisions. Declining solar costs, advances in automation and increasing energy independence are reshaping many farming businesses.

Germany offered similar lessons for Tracey Perkins, who visited regenerative forestry operations, research farms, machinery manufacturers, biofuel facilities and globally recognised food companies. She described the diversity of innovation as a reminder of what is possible when businesses continuously adapt and invest.

Jared also highlighted several New Zealand companies developing world-leading hydrogen and electric transport technologies, reinforcing that innovation is equally strong at home.

Different systems, shared challenges.
Travelling through countries with vastly different production systems highlighted that there are many successful ways to farm.

In Zimbabwe, Clare Bradley said the experience challenged many of her assumptions. She was impressed by the collective impact of thousands of smallholder farmers and by innovative, low-capital farming systems designed to improve resilience while working alongside natural ecosystems.

In Ireland, Kelly Heckler explored advances in genetics, methane-reducing forage research and practical use of farm data. She also reflected on Ireland’s confidence as a premium food-exporting nation, suggesting there are valuable lessons for New Zealand.

Beyond the farm gate.
Across Belgium, Ireland and the United Kingdom, discussions regularly extended beyond farming itself.

Meetings with agricultural organisations, universities and policy leaders examined trade, gene editing, environmental regulation, traceability and the future of food production.

Tracey Perkins described the Nuffield Ireland Triennial and AgriSummit as valuable opportunities to explore agriculture through the lens of geopolitics and changing global economics.

Kelly Heckler also noted warnings from international leaders about emerging global food security pressures, reinforcing the importance of long-term planning and collaboration.

The strength of the Nuffield network.
Throughout their travels, each scholar highlighted the generosity of hosts and the strength of the international Nuffield network.

From family farms and research institutions to agribusinesses and New Zealand embassies, the willingness to openly share ideas and experiences continues to be one of the programme’s defining strengths.

Emerging insights.
While each scholar is pursuing a different research topic, several themes are already becoming clear:

Innovation is accelerating, with technology transforming agriculture across energy, genetics, automation and food production.
Local context matters, with successful farming systems reflecting each country’s unique climate, culture and policy settings.
Resilience is built through diversity, with flexible businesses and healthy ecosystems better equipped to manage future challenges.
Global policy increasingly influences local farming, shaping competitiveness through trade, regulation and environmental standards.
Strong relationships remain agriculture’s greatest asset, with knowledge sharing and international collaboration driving better outcomes.

The four 2026 scholars have been on their GFP’s at different times, but here is the latest update:

Tracey – Has just visited France, Italy and Belgium and is on a plane 17 July to Ireland. Then home until October before heading to Italy.

Kelly – Currently back in NZ. Heads away again in September and back home early November. Away again in November.

Jared – Back in NZ as of 16 July after being in the US for the last ten days.

Clare – Currently in Queensland, but back in NZ 17 July.

Beyond the orchard: Simon Cook on biosecurity, leadership and seeing the bigger picture.

Listen to this episode of Ideas that Grow, or click on one of the platform icons below to listen on your favourite player:

In this Ideas that Grow Podcast. From surviving PSA to studying biosecurity around the world, Simon Cook, 2018 Nuffield Scholar, shares how stepping beyond the farm gate broadened his perspective, strengthened his leadership, and reinforced the importance of preparing industries for tomorrow’s challenges.

Episode Transcript

Bryan Gibson, Managing Editor Farmers Weekly, 2025 Kellogg Scholar.
You’ve joined the Ideas That Grow podcast, brought to you by Rural Leaders. In this series, we’ll be drawing on insights from innovative rural leaders to help plant ideas that grow so our regions can flourish

Ideas That Grow is presented in association with Farmers Weekly. Welcome to Ideas That Grow, the Rural Leaders podcast. I’m your host, Bryan Gibson, Managing Editor of the Farmers Weekly, and this week on the show, we are joined by 2018 Nuffield Scholar, Simon Cook. G’day, Simon, how are you?

Simon Cook, Nuffield Scholar (2018), Grower, Horticulture NZ Board member.
Good, thanks, Bryan. Glad to join you.

BG: So you’re, in the horticulture industry growing avocados and kiwifruit up in the Bay of Plenty.

SC: My family have been on this property since 1950, so I’m third generation in my family growing kiwifruit. On this orchard and yeah, also grow a small area of avocados.

BG: You know, if we think about how you got into this game, you were kind of born into it.

SC: Yeah, the family been involved in it long term through my dad. We didn’t actually live on the property when I was young. I grew up elsewhere with dad having commercial roles. So I went through university, did a business degree and spent 4 years working in food industry primarily in Auckland. And yeah, then had an opportunity to get out of Auckland and go back to rural life and jumped at it.

BG: Tell us a little bit about the growing operation you have at the moment.

SC: We have 5 hectares of kiwifruit. There’s half a hectare of the gold variety, 4.5 of the green variety, and 0.3 hectares of avocado. So just a small size operation.

From Family Orchard to Industry Leadership

BG: Your time is also taken up by a fair bit of governance and industry body administration.

SC: Yeah, I think it came from, I guess, having that commercial background to start with. And so I’ve always been interested in what happens past the farm gate, the industry as a whole, and particularly this supply chain. And so yeah, I always had an interest in being involved in the wider industry and what happens beyond the farm gate in particular. So that kind of got me started on that path of governance, I guess, a long time ago.

BG: At the moment you’re on the Horticulture New Zealand board?

SC: Yeah, joined Horticulture New Zealand’s board about a year ago. I’d spent 10 years on Kiwifruit Industries equivalent KGI. So spent a lot of time in living organisations that that work on behalf of growers or farmers doing advocacy roles.

BG: Those levy bodies, they play a really important role in, you know, driving a sector forward, advocating on behalf of, you know, growers and processors, that sort of thing.

SC: Oh, they’re absolutely critical. And yeah, just every industry has some sort of advocacy body that works on behalf of farmers or growers. So yeah, I’ve had the opportunity to sit on a couple of them now.

Why Nuffield? Broadening Perspectives Beyond the Farm Gate

BG: You went through the Nuffield Programme in 2018. What interested you in committing to that?

SC: That’s going back a wee way now. I’m just trying to think what it was that really got me going. I think it was an opportunity that had been discussed within the industry. So the industry had talked about Nuffield in the past, and I guess I was at a time of my life where it was a good opportunity to look at something like Nuffield.

We were, as an industry, just starting to grow again. You know, we’ve been through some bad times with PSA, with the biosecurity incursion in our industry, and we’ve kind of evolved through that, had got through that, and we’re just starting to build again. And yeah, it just was a good time for me to look at something different. And Nuffield was an opportunity to travel the world and look at different practices.

It’s an opportunity to get outside of your industry as well. So, I mean, we get so hemmed in with our own industry, with what’s happening day to day, and you know, you kind of sit there with a lens which doesn’t go beyond your own industry a lot of the time.

Nuffield was really a chance to, I guess, break out of that and to look at, um, different agriculture industries and really see, you know, where we fit in the world and what we can learn from other people.

BG: And you mentioned the big challenge the kiwifruit sector had with the PSA incursion. You chose to take a look at biosecurity as your topic.

Lessons from PSA and Global Biosecurity

SC: Yeah, so when PSA hit our industry, I actually lived about a kilometre from where it started here in Te Puke. So we were kind of right in the middle of it, right from the start. And at that stage we were spraying contractors. So we were, I guess, one of the front lines for helping people and supporting people. So we got dragged in very early, very early on by MPI to work on their behalf and the response.

I guess that was my first introduction to biosecurity, being part of it, being on the front line of it. So it, that I guess really triggered an interest for me and It developed from there. It knocked our industry heavily and it was gutting to see, you know, a lot of the customers we’ve had, a lot of the guys we worked with very closely taking chainsaws to their orchards and you’d go around and what used to be a lovely flourishing orchard, um, was just stumps because it had all been chain sawed off. And in those days you were kind of wondering whether there was a future in our industry. That was that bad for a while.

And so looking at it as a spray contractor in the kiwifruit industry, I was a very good spray contractor in a kiwifruit industry, but if there’s no kiwifruit industry, then you don’t have much of a business plan. So looked at it and decided, well, you know, you can focus on yourself and focus on your own business and be the best, you know, at your own business.

But if your industry fails, then you’re done for. Or you can try and support industry, grow industry, and make sure the industry’s still there. And then as a portion of it, you know, your own business will carry on. And so that was kind of where I stepped outside of our contracting business. I put in a manager and went to work for KVH, which was the biosecurity body and did tech transfer for them and worked for them for a couple of years on the ground effectively.

BG: And during that year of the Nuffield program, you know, where did you go? What sort of things caught your eye?

SC: I mean, there’s two components to it really. There’s the travel that you do as a group, which is the global, you know, eye-opening one where you get to see all kinds of fascinating things. And, you know, one day you’re somewhere like, uh, Dubai looking at a fish farm in the middle of a desert, you know, and the next day you’re on a dairy farm in France and then, you know, a potato field in Alabama.

It’s just all kinds of really different things, different ways of, what people are doing all around agriculture, but really does open your eyes up to the breadth of what our industry is.

It does take you away from your own little world. And yeah, it gives you that opportunity to look much wider. And then later on you do your focus travel. That gave me the opportunity to go and look at a number of different biosecurity incursions around the world and study what had happened there and what had gone wrong and how they were recovering from it. And that was really eye-opening. The one I really remember was going through Florida.

The citrus industry in Florida has been devastated by citrus greening. It’s one of their worst pests. And going back into seeing orchards over there that all that’s left is a stump. You know, that always took me back to the days of PSA back here in Te Puke and how devastating that was.

Seeing an industry that, you know, this was 10 years after it had hit that area, they were still at the stage of trying to get stumps to grow again. And so it was really reinforcing me how lucky we were as a Kiwifruit industry to have recovered as well as we did. We were extremely lucky.

We had a tolerant variety that enabled us to get through PSA, but it was sheer luck built on a fantastic breeding programme, but it was sheer luck that we had this tolerant variety and we could recover. But yeah, you go and visit an industry like that that just hasn’t been able to recover. And it really brought home to me just how lucky we were, how privileged we were.

BG: A lot of people I talk to for this podcast, you know, going away, they kind of have these You mentioned the widening of the horizon of your experience through the programme. And a lot of people have these, you know, light bulb moments. And it seems to me that might be one for you.

Just people face the same things, you know, whether it’s the oranges in Florida or the PSA here, and everyone wants to recover as quickly as possible, but the way people do it can be very different.

SC: You look at Florida, there used to be 100 post-harvest facilities. There’s 10 left. This whole industry, it was a $9 billion industry that’s about a tenth of what it used to be. And so if our industry had not recovered the way we would, we wouldn’t have a kiwifruit industry in New Zealand. We pretty much would have disappeared as well. Instead we’re now, about $6 billion turnover and leading horticulture within New Zealand. And so, you know, fantastic success story, but it could have easily been the opposite.

It does really wake you up and remind you, you know, just how much of a risk biosecurity is and how quickly things like that can turn.

BG: And of course, you know, while PSA was a massive challenge here, you know, the next version of PSA could just be around the corner, couldn’t it?

SC: That was probably one of the strengths of the kiwifruit industry now with KVH, Kiwifruit Vine Health, is that we start to look at what’s next. Most of these other organisations I’ve looked at, or industries, they’re still facing the threat that they had to start with and they haven’t ever been able to get past that. Because we were able to get on top of and live with PSA to an extent, it still causes problems and we still have to manage it, but we can live with it.

But it then got us into that situation as an industry where we could look ahead and say, alright, we’ve kind of got past this. What’s next? What could the next thing be? And we’d been caught horribly with our pants down as an industry when PSA arrived. We weren’t prepared at all for it.

Now we’ve actually got a specialist organisation whose role it is to look ahead, look at what the threats are, and to prepare plans. So if something does arrive, at least we know how we’re going to react and what we’re going to do about it.

BG: It’s almost a case of you get wounded, the wound heals, and that scar tissue makes you a bit stronger for next time around.

SC: Absolutely, yeah. And it’s one of the few industries that actually has got into that space of looking ahead and, you know, thinking what’s next and preparing plans. And it does make it a much stronger industry for that.

The Lasting Value of the Nuffield Alumni Network

BG: Just more broadly about the Nuffield programme, obviously both personally you get a lot out of it, your industry learns a lot from what you discover, but there’s also, I guess, the cohort you’re with, the people you meet along the way, that’s a big part of what makes Nuffield so rewarding.

SC: So, you know, I still have probably 3 or 4 different scholars from all around the world come and visit and stay with me every year wanting to understand the Kiwifruit industry. And I get the opportunity to introduce these people to my industry and show them around. It’s really rewarding for me because, you know, I love my industry.

I’m extremely proud of what we have and what we’ve achieved as an industry. And so the opportunity to share that with people from all around the world, you know, to me is fantastic. And I get to meet scholars from all kinds of different walks of life and just, once again, talking with them, learning from them, understanding what they’re going through.

It’s a fascinating part of it. It’s just that ongoing relationships that you do have within Nuffield New Zealand, within Horticulture New Zealand. Our current (HortNZ) CE is Kate Scott, who was a 2018 Nuffield Scholar with me. So, you know, that was actually part of what attracted me to wanting to be a director there was the opportunity to work with Kate again, because I’ve got a huge amount of respect for her.

BG: It seems evident that the Nuffield programme seemed to have been, in part at least, a catalyst from you moving from that sort of micro, within the fences of your own block of land sort of thinking, to that more macro, good of the industry, go and see the world, let’s solve the big problems together. That seems to have been part of, you know, what kicked that off for you.

SC: Yeah, it’s a big part of it Bryan. And you need something like Nuffield to actually kick you out of your comfort zone and kick you out of what you’re doing. It’s a fantastic way of taking the blinkers off and showing you the opportunities and where you fit in. It was fantastic for that.

Stepping Back to Lead Better

BG: The Nuffield programme, it’s a big ask of people. You know, you kind of take a year off work. There’s probably a lot of people out there who maybe people have, you know, tapped them on the shoulder and thought, maybe give this a thought. And, you know, most people probably think ‘oh, I’m not ready’. What would you say to them?

SC: I think it’s one of the common sayings, isn’t it? If you’re too busy to do a Nuffield, then you’re the person that we want. If you’re heavily involved in what you’re doing and you’ve got a passion for what you’re doing, then those are the people that really are the ones that should do Nuffield.

It does take a lot of planning and a lot of support from other people. So for me, I left 3 young kids at home with my wife while I was travelling, had an orchard that I had to put manager into, a contracting business that I had to put a manager into.

There’s a lot of stuff you’ve got to do to be able to step back yourself. But it’s also a good thing to do because by being able to step back, you can actually then look at your own businesses and work out what you’re doing.

When you’re in a business and you’re firefighting every day, you don’t get to see the big picture and you don’t get to kind of look at the opportunities – and wider. You know, my dad and I, when we had our contracting business, we were so focused on our business and it was, you know, everything that we were doing.

We were so involved in it. And eventually we actually got an industry consultant, Mike Miller, who was a huge part of our industry for a long time. And we actually got him in for some coaching for the two of us. And he sat my dad down and basically Mike was very blunt with people. So you either liked Mike or you didn’t, because he told it to you exactly what he thought. And he was great.

He told us that that’s exactly what we needed to do – was to step back from our business. And actually take the opportunity to organise it, to plan it, you know, to see what was happening, to look at opportunities rather than just being in it firefighting every day. And so we’d had that kick in the ass, you know, 20 years ago from Mike. And that was, yeah, kind of reinforced.

So we started to put a few structures in, like getting a manager in to take some of the load off us. And that kind of really built on with Nuffield being able to step back for that long. It is something that people do need coaching on and probably do need support on when they start that Nuffield journey is how to step back.

And it’s probably something as a Nuffield cohort, we probably could be doing more of to support new Nuffielders into how to do that. It is a big part of what you’re doing because we all have farms, orchards, et cetera, that we’re all flat out running. And to be able to step out of that for a year is not easy.

BG: Part of being a good leader though is knowing, being able to see that big picture and also being able to trust people to do that firefighting for you.

SC: And it’s probably why a lot of us ended up with better organisations after we’ve done something like Nuffield, because of those structures that we’ve kind of been pushed into doing.

BG: Thanks for listening to Ideas That Grow, a Rural Leaders podcast presented in Thanks for listening to Ideas That Grow, a Rural Leaders’ podcast presented in association with Farmers Weekly. For more information on Rural Leaders, the Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarship, the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, the Horticulture New Zealand Leadership Programme and the Value Chain Innovation Programme, please visit ruralleaders.co.nz

Alumni in the Spotlight – Jon Pemberton, Nick Pridgeon, Sandra Faulkner, James Allen and more.

Here are just a few of the media pieces covering the impact of Rural Leaders’ Programme Alumni in industries and communities across the sector.

Jon Pemberton

Jon Pemberton (2025 Nuffield).
Southland dairy farmers Birgit and Jon Pemberton are converting a neighbouring sheep farm to expand their dairy platform, aiming for a simpler, more resilient and environmentally responsible system.

The project includes new infrastructure, larger herd capacity and improved wintering facilities, while reducing operational risk and supporting long-term productivity, sustainability and confidence in the future of dairying.

Separately, the Pemberton’s opened their farm recently hosting a major on-farm DairyNZ field day and showcase in Southland. Their field day covered the practicalities of dairy farm conversion, expansion, and system redesign.

Take a read of the Rural Life article here.

James Allen

James Allen (2023 Nuffield).
AgFirst Chief Executive James Allen is urging dairy farmers not to base this season’s plans on last year’s exceptional growing conditions. Instead, he recommends budgeting feed for an average season, securing supplements early and reassessing conditions by December 1 using soil moisture as a key indicator.

With El Niño increasing drought risk, particularly in Canterbury and eastern regions, Allen says farmers should have contingency plans ready and make early decisions if conditions deteriorate.

Take a read of the full article here from Rural News this week.

Sandra Faulkner

Sandra Faulkner (2012 Nuffield).
Newly elected Federated Farmers Vice President Sandra Faulkner says sweeping government reforms must provide certainty for farmers and reflect rural communities’ needs.

She stresses the importance of rural input into changes affecting local government, freshwater and resource management, saying long-term certainty is essential for farm businesses.

Faulkner also calls for cross-party support on emergency management and infrastructure, highlighting reliable roads, telecommunications and connectivity as critical for rural resilience, safety and productivity.

Take a read of the full article here in Rural News this week.

Harriet Bremner and Ed Pinckney

Harriet Bremner and Ed Pinckney (2020 Nuffield).
Ed Pinckney and Harriet Bremner appeared on Country Calendar in mid-June. Ed and Harriet run the 1500ha Jericho Station in Blackmount, Western Southland.

Andy Thompson says ‘…it’s a great piece of television.” If you’re signed up for TVNZ+, you can watch the episode here.

Harriet also appeared on CountryWide Connect with Sarah Perriam-Lampp and Andy Thompson on July 8. Harriet discussed, among other things, what it was like for her and Ed to appear on Country Calendar.

On the experience Harriet said, “I think a lot of people don’t realise that you don’t get to pre-watch the episode, so when the rest of the country sees it for the first time, you also see it for the first time,” she says.

“We were really pleasantly surprised, and felt that they delivered a really balanced programme.”

You can view the CountryWide Connect episode here.

Nick Pridgeon

Nick Pridgeon (Current Kellogg Scholar)
Bay of Plenty horticulture professional Nick Pridgeon has joined the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, supported by a Zespri scholarship.

The senior orchard manager with Pivot Hort hopes to strengthen his leadership skills, broaden his perspective beyond the kiwifruit industry and build valuable rural networks.

Nick plans to apply the programme’s learning to support colleagues, improve orchard performance and contribute to New Zealand’s horticulture sector.

Take a read of the July 16 Sunlive article here.

Kate Tomlinson

Kate Tomlinson (2026 Kellogg).
Kate Tomlinson, 2025 Mackenzie Charitable Foundation Scholarship winner, spoke to Bryan Gibson Managing Editor at Farmers Weekly for our Ideas that Grow Podcast recently.

Kate shared her journey from a UK farm to New Zealand, where Kate now blends practical farming with sustainability and data insights in her role with Map of Ag.

Take a read of the Farmers Weekly article, or listen to the podcast here.

Jim van der Poel

Jim van der Poel (2002 Nuffield).
The Primary Industries New Zealand Summit and Awards took place several weeks ago, bringing together leading voices from across farming and the wider primary sector.

This year’s Summit focused on the insights, analysis, and debates shaping how we navigate future challenges and opportunities.

The Awards recognised the following Rural Leaders programme alumni (and a few friends of Rural Leaders too):

Congratulations to Jim van der Poel (Nuffield 2002), winner of the Outstanding Contribution to NZ’s Primary Industries Award.

Congratulations also to Kate Acland, Chair of Rural Leaders Programme Partner B+LNZ, on being named Rural Woman of the Year, a well-deserved recognition.

Sandra Faulkner (Nuffield 2012) was a finalist for the award.

Hamish Marr (Nuffield 2019) was a finalist for Agricultural Communicator of the Year, alongside Dom George (Rural Exchange), with Jamie Mackay taking out the award.

The research reports and collective insights from Kellogg Programme One 2026.

Each of The Kellogg Programme One K55 reports represent extraordinary effort from the scholars. Each explores a topical sector challenge or opportunity and in doing so makes a valuable contribution to the sector.

Collectively, they provide an even more compelling perspective on the opportunities, challenges and capabilities required to strengthen New Zealand’s food and fibre sector.

Across diverse topics including artificial intelligence, succession, governance, animal welfare, food security, Māori agribusiness, workforce diversity, technology adoption and sustainability, a consistent message emerges from this Kellogg cohort:

The future competitiveness of New Zealand agriculture will not be determined by technology alone. It will be determined by the capability of people, the strength of relationships, the quality of leadership and the resilience of the systems that support them.

Innovation features strongly throughout the research, but the reports consistently position technology as an enabler rather than an end goal. Artificial intelligence, digital learning, wearable technologies, genetics, automation and data analytics all offer significant opportunities. However, their value depends on the ability of people and organisations to interpret information, make informed decisions, adapt effectively and maintain trust.

The collective Kellogg research also identifies a fundamental shift in how success is defined. The sector is moving beyond a focus on production optimisation towards a broader model of stewardship, one that balances profitability with environmental responsibility, community wellbeing, cultural identity and intergenerational resilience.

Perhaps the strongest collective message is that trust remains New Zealand agriculture’s greatest strategic asset. Trust underpins export reputation, assurance systems, farmer-adviser relationships, workforce engagement, cooperative models and community confidence.

Protecting and strengthening trust must therefore remain central to future sector strategy.

Taken together, the K55 cohort research suggests that the next era of success will be created through:

Capable people + enabling leadership + trusted relationships + resilient systems + purposeful innovation.

New Zealand’s food and fibre sector is entering a new era where competitive advantage will come not from production alone, but from the ability to combine innovation with capable people, trusted relationships, adaptive leadership and resilient systems.

The future challenge is no longer simply how we produce more. It’s how we build a sector capable of creating enduring value for farmers, communities, markets, whenua, and future generations.

Take a look at the ten collective insights from this cohort’s Kellogg reports below.

1. People remain the sector’s greatest competitive advantage.

Across almost every report, the same conclusion emerges: technology will not replace the need for capable people, it will increase it. Future success requires people who can:

Interpret information.
Exercise judgement.
Build relationships.
Lead change.
Collaborate effectively.
Make complex decisions.

The sector’s future productivity gains will come as much from developing people as developing technology.

2. Technology creates value only when people are ready to use it.

AI, automation, digital learning, sensors and data systems appear throughout the research as significant opportunities. However, the reports consistently identify that adoption depends on:

Capability.
Confidence.
Leadership.
Practical implementation.
Trust.

The challenge is not access to technology; it is ensuring the sector has the capability to turn technology into improved outcomes.

3. Leadership is shifting from expertise to enablement.

Traditional agricultural leadership has often been built around technical knowledge and experience. The reports highlight a leadership model based on:

Developing others.
Creating psychological safety.
Facilitating collaboration.
Navigating uncertainty.
Supporting adaptation.

The future leader is not necessarily the person with all the answers, but the person who enables others to succeed.

4. Long-term stewardship is replacing short-term optimisation.

Across succession, Māori agribusiness, governance, food security and environmental research, the reports challenge short-term thinking. They highlight the importance of decisions that consider:

Future generations.
Resilience.
Environmental outcomes.
Community wellbeing.
Business sustainability.

The strongest organisations will optimise not just for today, but for those who follow.

5. Trust is New Zealand’s most valuable rural asset.

Trust appears as a foundation across almost every report. It enables:

International market confidence.
Assurance credibility.
Strong employment relationships.
Effective governance.
Cooperative success.
Community engagement and participation.

New Zealand’s competitive advantage is not based on scale; it is based on confidence in the integrity of the system.

6. Strong systems outperform individual effort.

Many reports identify challenges caused by relying on exceptional individuals rather than building enduring systems. Future resilience requires:

Better governance structures.
Stronger career pathways.
Improved succession planning.
Integrated assurance systems.
Coordinated industry approaches.
Knowledge transfer.

Sustainable success requires systems that continue working beyond individual champions.

7. Financial capability underpins business resilience.

Several reports identify financial literacy as a critical but underdeveloped capability. This affects:

Farm succession.
Ownership transition.
Investment decisions.
Profitability.
Debt management.

The sector needs to increasingly view farming as a business requiring financial capability, not simply an asset-building activity.

8. Diversity will strengthen future performance.

The sector is becoming more diverse:

Culturally.
Generationally.
Professionally.
Through different forms of leadership.

The reports demonstrate that diversity creates value when supported by:

Cultural intelligence.
Inclusive leadership.
Recognition of different contributions.
Flexible participation.

The future workforce will require broader definitions of leadership and contribution.

9. Productivity and sustainability are increasingly aligned.

The reports challenge the assumption that environmental outcomes and commercial outcomes compete. Examples include:

Feed efficiency.
Genetics.
Better grazing management.
Animal welfare improvements.
Food system resilience.
Improved resource use.

The strongest future systems will deliver both productivity and sustainability outcomes.

10. Capability development is the sector’s next competitive advantage.

The strongest recommendation across the entire cohort is investment in capability. Priority areas include:

Leadership development.
Digital capability.
Financial literacy.
Governance skills.
Cultural intelligence.
Mentoring.
Lifelong learning.

The sector’s next breakthrough will come from stronger people making better decisions.

For a closer look at the research of each Kellogg Scholar, head to our cohort landing page here.

Kate Tomlinson – Scholarship winner takes a closer look at the diversity of Canterbury’s dairy workforce.

Kate Tomlinson, Bridging Farming, Sustainability and Leadership.

For Kate Tomlinson, 2025 Mackenzie Charitable Foundation Scholarship winner and 2026 Kellogg Scholar, agriculture has never been just a career, it has been a way of life. Raised on a sheep and beef farm in County Durham, England, farming shaped her upbringing, her interests and ultimately her professional journey.

“Farming has always been part of my life. It’s always been, I’d say, in my blood,” she says. “It’s my family, it’s my friends, it’s my work, it’s what I do on my weekends off.”

Work based on practical farming experience, sustainability expertise and agricultural data analysis.

Now based in Methven, Mid Canterbury, Tomlinson has built a unique career that combines practical farming experience, sustainability expertise and agricultural data analysis.

As an Agricultural Sustainability Analyst Consultant with Map of Ag, she works across New Zealand and Australia, helping connect farm data with meaningful insights that support sustainability, animal welfare and environmental outcomes. Her role draws on a diverse background that includes farming, agricultural consultancy and research.

After studying at Harper Adams University, Tomlinson qualified as a rural chartered surveyor in the UK, advising farming businesses on land use, navigating agricultural, residential and commercial legislation and accessing environmental opportunities

Kellogg, the Mackenzie Charitable Foundation, and research into cultural diversity in Canterbury’s dairy workforce.

Tomlinson has recently graduated as a member of the 55th Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme cohort. As part of her Kellogg research project, Kate explored the growing cultural diversity of Canterbury’s dairy workforce.

You can view Kate’s report ‘Cultural Diversity of Canterbury’s Dairy Workforce’ here.

Having worked alongside colleagues from Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, India, Ireland and the United Kingdom, Kate wanted to paint a picture of the reality of working in Canterbury’s dairy industry. Her research explores – what is the composition of Canterbury’s dairy workforce, what are the pathways to the industry, why do people join and how can we build and lead thriving multicultural dairy teams?

Her research reflects a deep curiosity and passion for people and leadership. “I wanted to start with the facts by understanding what kind of trends we are seeing, then speak to those working in multicultural teams, or who have moved to New Zealand to work in Canterbury’s dairy industry” she says. “In particular, I wanted to explore how we build thriving teams and overcome challenges that might arise from that diversity of team?”

Through Kellogg and the 2025 Mackenzie Charitable Foundation Scholarship, Kate has gained access to influential industry leaders, policymakers and fellow participants who are helping shape the future of Canterbury’s primary sector.

Combining international experience with a passion for farming and sustainability, Kate represents a new generation of rural leaders, one focused on connecting people, data and practical solutions to help agriculture thrive.

Listen to Kate’s recent Ideas that Grow Podcast here.

Morris McFall QSM, 1970 Nuffield Scholar, passes.

Rural Leaders, The Board of Trustees, and Nuffield New Zealand were saddened to learn of the passing of Morris (1970 Nuffield Scholar). We offer our deepest condolences to his family.

Born 7 January 1935, Morris passed away peacefully on 8 June at Tauranga Hospital aged 91.

Born in 1935, Morris grew up on a farm in Te Awamutu and began his working life in dairy farming before building McFall Fuel from a small local operation into one of New Zealand’s leading fuel logistics providers.

Morris completed his Nuffield in 1970, looking into intensive dairying in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Canada, USA.

More on Morris’ work can be read here in Transport Talk (12 June)

Morris’ funeral service was held today at Legacy Tauranga, 383 Pyes Pa Road Tauranga, on Monday, 15 June 2026 at 1.30pm followed by private cremation.

The service can be viewed here.

Printed material from the service is available here.

Tributes may be left below and communications via post addressed to the Morris McFall family, c/- Legacy Funerals, PO Box 3136, Tauranga 3142.

Alumni in the Spotlight – Roger Barton, Kylie Leonard, Rebecca Hyde, Natasha Cave and others.

Here are just a few of the media pieces covering the impact of Rural Leaders’ Programme Alumni in industries and communities across the sector.

Tracy Brown

Tracy Brown (2020 Nuffield, 1997 Kellogg).
Tracy wrote an article for the recent issue of CountryWide. In the article (pages 78 and 79), Tracy argues that New Zealand’s dairy sector has a strong future if it invests in people, skills and sustainability.

Global demand is rising, but farmers face pressure to improve environmental performance and prove transparency.

Tracy (DairyNZ Chair), says attracting capable, adaptable leaders is vital, alongside training the next generation through programmes like NextGen Dairy Farmers.

As traditional family succession is no longer guaranteed, the industry must broaden career pathways and modernise workforce development. Tracy says that with innovation, collaboration and a focus on both profitability and environmental outcomes, dairy can keep growing export value while supporting regional communities.

Roger Barton

Roger Barton (1994 Nuffield Scholar).
Roger Barton, a Wairarapa sheep and beef farmer, also featured in the latest CountryWide (page 127). Roger has been appointed a Safer Farms Regional Champion to promote the Farm Without Harm message in rural communities.

Drawing on his own experience of serious farm injuries, he argues that poor decisions and inadequate preparation often lead to accidents. Roger stresses that the true cost of injuries extends beyond medical expenses to lost productivity, business disruption, and impacts on families and workers.

As a Regional Champion, Roger aims to share practical, real-world safety solutions and encourage open conversations that improve health and safety outcomes on farms.

Kylie Leonard

Kylie Leonard (2023 Nuffield Scholar)
As part of a small delegation of New Zealand Nuffield alumni, Kylie Leonard travelled to Ireland for the 2026 Nuffield Triennial, embracing the opportunity to continue the Nuffield tradition of learning through experience and engagement.

The Triennial explored global agricultural challenges and opportunities, highlighting the importance of soil health, data, knowledge transfer, precision agriculture and innovation in producing more with less.

Kylie gained valuable insights into food security, economic change and agriculture’s role as a stabilising force in an increasingly uncertain world. Visits to leading Irish farming, food and sustainability enterprises showcased farmer-led innovation in action.

Images: Nuffield Scholars in Ireland for the Triennial, and Kylie on a Triennial panel, second from right.

A highlight was representing farmers on an international panel, where Kylie reinforced the importance of farmer voices, concluding: “Farmers need to be at the table, not on the menu.”

Rebecca Hyde

Rebecca Hyde (2017 Nuffield Scholar, 2021 Kellogg Scholar)
Rebecca penned an excellent article recently for Farmers Weekly’s ‘Eating the Elephant’. The article has proven popular with many as it neatly reflects on the chaos and rewards of raising young children while farming.

The article argues that farm kids gain invaluable life lessons through hands-on involvement in daily rural life.

While balancing motherhood, farm work and personal identity can be challenging, Rebecca celebrates the resilience, empathy and sense of belonging children develop on the farm.

Rebecca also highlights the importance of community, leadership and participation, encouraging rural women to back themselves and help shape the future of farming.

Take a read of this article here.

Phil Weir

Phil Weir (2020 Nuffield Scholar)
Phil Weir offered a follow up to Rebecca Hyde’s piece, also in Eating the Elephant that builds on Rebecca reflection that children may be the ones really running the farm.

Phil argues they should also be viewed as the farm’s most important customers. Reflecting on honesty, family and modern farming life, he challenges the tendency to hide behind busyness and operational demands.

Inspired by the idea of “dancing with your customers”, Weir suggests farming, parenting and partnership are best approached as a shared rhythm rather than a checklist, with presence and connection mattering most.

Take a read of the article here.

Natasha Cave

Natasha Cave (2025 Kellogg Scholar).
Natasha Cave joined a panel for How Wearables Are Enabling Pasture Management on Hill Country at Science for Farmers at Fieldays on Thursday.

As a King Country sheep and beef farmer and author of the Kellogg report Beef on the Brink of a Tech Revolution: Wearables on NZ Hill Country, Natasha brought firsthand experience of how emerging technologies are being applied on-farm.

Natasha shared practical insights into the role of wearables and virtual fencing, and what these innovations could mean for the future of hill country farming.

Natasha and fellow panellists provided a thought-provoking discussion on the future of pasture management, sheep and beef systems, and the opportunities technology is creating for New Zealand farmers.

Ethan Gillespie and his journey in horticulture so far.

Listen to this episode of Ideas that Grow, or click on one of the platform icons below to listen on your favourite player:

In this Ideas that Grow Podcast, Ethan Gillespie, 2025 HortNZ Leadership Programme alum, talks to Bryan Gibson, 2025 Kellogg alum, and Farmers Weekly Managing Editor, about his programme experience. Ethan discusses how it broadened his understanding of leadership, advocacy, and strategic decision-making.

Ethan shares insights into his own leadership development, industry collaboration, and the pathways available for emerging leaders in New Zealand’s horticulture sector.

Episode Transcript

Ideas That Grow is presented in Association with Farmers Weekly. Welcome to Ideas That Grow, the Rural Leaders podcast. I’m your host, Bryan Gibson, Managing Editor of the Farmers Weekly.

This week we’re going to talk about the Horticulture New Zealand Leadership Programme, delivered by Rural Leaders. And we’ve got an alumnus of that programme, Ethan Gillespie. Kia ora, Ethan, how are you?

Ethan Gillespie, 2025 Horticulture New Zealand Leadership Programme.
EG: Yeah, very well. And yourself, Bryan?

BG: Yeah, really good, thanks. You’re working in the horticultural sector in Hawke’s Bay at the moment?

EG: Yep. I work for Brownrigg Agriculture. We grow a range of different crops, but primarily squash, pumpkins, onions, and some maize for grain, as well as our livestock side of things. But yeah, so I’m primarily focusing on squash and pumpkins as sort of my area.

Ethan and his role in Horticulture.

BG: What specifically do you bring to growers there?

EG: My official title is agronomist, but I wear a couple of hats throughout the business. I am involved in a lot of the growing side of things, do a lot of our pre-harvest scouts, checking up on crops before we go into harvest, but then also our pumpkin side of things, which is relatively new to us. I manage the post-harvest through to the packhouse side. That’s where I’m mostly involved in nowadays.

BG: Where do those pumpkins and squash end up?

EG: Squash, we export that to primarily Japan and Korea with a little bit of it being kept here in the New Zealand domestic market. But then all of our pumpkins and butternut and those items, they go to supermarkets around New Zealand. So for the domestic market.

From Dairy Farming to Horticulture.

BG: Have you always been working in or interested in horticulture?

EG: No, not quite. I grew up dairy farming in the North Manawatu,, so have always had a farming background and loved the rural lifestyle. I enjoyed milking cows in early mornings throughout the holidays, but then I went to university and studied agriculture, primarily crops and soil and a little bit of animals. Then following that, I decided I was keen to be involved in growing crops and ended up down the horticulture route, involved in vegetable production.

BG: I often think of the Hort and the Arable side of things as a bit more, almost dicey in a way. You know, you can wipe out entire seasons with one bad factor. You’ve got to get it right, don’t you?

EG: Yes, absolutely. A lot riskier business, you might say.

Why pursue the HortNZ Leadership Programme?

BG: Now you’ve been through the HortNZ Leadership Programme. That’s one we don’t cover a lot on the podcast here. When did you go through it?

EG: I was a part of the 2025 cohort, found out about it sort of mid-year, about this time last year probably. We had a week up in Auckland together in September. I think it was last year, and then another few days in Wellington in October. End of 2025 was my sort of time through the course.

BG: What was your thinking behind, you know, pursuing one of these leadership programmes?

EG: A lot went into me deciding whether I wanted to do this or not. I guess I’ve probably been involved in aspects of leadership for a number of years now, but being relatively new into horticulture, I came across it and saw it as a way of learning a bit more about what goes on behind the scenes in the industry, looking at a governance level and all the legislation and submission process, a lot of the work that HortNZ does, but then also the wider general issues that horticulture is facing.

So, I came across it and was like, this is the way I can expand on what I know and what I do, and hopefully bring something new back to Brownrigg as part of my role.

BG: You mentioned you had been involved in some leadership in the food and fibre sector previously. What was that?

EG: Previously, probably not as much been involved in food and fibre, like had a little bit through university. We were part of a few case studies that I was part of at university and a team that I was involved in, we prepared for an international competition that was held in Christchurch.

It was looking at, given a sort of case business, and this was our problem we were trying to solve. So that’s kind of where sort of some of the strategic thinking that I’ve been involved in sort of came from. But then outside of that, I’ve been involved in youth leadership for a number of years. My wife and I, we did a stint over in Canada at a camp which, yeah, we ran leadership development courses for both youth and for companies and adults coming through.

BG: Just getting back to the leadership programme itself, obviously it involves a couple of intense contact course aspects to it. What were some of the things that were perhaps outside your day-to-day work that were really interesting and rewarding?

EG: Erin Simpson was the course facilitator for our cohort, and he brought a wealth of knowledge being in the horticulture industry for a number of years. But on top of that, we also had a few different CEOs from different companies come to speak to us about the running of high-level big companies and what goes into the governance level behind them and their boards and decision-making.

But then we also had a couple people from Horticulture New Zealand come and speak to us about about what’s involved in taking submissions from the growers they represent and taking that to government and figuring out the bigger picture of horticulture.

Understanding governance and industry advocacy.

BG: On both those things, they’re kind of almost, for want of a better word, kind of like the dark arts of how the system works. You don’t hear a lot about what happens around the board table because that is behind the closed doors, obviously. So getting that insight into how these people make decisions, work together, look at the wider world, figure out the strategy and direction. That’s really interesting, eh?

EG: Oh, certainly. it’s definitely like the area that I’m keen to be involved in. It’s not just the on-the-ground operations and running of it. It’s thinking long term. It’s figuring out what is the current path that we’re on. Is it the right path? Are there other avenues we need to be exploring? So yeah, it’s complex, but yeah, certainly interesting stuff.

BG: And then in terms of advocacy work, obviously, in the Farmers Weekly world, that gets quite a bit of airtime, how industry groups react to proposed government regulatory changes, that sort of thing. But, you know, these groups represent a broad spectrum of individual growers or businesses, and they’ve got to collate the hopes and dreams of that wide cohort, put it into a succinct submission. And hope they get their way in some ways. It’s, it’s also very complex.

EG: 100%. There’s so many different opinions in amongst the same food group growers and yeah, trying to kind of keep everyone happy, I’m sure, is a complex beast that a lot of people work very hard to do.

Leadership lessons and career aspirations.

BG: Does having done the programme now give you a new perspective in your
day-to-day role?

EG: I guess I look at some of the higher decision-making now and have a huge amount of respect for what goes into that. Yeah, within our business, looking at the growth that Brownrigg’s had over the decades that it’s been running and the way that the two Brownrigg brothers have grown the company.

BG: Yeah.

EG: Massive respect for them.

BG: Well, you know, these things usually are ever evolving. Do you have a plan for your future in the industry or your career?

EG: Yeah, I love being part of horticulture and see it as an industry that is so, I guess, complex and so many different avenues to it that the world’s my oyster in terms of where I end up within it. I went to university and studied agriculture science and did that with a very open mind in the sense that I was keen to be involved in agriculture. I wanted to stay in the industry, but wasn’t sure where I wanted to end up.

But at the same time, I knew going into that there was so many different avenues that I could explore. Within horticulture, but then also you’ve got so many different sectors of sheep and beef, dairy, horticulture that all sort of make up the sort of agriculture sector of New Zealand. So I’m keen to be involved. I love what I do at Brownrigg. So yeah, I’m pretty happy with what I’m doing and sort of see progression there.

BG: What would you say to someone who is thinking about either broadening their leadership skill base or perhaps is just inquisitive about the way the wider food and fibre sector works? I mean, would the HortNZ Leadership Programme be something you’d recommend to them?

EG: I said to a few different people post the course that, like, I think even without people who don’t necessarily sort of see them as a little itself as a leader or have, like, come from a leadership background, the course was great at opening up key ideas that people may not be used to, along with introducing the cohort to other members of the industry.

I think leadership is not necessarily something that you have to be in a certain position for. The place I worked at over in Canada, their leadership definition as per se was a leader is someone who looks at their own world, like not necessarily the world around them, but their own picture. They say it doesn’t have to be this way and they do something about it. So it was, yeah, even within everyone’s own journey and industry and job, there’s always things that they can see and do and improve on.

‘So yeah, and I would recommend the course for anyone who’s keen to learn more about the industry.

The lasting value of industry networks.

BG: One of the other things that everyone who goes through Rural Leaders programmes reports back to me is that, you know, one of the most rewarding things is the ongoing relationship you have with your cohort and the people who went through on the same journey you did. Is that what you found as well?

EG: Yeah, my wife and I have just had a child and a couple of people from the course have reached out. Congratulating us. And even within our group chat, people have sort of had a few problems that they’ve come across or issues they’ve faced that they haven’t been used to. And like, they’ve just chucked it in the chat and other people from within the industry or within our group have been able to come back and say, oh, I’ve actually already been through that and this is what we did, or this is a person you could talk to about the problem you’re facing.

So yeah, within our cohort, we had different aspects of our industry and each sort of had their own wealth of knowledge that’s been really useful both during the course when we’re in person and then like afterwards. So it’s been cool.

BG: Excellent. And Rural Leaders is currently open to applications for the 2026 programme, and there are 12 scholarships on offer.

Applications close June 28th, and you can find more information at ruralleaders.co.nz/hortnz

Thanks, Ethan.

EG: Awesome. Thank you very much.

BG: Thanks for listening to Ideas That Grow, a Rural Leaders’ podcast presented in Association with Farmers Weekly. For more information on Rural Leaders, the Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarship, the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, the Engage Programme, the HortNZ Leadership Programme and the Value Chain Innovation Programme, please visit ruralleaders.co.nz

Hamish Murray podcast - Building stronger on-farm teams

Hamish Murray: Building stronger on-farm teams by getting out of the way.

Listen to this episode of Ideas that Grow, or click on one of the platform icons below to listen on your favourite player:

In this Ideas that Grow Podcast, Murray King, 2003 Nuffield Scholar and Rural Leaders Board Board member, talks to Bryan Gibson Managing Editor at Farmers Weekly, and shares his journey from horticulture and the 1980s agricultural downturn, through farm management consultancy in South Canterbury, to running the family farm in Nelson and chairing organisations including LIC.

Now on the selection side of the table two decades after his own scholarship, Murray reflects on what 75 years of Nuffield has meant for New Zealand agribusiness, why stepping away from your business is the point rather than the cost, and the advice he offers anyone weighing it up: the busiest people are the ones who can least afford not to apply.

Episode Transcript

Ideas That Grow is presented in association with Farmers Weekly. Welcome to Ideas That Grow, the Rural Leaders podcast. I’m your host, Bryan Gibson, Managing Editor of the Farmers Weekly. This week we’re focusing on the Nuffield programme, which is open for applications very soon.

Our guest this week is Murray King, a Nuffield Scholar and a current member of the Rural Leaders board. G’day Murray, how are you?

Murray King, Nuffield Scholar (2003), Rural Leaders Board Member.
Good morning, Bryan. I’m well, thank you. When you say former Nuffield Scholar, I’d just correct that — once you’re a Nuffield Scholar, you’re a scholar for life.

BG: It is true. Yeah, such a great group of alumni involved in the programme. That’s kind of part of its appeal, isn’t it?

MK: It really is a prestigious award and one which I’m greatly honoured to have received. And certainly it might sound a bit trite, but it is a life-changing experience.

BG: A lot of our listeners involved in New Zealand’s food and fibre sector will probably know a little bit about you because you’ve been at the top of a number of different organisations, co-ops and companies. Can we just touch a little bit on your career and how you got to where you are now? Have you always been in the farming world?

From horticulture through the 1980s downturn.

MK: No, I haven’t always been in the farming world, although I grew up on a dairy farm and have migrated back here after many, many years. I did a number of other things over the years. Started out in horticulture actually, and then went through the dark days of the 1980s and ’90s when agriculture was seen as the sunset industry. I was at Lincoln College at the time, now Lincoln University. It was a pretty trying time. Basically halfway through, there were no jobs for graduates. So it was a slow process after that. And I guess of my cohort at the time, there’s only really a couple of us that are actually farming today. Most of that generation that went through at that time left the industry for various reasons.

BG: So how did you manage to make your way through?

MK: I was fortunate enough to be employed as a private farm management consultant in a small firm in South Canterbury in the late ’80s. That was at the tail end of Rural Bank discounting and what have you, when farmers were facing significant interest costs. And our job was to either help them get out of business or help them stay in business. So it was quite a demanding and difficult time, especially for a relatively young graduate. After a couple of years of doing that, I realised this was a pretty tough gig and decided I’d take off overseas and see the world.

Why apply for Nuffield?

BG: You applied for, and were accepted into, the Nuffield Scholarship programme for the 2003 year. What made you want to pursue it?

MK: I’m a reasonably curious and nosy person and easily bored. I’d been overseas for a number of years, came back to Nelson to the home farm, and the manager that we had at the time, after a number of years, decided he wanted to do something else. So I said I would look after the farm for the family until they found somebody else. I ended up running the family business for a number of years and just really wanted to do more, wanted to learn more.

I’d read the book, Jim Collins’ Good to Great, which is a fantastic business book. One of the key learnings in there is a thing called sharpen the saw. And I firmly believe that you’ve got to keep investing in your own personal development and looking for new things. I’d been fortunate enough to have done the Kellogg programme 3 or 4 years prior, so had a little bit of a taste, and had always been aware of Nuffield. Never thought that I would be suitable for it, but as usually happens in these situations, someone gives you a nudge — and that’s what happened. Someone said, “you should put your hand up and I’ll support you.” And that was the catalyst that was required. So the rest is history.

The history of Nuffield Scholarships.

BG: And of course, the Nuffield programme sees you head off around the world to see how the farming world works in other places. How was that for you?

MK: Really good. Not easy, I might add. And maybe it’d be useful just to give a little bit of insight into the history of Nuffield. We’ve just celebrated our 75th anniversary here in New Zealand. So 75 years of scholars, and we will this year likely award our 200th scholarship.

It goes back to the 1950s when a chap called William Morris, who later was awarded a lordship and became Lord Nuffield. William Morris was a bicycle repairman who turned into a very successful industrialist, and he was the founder of the Morris Motor Vehicle Company and Nuffield Tractors and such like. He early on learnt that by travelling the world and looking at what was happening in other parts of the world, you could learn a lot. This is post-war, and obviously food security was a big thing. So he established two things. One was the Nuffield Nursing Awards and Scholarships, where they set up nursing homes for convalescence of returned servicemen and the like. The other part was the farming component, which was the Nuffield Farming Scholarships originally in the UK. New Zealand’s had Nuffield Scholars since 1950, and as I say, 197 to date.

When you look through some of the names, you soon see people who have been very influential in New Zealand agribusiness over the years at all levels and in their own communities. So I guess it was just an opportunity to travel the world and see what’s actually happening over there and bring those ideas back, for the benefit of New Zealand agribusiness.

Staffing solutions for primary industries.

BG: And your research project focused on how to manage teams and deal with the constant rate of change and still stay successful.

MK: That’s right. I was looking at staffing solutions for New Zealand’s primary industries. We were faced at the time with really low unemployment and struggled to attract the right sort of talent onto farms and into agribusinesses, and thought, well, this would be a worthy topic. As usually happens, once you get outside and start looking back, you start finding all sorts of other interesting things to study as well. So that’s exactly what happened. And I might add, there’s no real easy solutions out there — it’s a common problem around the world. That’s the other thing that you really do learn and appreciate: whilst farming systems might be different all around the world, farmers all share very similar or the same problems, whether it be access to markets, labour, environmental challenges, regulation, and the like.

BG: And of course, the recruitment and retention of good people into the sector is still a problem in farming today. It’s sort of ongoing.

MK: Yeah, sure. And that people management component is really critical. When you see significant businesses and wonder how they do it, and you see people who you think are exceptional at people management, they’re the first to admit that actually they don’t always get it right either.

Understanding what motivates people.

BG: In terms of that management of teams, often people seem to look at the pay, the hours, and that sort of thing, and kind of think that you’ve got those bare bones in place, you’ve done your job. But of course, it’s about relationships, it’s about ongoing training and giving someone a sense of place to a certain extent.

MK: Absolutely. One of the critical things I see is that the first thing you need to understand is your own leadership style. But secondly, and more importantly, is understanding what it is that pushes people’s buttons, what motivates them, what are the things that they really want? Because often it’s not about pay. It could be any of a number of different things. It could be about more training, it could be about more flexible working conditions, it could be good working conditions, it could be about advancement within the organisation. So until you actually understand what people are looking for, it’s very hard to address what they really need.

BG: Because at the end of the day, while in frank business terms a person is a resource in some sense, they’re more than that. They’re not just something to use and discard — you’re setting them up for the rest of their lives as well, and that carries something, doesn’t it?

MK: It sure does. It’s really important to grow those people as you grow your own business as well. You can’t do it by yourself. One of the things you learn and see in the Nuffield experience is the exposure to agribusiness at scale, particularly in places like Brazil, the US, Australia. By comparison, we are relatively small, and the bigger those businesses get, the more people you need.

Confidence, connections, and leadership roles.

BG: You’ve gone on to hold some pretty big positions yourself in the New Zealand food and fibre sector. You’re chair of LIC, and you were director and chair of Waimea Irrigators Limited, among various other roles. The Nuffield experience would have given you the tools to navigate those?

MK: Yes, it sure does. One of the things that Nuffield does is it gives you confidence — confidence and connections. And I think they’re both really useful, especially when you need to have perspective as to what’s happening in the greater landscape, particularly internationally.

So with the likes of LIC, it was really useful to understand what’s happening in genetics globally. With respect to the likes of Waimea Irrigators, that was really interesting. One of the key insights I had from Nuffield was the exposure to the influence of water and water storage and what it does to transform agriculture. And it is really a lost opportunity in New Zealand if we don’t exploit it more.

We are one of the most water-abundant nations in the world — I think we’re second, actually. So that was a key highlight from my studies and my travels: just seeing the influence and the power of water.

An “aha” moment in the Idaho desert.

BG: While harnessing that resource better is obviously vital to the food and fibre sector, it’s still sometimes a fraught conversation we have nationally about water storage and that sort of thing. So you need a fair bit of experience and conviction to navigate all of that.

MK: Yes, you do. One of the learnings for me — and there was a key aha moment, I guess, in my travels — was on a Sunday afternoon driving along through the high desert in Idaho. If you can picture it, it’s just like the Wild West with tumbleweeds and things blowing across the road. And then all of a sudden we came across a centre pivot irrigator in a field of potatoes — probably, I don’t know, a couple of hundred hectares of potatoes. I just looked at it and thought, this is amazing. This is the middle of the desert and they’re growing this crop of healthy potatoes. And all it was about was sunshine and water. And I thought, man, that just shows you the power of those two resources. If you put them together carefully, just shows you what you can do.

That really was a key learning for me and one which I still remember. Our whole farming business has actually been built around that insight, and that is about managing to control the controllables. Farming is so diametrically opposed to making money in many ways. There are so many forces which you have no control over, whether it be the markets, the exchange rate, interest rates, regulation, weather. But one part of weather you can control is the application of water. So that’s what our business has since been founded on.

Why Nuffield still matters.

BG: You still are involved with the Rural Leaders organisation on the board of trustees. Nuffield is still the hero programme for Rural Leaders, and it still seems to attract the best and brightest and still be really relevant in today’s farming world.

MK: Yes, Nuffield certainly is the flagship for Rural Leaders — not taking away from the other programmes, but it is the ultimate challenge for people and the one that carries the most prestige. We give it that prestige as well by the size of the scholarship and the limited number of scholars which we select every year.

Compared to some of the other countries, we only usually award somewhere between 2 and 5 scholarships a year, whereas Australia and the UK, for example, are in excess of 20. We like to think of it as quality over quantity, so we are reasonably selective. But it’s one of the highlights of my year actually going through those 2 days of interviews because you get exposed to some really good people, and it gives you real hope for the future. These are people who are keen to learn, keen to contribute, and I’m sure they’ll keep popping up over the years.

Doors, networks, and credibility.

BG: Having the benefit of hindsight — you went through the programme earlier this century, you’ve gone on to some amazing leadership roles — having the Nuffield Scholarship in the back pocket is part of the reason for your success?

MK: It’s hard to know, but certainly it should not be understated that it does open doors. Nuffield gets you into places you would never get otherwise, particularly overseas. If you can show your credentials as a Nuffield Scholar, particularly in Europe and the UK, people understand what it is. Places like the States, you just have to say that you’ve been awarded a scholarship and they say, “wow, well done. What can I do for you?” So it does certainly open doors and expose you to some really interesting people who are only too pleased to share their experiences and how they run their businesses. They’re often the best and brightest around, really resourceful and successful people, which is great.

That network grows over time. Nuffield has the largest independent network of farmers globally, so you develop friendships with people all over the place from different backgrounds and doing some really amazing things. What’s been quite cool is, in our case, our kids have even ended up working for some of those people in foreign countries, which has been great. Back at home, of course, it’s well recognised and certainly helps with your CV. I think it adds some credibility when it comes to dealing with banks and such like. It certainly helped us to grow our business.

“You probably can’t afford not to do it.”

BG: And just lastly — you mentioned earlier that when you were thinking about Nuffield, you wondered whether you were the right sort of person for it. I guess a lot of people might think that. What would your advice to anyone having those same thoughts be?

MK: The first thing that people say is, “I’m not up to it,” or “I’m too busy.” And most people who are successful are too busy and say, “look, I can’t afford the time. I can’t afford to be away.” I would turn around and say, “you probably can’t afford not to do it.”

To put it into perspective, I travelled in 2003. It was at the time of the Iraq War, as it happened. I left Sarah, my wife, at home with a 2-year-old and pregnant and shot away for 24 weeks continuous. You talk to people about that now and they think, “Really? How did you get away with that?” Gratefully Sarah was supportive. But in earlier years, it was nothing for the original scholars to go on a boat to the UK and be away for a significant amount of time. I think that’s one of the things which Lord Nuffield really encouraged — the fact that you got away from your business. You couldn’t be hands-on, you couldn’t interfere, and you had to learn that it could survive without you. So that was one of the key things that Nuffield does: it makes you get out of your comfort zone, get out of your daily grind.

I would highly encourage anybody, no matter how busy you are. The doors that it opens, the opportunities, and just the learnings that you gain by looking back at New Zealand from the other side is really insightful.

BG: Excellent. Thanks, Murray.

Thanks for listening to Ideas That Grow, a Rural Leaders’ podcast presented in association with Farmers Weekly. For more information on Rural Leaders, the Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarship, the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, and the Value Chain Innovation Programme, please visit ruralleaders.co.nz

Alumni in the Spotlight – Hinehou Timutimu, Andrew Watters, Tracy Brown, Amber Carpenter, and more.

Here are just a few of the media pieces covering the impact of Rural Leaders’ Programme Alumni in industries and communities across the sector.

Tracy Brown

Tracy Brown (2020 Nuffield).
Tracy wrote an article for DairyNews recently. It discussed the rising input costs, feed, fuel and fertiliser, faced by dairy farmers. The article discussed ways farmers manage risks; through pasture efficiency, spending and planning.

You can read more here.

Geoff Crawford

Geoff Crawford (Kellogg 2025).
Geoff featured in a Beef Country article (pages 52-53) last Alumni in the Spotlight. This month his Kellogg research report has received more coverage, this time in Farmers Weekly. In an article titled ‘Processors urged to account for guts and glands’, that delves into the valuable non-prime parts of a carcass, or ‘fifth quarter’.

Take a read of the article here.

Another Farmers Weekly article covered Geoff and Jo Crawford’s efforts to deal with flooding on their Northland dairy farms.

You can read more here.

Hinehou Timutimu

Hinehou Timutimu (Kellogg 2026).
Hinehou Timutimu has been named the 2026 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year, recognised for her down-to-earth leadership and impact in dairy and Māori agribusiness.

Hinehou blends cultural knowledge with science, champions sustainability, and supports communities. Her work, values, and global perspective are helping shape a more resilient future for farming.

Amber Carpenter

Amber Carpenter (2019 Kellogg).
Amber is the owner of digital marketing company Grass Roots Media and recently featured in a Farmers Weekly article covering social media’s importance in bridging the gap between farmers and the public, building transparency and trust.

Read more here.

Andrew Watters

Andrew Watters (2004 Nuffield).
MyFarm founder Andrew Watters featured in an article on shifting land use recently. He says, “If you think about New Zealand’s land use history, forestry planting is really just one part of it and we are only now back to the forest plantings we had almost 20 years ago.”

You can read more here.

Natasha Cave

Natasha Cave (2025 Kellogg).
Natasha’s Kellogg research report on wearables for hill country farming was featured in a recent article. In the article Natasha said that intensive rotational grazing of hill country with wearables delivers a shift in the performance and sustainability of hill country farming.

Read more here.

Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins (2023 Kellogg).
Richard (Federated Farmers meat and wool chair) spoke to Farmers Weekly about something we’re all noticing – the rising number of feral deer across the motu. The Department of Conservation (DOC) estimates the feral deer population is growing at about 30% a year, far outstripping current control efforts.

You can read more here.

2026 HortNZ Leadership Programme.

Our horticulture sector is experiencing rapid growth. The 2026 Horticulture New Zealand Leadership Programme helps prepare you, or your employee, to capture the opportunities and to address the challenges this growth creates.

The programme is delivered by Rural Leaders in two phases over nine weeks:

Phase One 10 – 14 August (Auckland)
Phase Two 21 – 23 October (Wellington)

The programme is designed for potential and current leaders in the fruit and vegetable industry. They will primarily be growers, their team members, or from organisations aligned with growing.

It is open to those who have demonstrated leadership or leadership potential and a willingness to take on responsibility.

The Horticulture New Zealand Leadership Programme gives you:

increased confidence to take the lead and influence into the future
a greater understanding of leadership
‘ready to use’ leadership skills, such as communication, teamwork, critical thinking and problem solving
a wider perspective and understanding of how to address industry issues – now and in the future
an awareness of strategy, and how to use it
self-knowledge and your own personal plan
the opportunity to network and develop relationships with other emerging and current influential leaders

Horticulture New Zealand is offering 12 scholarships. These scholarships cover all programme fees and accommodation costs.

There are also up to four positions available for a programme fee of $5,000 +GST plus accommodation.

Applications for the 2026 programme will close midnight, 28 June.

18 Ag-Hort teachers complete leadership programme.

Over two inspiring days, the Agri Educators Leadership Programme brought together 18 passionate teachers from across Aotearoa.

New Zealand’s agricultural and horticultural industries have long depended on a strong pipeline of young people entering the workforce. Increasingly, that pipeline begins not on farm, but in the classroom. And right now, the teachers responsible for sparking that interest are being asked to do far more than teach.

Across the country, Agricultural Science and Horticulture teachers are navigating curriculum uncertainty, rising student demand, and a shortage of specialist colleagues. At the same time, they are working to shift outdated perceptions of the sector and keep pace with rapid change in sustainability, environmental management, climate change, and agri-technology. It is a complex brief, one that now requires leadership as much as teaching skill.

From a curriculum perspective, uncertainty continues to shape delivery. Ongoing debate about whether agricultural and horticultural science sits best as an academic discipline, vocational pathway, or hybrid model has created instability in programme design and long-term planning.

Despite strong industry demand for skilled graduates, only a small proportion of secondary students nationally currently take agricultural subjects, with access particularly limited in urban schools.

Workforce constraints add further pressure. A shortage of qualified specialist teachers means programmes often rely on a small group of experienced educators, while non-specialists are increasingly asked to step into unfamiliar content areas. This creates uneven delivery and places additional strain on those leading programmes.

In response, the Horticulture and Agriculture Teachers Association (HATA) has launched the Agriculture Educators Leadership Programme, designed and facilitated by Lynsey Stratford (Primary People and 2021 Nuffield Scholar) and delivered by the New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust (Rural Leaders).

The programme brought together 18 teachers from across New Zealand, each identified as having the potential to strengthen not only their own programmes, but the wider direction of agri-education.

For rural producers and agribusiness leaders, this matters. These educators strongly influence how the next generation perceives the primary sector, its relevance, its science base, and its career opportunities.

The programme focused on building practical leadership capability. Participants developed a personal leadership plan, explored behavioural preferences, and learned how to improve communication, influence, and decision-making. A strong emphasis was placed on self-awareness and how leadership style impacts others in real-world settings.

Kate Redpath, Agriculture Science Teacher at Stratford High School in Taranaki, highlighted the practical value of tools for both workload and communication:

“The Eisenhower Matrix around time management and identifying which task needs to be completed in the moment and which can be done later in order to reduce pressure. DISC profiles and understanding the ways that different communication styles can have an impact on the way that you like or dislike different communication styles, being open to these and considering how you can adjust yours to meet the needs of other people.”

In school environments, where teachers move constantly between curriculum leadership, student engagement, and external partnerships, this adaptability is critical.

Redpath also pointed to a broader leadership insight:

“I really enjoyed the talk from Hamish Marr, the previous Special Agricultural Trade Envoy, around how a lot of things around the world are done in similar ways, it is the scale and location that differs. I think this can be applied to education and agriculture in the sense that we all have different resources, challenges and environments, but we can achieve the same outcomes, we just need to do it in slightly different ways.”

For many participants, the most powerful outcome has been connection. Isaac Lovatt, Biology, Science and AgHort Teacher at Bay of Islands College, described the impact of working alongside peers nationwide:

“The value of collective engagement and connections with other passionate Ag Educators … sharing and getting inspiration and ideas from different regions from right across the country. This gives energy and motivation to keep doing what we are doing.”

He was equally clear on the value of the programme itself, and would encourage others in the profession:

“Definitely go for it! The value of learning more about yourself and your own leadership tendencies is super valuable for growth and team development. But more importantly, doing it with like-minded Ag teachers from different locationsand contexts is inspiring.”

That sense of professional connection is echoed by Kirsten McIntyre, Agriculture Science and Agribusiness Teacher at Blue Mountain College in Otago:

“The Disc Personality test showed my strengths and weakness as a person and how best to use the knowledge of personality to get the best out of your team.”

For McIntyre, the biggest takeaway was the strength of the national network:

“There are some amazing agriculture teachers around New Zealand and it was cool to connect with them and learn from what they are doing.”

For HATA, the intent is clear. Building leadership capability among educators is essential if teachers are to lead curriculum development, support non-specialist colleagues, form strong industry partnerships, and advocate effectively within schools.

In turn, this helps lift programme quality, reduce isolation, and strengthen student pathways into the primary sector.

At a time when agriculture is facing workforce shortages, increasing complexity, and rapid change, the Agriculture Educators Leadership Programme represents a targeted investment in one of the sector’s most influential leverage points, the educators shaping perception long before students ever reach the farm gate.

Because ultimately, the future of New Zealand agriculture is not only grown in paddocks and orchards, but in the classroom, where it begins.

Dani Darke, Jon Pemberton, Lisa Portas and Alan McDermott – 2025 Nuffield reports.

(Image. Left to right: Dani Darke, Jon Pemberton, Lisa Portas, Alan McDermott).

Rural Leaders is pleased to share the 2025 Nuffield Scholars’ Individual Research Reports.

The 2025 Scholars: Dani Darke, Lisa Portas, Jon Pemberton and Alan McDermott* have undertaken research on a diverse range of topics, each addressing significant challenges and opportunities in Food and Fibre.

Take a read of the reports and their summaries here.

Individual topics covered are as follows:

Dani Darke: Dani’s report ‘Rethinking Beef: Evolving to a Market-Led, Sustainable and Scalable Beef Industry in New Zealand’, makes the case that NZ’s beef profitability depends on strategic segmentation, not chasing premium chilled markets.

Go to Dani’s Nuffield report.

Jon Pemberton: Jon’s report ‘Reputation versus Reality in NZ: Searching for our North Star’, argues that New Zealand’s freshwater crisis is not a science or technology problem but an institutional one.

Go to Jon’s Nuffield report.

Lisa Portas: Lisa’s report ‘Strong Wool, Stronger Returns’, examines why New Zealand’s strong-wool sector struggles to capture value despite producing a sustainable fibre.

Go to Lisa’s Nuffield report.

Alan McDermott* Alan’s report, ‘Melting the Poles: Health and Wealth Through Food’, will be available later this year. His report will look at how we can act to transform our food system to address environmental, health and inequity outcomes, while ensuring thriving farmer livelihoods.

*Alan’s report will be available after his Nuffield travel is complete later this year.

We’d like to acknowledge those who have contributed their time and experience to the Scholars, especially our investing, programme, professional, media, and academic partners.

Strategic Partners

DairyNZ, AGMARDT (The Agricultural and Marketing Research and Development Trust), FMG (Farmers Mutual Group), Mackenzie Charitable Foundation

Programme Partners

Rabobank New Zealand, Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), Farmlands Co-operative Society Limited, Beef + Lamb New Zealand, Foundation for Arable Research (FAR), Horticulture New Zealand, Zespri International, Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC)

Professional and Media Partners

PwC New Zealand, Federated Farmers, Tavendale + Partners

Primary Purpose, CountryWide Media, Agri HQ Farmers Weekly

Academic and Regional Partners

Lincoln University (NZ), Massey University – Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa, Whangarei Agricultural and Pastoral, Whanganui & Partners

—

The 2027 Nuffield Scholarships
Applications for the 2027 Nuffield Scholarships open soon. If you know talented individuals you think could make an impact in our primary industries, let us know on our short form (it can be anonymous if you wish).

Head here https://ruralleaders.co.nz/nuffield-scholarship-referrals/

We’ll reach out to them and let them know there are people in their network who think they have what it takes to be a Nuffield Scholar.

Kate Tomlinson on data, diversity and dairy.

Listen to this episode of Ideas that Grow, or click on one of the platform icons below to listen on your favourite player:

2026 In this Ideas that Grow Podcast, Kate Tomlinson, 2026 Mackenzie Charitable Foundation Scholarship winner, talks to Bryan Gibson Managing Editor at Farmers Weekly, and shares her journey from a UK farm to New Zealand, where Kate now blends practical farming with sustainability and data insights in her role with Map of Ag.

As a current Kellogg Programme scholar, Kate is set to research cultural diversity in Canterbury’s dairy workforce. This podcast highlights curiosity, a global perspective, and the value of structured leadership development in shaping future rural leaders.

Episode Transcript

Ideas That Grow is presented in Association with Farmers Weekly. Welcome to Ideas That Grow, the Rural Leaders podcast. I’m your host, Bryan Gibson, Managing Editor of the Farmers Weekly.

This week, our guest is Kate Tomlinson, who is a current member of the Kellogg Programme. Kia ora, Kate, how are you?

Kate Tomlinson, Current Kellogg Scholar (2026 Prog. One), Agricultural Sustainability Analyst Consultant at Map of Ag.
Hello, I’m really good. How are you?

BG: Yeah, really good. So it’s not often on the podcast we get to talk to someone who’s right in the middle of it. You’re in the 55th cohort, I think. Is that right?

KT: Yes.

BG: You’ve been through phase 1 of the programme. For those who don’t know, there are 3 quite in-depth contact courses involved in Kellogg, and the first one is the longest and it’s quite intense. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where’d you grow up? Has farming always been part of your life?

KT: Yeah, so as you can probably tell from my accent, I’m not from Methven originally. I live in Methven, Mid Canterbury now, but originally I’m from a beef and sheep farm in County Durham in England, but moved to New Zealand a couple of years ago.

I was on a sabbatical and like the trap that New Zealand is, ended up wanting to stay longer and I’m now on path to residency. So really exciting. And yeah, farming, it’s always been part of my life, always been, I’d say, in my blood.

It’s my family, it’s my friends, it’s my work, it’s what I do on my weekends off when I just need to get outside. And you know, sometimes … it’s nice to get back and just do something I know how to do. So it’s everywhere, everywhere. It’s kind of, who I am, I’d say.

BG: You currently work for Map of Ag, so you’ve kind of gone from the simplicity of farming to the technology of farming. You’ve run the full spectrum.

Current work at Map of Ag.

KT: Yeah, it’s really interesting and it’s a brilliant place to work. It did take me a while to settle in and to understand. It’s very dynamic. Our HQ is in the UK. We have a base in New Zealand and Australia, and we cover so many different areas of work.

At the core of it, it’s all about data integrity and insights, but it’s almost like a spectrum, and the things that we can be looking at within that. Animal health, animal welfare, antibiotic use, sustainability, greenhouse gas, biodiversity. It’s very varied.

So, I joined about a year ago, and it’s been really cool to spend some time with the UK team. I’m part of the global sustainability team, so I get to cheque in and see what’s happening on that side of the world. And more often than not, it’s bringing it back to this side of the world and saying, these guys are doing this. It’s a cool place to work.

BG: What sort of path did you travel to get, you know, from growing up on a farm to being immersed in farm data?

Cheerful Charlie.

KT: Yeah, it’s not your usual pathway, but what is, really? I went to an agricultural university in the UK called Harper Adams University. I was studying to be a rural chartered surveyor. Do you know Cheerful Charlie? Cheerful Charlie from Clarkson’s Farm?

BG: I don’t, but I suspect many of their listeners do.

KT: Yeah. Okay. So if you bring Charlie to mind, he is Jeremy Clarkson’s advisor. So when Jeremy Clarkson’s like, “I’m going to buy a pub”, and old mate is stood next to him like, “hmm, Jeremy, we need to consider this bit of legislation. What is the cost associated with this?” Blah, blah. So that’s what I was training to do in the UK. A farmer has their accountant, their solicitor, and a rural chartered surveyor, their land agent.

I went to uni for 4 years to study, and then following that, spent 3 years getting qualified as a rural chartered surveyor, providing all sorts of advice. A lot of it is looking at legislation, identifying threats, looking at opportunities, covering not just agriculture, but the business itself and the land that it’s sat on.

Often there’s a farm with residential properties, and commercial opportunities. So that’s where I began. But the desire to come to New Zealand, particularly to farm, was very strong. And after 7 years of battling it out to get qualified, I was very keen to spend some time actually farming. And so I came to New Zealand and I did a bit of dairy farming, as many people do from the UK, on their working holiday visa.

I quickly decided I wanted to do something that was similar to what I was doing before, and I’ve just hopped, skipped, and jumped between farming and a bit of research work at Lincoln Uni or working in an agribusiness type environment, which has eventually led me to this role. Which is having a farmer’s brain, the sustainability knowledge from the UK.

I didn’t quite explain, but that was one of the areas that I ended up in, in the UK, who, as you’ll maybe be aware, they’ve lost or losing a lot of their subsidy and that’s being replaced with environmental opportunities. And yeah, a real interest in seeing a different side of the industry. It’s at the supply chain level, and that’s not an area I’d worked in before. So bringing that all together, that’s how I’ve ended up in farm data, essentially.

A global perspective on data.

BG: You’ve got a unique perspective, I guess, on the differences and similarities between how farmers here and in the UK use data and how important it is. Is it similar?

KT: Yes and no. I guess from this context, when you look at the UK versus Australia and New Zealand, often you’d see in the UK that providing data to your bank or whoever it is who’s requesting your data, particularly when we’re working with supermarkets or suppliers, it might be a requirement of being part of that supply chain.

Here, I’d say it’s less so, and sometimes it’s what is the value to providing that data? So that’s definitely one of the bigger differences. But on both sides of the world, it is like, how do you make that data the most useful it could be for the farmer? Especially as we’re entering an era where there’s so much of it.

And that’s how the business developed, that we were able to take some data and use that for different things. So why should a farmer have to provide data 5 times? When we’ve already collected it, as long as they’ve permissioned it, which is a really important piece, then yeah, using it from different angles as well.

BG: It’s top of mind for most people, both sovereignty and interoperability of the data they have, how it’s used, that sort of thing. So obviously, as we mentioned, you’re in the middle of the Kellogg Programme. I guess you’re underway on your research project. What are you looking at?

Kellogg research – cultural diversity in Canterbury’s dairy workforce.

KT: Not data, which was my original project, but actually I’m looking at something I noticed straight away when I landed and was working on farm. That was the cultural diversity of Canterbury’s dairy workforce. I’ve never worked on a farm with an all Kiwi team. I’ve worked on farms with Nepali, Sri Lankan, Filipino, Indian, South American, British, Irish.

It’s such a diverse place and I found it such a fun environment to work in. You know, one of the guys would be bringing one of the bobbies to the shed, and then next thing you know, we’re talking about his banana farm at home, or you’re learning something else.

I visited Nepal a couple of years ago, so I was speaking to my Nepali neighbour, and I just wanted to explore it further. I wanted to know what’s been happening in the last 10 years, what kind of trends are we seeing? What does that mean going forward?

But particularly how are teams thriving and what challenges might arise from that diversity of team? And does it actually matter at all, or is it personality? That’s what I’m investigating.

BG: Yeah, that’s really cool because the research will tell us that diversity of thought leads to better outcomes as long as the structure they’re in is for purpose. But of course, there are real challenges on even as basic as language, social beliefs, that sort of thing, you know, expectations around family, just like getting stuff done every day can be more of a challenge with people who don’t go about their day in the same way.

KT: Yeah, yeah. And I have a bit of a story that resonated very strongly with me, which hopefully I’ll share, and you tell me if it makes any sense to you, because if not, I’m going to scrap it for the use of my presentation at the end of Kellogg.

There’s a story of a big fish, and the big fish is swimming along, having a great time, and the big fish sees two little fish and says, hey, little fish, how’s the water? And the two little fish are like, what the hell’s water? For me, me moving to New Zealand, you know, we are like cousins basically. And some of the things you guys do, I’m like, we are so different.

I’ve been here a couple years now, and you get to see the water, the water being the world that you live in, the social expectations that are normal, the transparency of people in New Zealand, the fact that there is no hierarchy. Those are things that when you’re living in it the whole time, you might not see. But if your staff have come from completely different ponds with their own invisible things, I could imagine it can be quite jarring.

From some of the (research) interviews, that’s been something that I found as well. Effing and swearing for example. It might just be an expression, but to some people who’ve come here, swearing is against religion and it means so much more, as in, you know, the only time someone swears was when they might try and attack you.

If you’ve just moved to New Zealand and your boss is, ah, “just effing good, put that (whatever) over there”. So, it’s things like that which I’d be quite interested to see about as well.

BG: I’m a fan of that story. It’s used in David Foster Wallace’s famous inauguration address, I think.

KT: Yeah, thank you for quoting him.

BG: And so the Kellogg Programme as a whole, I mean, why did you want to sign up?

Why do the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme?

KT: A few different reasons. I think as a person, I’m very curious about the world, about myself. I’d be quite an introspective kind of person, and in the UK we have Nuffield Scholarships, which there are quite a few more widely available. And as soon as I came to New Zealand, I could see that Kellogg was something that I could access sooner rather than later.

I really wanted to get on it from that kind of self-journey thing, but also to understand and see New Zealand through a different, more structured lens. Especially obviously agriculture, rather than me just being like, how can I build my knowledge of this country in the agricultural industry and go and work here, go to this talk and try and build it myself.

This is a structured programme that has given me access to things and people that I would never ever have had access to, especially coming up and heading to Wellington. I might sound very naive, but politics doesn’t cross my mind very often and it should. So I’m at a point in my life where I’m like, come on Kate, come on, and I think this is going to be the stepping stone I need.

It’s an environment that I thrive in, which is having people who are interested, and then you can build the energy and you can talk about it, and then it clicks, rather than just constantly by yourself trying to piece it all together.

The Kellogg cohort connection
BG: Alongside the learning programme, it’s the cohort of people you’re in who are all on the same journey, which is a big part of the experience, isn’t it?

KT: Yeah, I love them all. Shout out to them all. And we’ve only spent 10 days together.

BG: You know, everything else is, um, going well in terms of the programme? You’re, positive about the whole thing, I can hear.

KT: Yeah, I mean, at what point should I be worried? I mean, a little bit I am worried about the deadline creeping up for getting our projects in. I actually have never experienced time moving this fast in my life, but yeah, really positive.

It’s been great to keep up the connections with the people in the cohort from Phase 1. I recently went to go visit one of the girls who came down south, and it’s just interesting that we’re doing the same thing and we’re so open to ideas and helping each other. Yes, this is still positive. Ask me that in another month. It’ll be fine.

BG: You know, that’s all I can say. It’ll be fine. You know, good luck for the rest of the programme and no doubt as a Kellogg alumni, we’ll be hearing from you again in the wider world of farming again.

KT: Oh yeah, thank you very much.

BG: Thanks for listening to Ideas That Grow, a Rural Leaders’ podcast presented in Association with Farmers Weekly. For more information on Rural Leaders, the Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarship, the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, the Engage Programme, the HortNZ Leadership Programme and the Value Chain Innovation Programme, please visit ruralleaders.co.nz

A new CEO for Rural Leaders.

The Board of Trustees for the NZ Rural Leadership Trust has appointed Christchurch-based James Ryan as Chief Executive Officer of Rural Leaders.

James brings more than 25 years of experience across consulting, environmental policy, and community engagement. His career reflects a positive track record of working alongside farmers, growers, and agribusinesses.

He joins Rural Leaders from Beca, where he led a national business delivering environmental solutions to both public and private sector clients. Prior to this, James served as General Manager of the New Zealand Farm Environment Trust, where he championed sustainability across the food and fibre sector.

“We are pleased to welcome James as Chief Executive. His career reflects a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing our primary industries, and we are confident his leadership will strengthen our ability to develop resilient, forward-thinking leaders for the sector’s future,” says Kate Scott, NZRLT Board Chair.

Having held leadership roles in New Zealand, Dublin, and London, James brings a broad international perspective to the position. He has also held a policy leadership role with DairyNZ, representing the interests of dairy farmers to both local and central government.

An alumnus of the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, he acknowledges the important role Rural Leaders has played in his own professional development, an experience he is passionate about enabling for others.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to work with our partners and a talented team to help meet the sector’s evolving needs. The food and fibre sector is facing a range of challenges and opportunities.

As we look to future, Rural Leaders Trust is well placed to continue to nurture the leaders we need to enable rural communities to flourish,” says James.

He sees the year ahead as an opportunity to further enhance Rural Leaders’ leadership development offering, with a commitment to delivering programmes and initiatives that continue to evolve to meet the rapidly changing needs of the sector.

James Ryan takes up the CEO role at Rural Leaders 23 June.

Alumni in the Spotlight – Kaylene Bennett, Hugh Ritchie, Tracy Brown, Dave Nuku, Malinda Wynyard and more.

Here are just a few of the media pieces covering the impact of Rural Leaders’ Programme Alumni in industries and communities across the sector.

This is just a small sample; the start of the year has been exceptionally busy for our programme alumni.

Kaylene Bennett

Kaylene Bennett (Kellogg 2026)
Kaylene is a current Kellogg Scholar and like the rest of her K55 cohort is gathering data for her research into rural women’s mental health.

Kaylene featured on The Muster Hokonui. She spoke to Andy Muir on 18 March.

To help Kaylene with her research, you can complete her survey here.

Alternatively, if you wish to discuss her research, or for more detail, you can email Kaylene directly at kaylene@beachvalley.co.nz

Geoff Crawford

Geoff Crawford (Kellogg 2025)
Geoff featured in an excellent Beef Country article (pages 52-53). The article, titled ‘The fifth quarter – are farmers paid for this?’

Written by Sarah Perriam-Lampp, Geoff’s Kellogg report is unpacked to ask why farmers are not benefitting from an increase in export value for beef co-products.

Take a read of the article here.

or get your hands on a copy of Beef Country.

Kaitlin Bates

Kaitlin Bates (Kellogg 2025)
Kaitlin’s Kellogg report is covered in Dairy Country by Sarah Perriam-Lampp. The article looks at how smarter, science-based nutrition may hold answers to dairy’s next big gains in productivity and profitability.

Take a read of the article here. (Kaitlin’s in the second article in the link),

or get your hands on a copy of Dairy Country.

Whitney Conder

Whitney Conder (2024 Kellogg)
Whitney featured in F+B Tech covering women in business for International Women’s Day.

In the article Whitney explains that she was drawn to horticulture through a summer job, building a 22-year career.

From hands-on orchard work to management, she values teamwork, adaptability, and learning from successes and failures. Now an Orchard Manager, Whitney focuses on planning and supporting people while staying motivated by challenges and meaningful outcomes daily.

Take a read of the full article here.

Dave Nuku

Dave Nuku (2024 Kellogg)
Pāmu (Landcorp) has announced Dave Nuku is its new Associate Director. He joins the board as an observer from 1 March 2026.

Dave featured in a Rural News article on March 10.

Dave is currently general manager of Ngamanawa Corporation, a Māori entity with a diverse portfolio across forestry, kiwifruit, horticulture, energy, and conservation interests.

On his appointment, he says, “… I look forward to learning from the Board while also bringing my commercial and cultural perspective to support the important role in the primary sector Pāmu has.”

You can read the full article here.

Malinda Wynyard

Malinda Wynyard (Kellogg 2025)
Malinda’s Kellogg report was covered by Sarah Perriam-Lampp in Dairy Country.

Malinda’s report explores., “…the fertile ground for innovation, differentiation and strategic global positioning into emerging markets.”

Take a read of the article here (Malinda’s is the third on the link)

or get your hands on a copy of Dairy Country.

Troy Hobson

Troy Hobson (2022 Kellogg)
Troy recently joined the board of Growing Future Farmers as a Trustee.

Troy has extensive governance and executive leadership experience across agribusiness, finance, Māori commercial organisations and education.

He currently serves on the Fonterra Co-operative Council and is Chair of Eastern and Central Community Trust.

Madison Pannett

Madison Pannett (2021 Kellogg)
Madison recently joined AGMARDT as Programme Delivery Lead (delivering the Common Ground project).

A strategic thinker, a pragmatist, Madison will translate strategy into action plans and lead their delivery for AGMARDT.

Take a read of a LinkedIn post announcing Madison’s new role here.

Kylie Leonard

Kylie Leonard (2023 Nuffield)
Kylie featured on U.S. Dairy Export Council’s ‘Voices from the barn’ podcast. Krysta Harden. President and CEO hosts the podcast.

Kylie talks to Krysta about her passion and pride for the dairy industry.

Take a listen/view here (scroll to down a little to Kylie’s podcast)

Dan Eb

Dan Eb (2021 Nuffield)
Dan has been named the new Deputy Leader of the Opportunity Party. Dan will stand alongside new Leader Qiulae Wong.

“I was really privileged to have both an urban and rural upbringing and those two styles of living have gone on to shape my career,” he said in a recent Herald article.

Dan founded communications agency Dirt Road Comms and Open Farms, an open farm day initiative connecting urban New Zealanders with the agriculture sector.

Dan stands in the North Auckland electorate of Kaipara ki Mahurangi.

Take a read of Dan’s bio on the Opportunity Party page here.

Tracy Brown

Tracy Brown (2020 Nuffield)
Tracy wrote in the latest CountryWide Dairy Country. It’s a positive piece covering our dairying past, present and future and where DairyNZ’s is heading, “DairyNZ is focused on ensuring the levy is our farmers’ best investment.

We take a transparent approach, investing in science, research, advocacy and farm extension for our farmers.”

Take a read of the article here.

or get your hands on a copy of Dairy Country.

Kate Scott

Kate Scott (2018 Nuffield)
Kate spoke to Bryan Gibson on a recent episode of the Farmers Weekly podcast in her capacity as CEO of HortNZ.

At 8:28 in the podcast, Kate chats about the election manifesto HortNZ has just released, which includes the key issues it hopes the next government will address.

Take a listen to Kate’s podcast here.

Hugh Ritchie

Hugh Ritchie (2000 Nuffield)
Hugh Ritchie grows peas, corn and carrots among other crops for McCain on his Hawkes Bay farm.

He spoke to RNZ this week about the blow dealt to NZ vegetable growers by the announcement that McCain will close its processing plant in Hawke’s Bay.

Take a listen to Hugh’s RNZ piece here.

The 2026 Nuffield International Contemporary Scholar’s Conference (CSC)

The Nuffield International 2026 Contemporary Scholars Conference was held in Japan from the 8-15th of March. This was a momentous event, the first CSC to ever be held in Asia, and our Japanese hosts offered us an exceptional experience.

We began our travels early with a day in Tokyo then headed to Awaji Island, known as the legendary birthplace of Japan and famous for their sweet onions.

On Awaji Island we met with international Nuffield scholars, fellows and executives and learnt about Japan’s culture, history, polices, challenges and opportunities. We enjoyed field trips to a variety of farm types which was an honour as Japan doesn’t tend to host farm tours the way NZ does.

For the final two nights we travelled to Mount Kōya (高野山, Kōya-san), a temple settlement founded in 819. The immersive experience included temple lodgings, vegan meals, morning prayers and mediation and snow the first night we arrived!

The Nuffield Japan team ran an excellent event and gave us the opportunity of a lifetime, we are extremely grateful. At the conclusion of CSC we saw each other off, Jared is the first of us to head away for Global Focus Programme travels (follow his experiences @nuffieldgfp1), and Tracey began her individual travel with extended time in Japan.

Our Top Five Learnings from the 2026 Contemporary Scholars Conference:

1. Food security is a national priority but it’s not always reflected in production systems
Japan places a strong emphasis on domestic food security yet many farming systems remain focused on value-add, niche production, enterprise stacking and vertical integration. It was interesting to observe the tension between resilience and profitability and the potential impacts of these.

2. Agriculture is designed to serve society, not just the individual business
Farming is managed in a way that is cohesive with Japanese society and values, and contributes to environmental, cultural, and the sometimes-unspoken community outcomes. There is an understanding and respect for the limitations of farming on an island nation.

3. Rules, structure, and social discipline underpin system success
Clear expectations and a strong respect for rules create order, consistency, and trust across society. This enables systems to function smoothly and may contribute to wellbeing through certainty and shared understanding. This offers an interesting lens for agricultural policy and governance.

4. Workforce and succession challenges are here now
An aging workforce, limited youth return, and a continued reliance on manual labour create some interesting pressures. While automation is not widely embraced (something that surprised us but is explained by nuances in Japanese culture), there must be an opportunity to find a balance that maintains cultural values while addressing the issues around future labour. The most common age of a farmer entering the workforce in Japanese Agriculture is at retirement (“we retire to farm, not retire off of the farm”).

5. Effective leadership starts with empathy and understanding
Many practices that initially seemed unfamiliar or inefficient revealed deeper logic over time. A key takeaway was the importance of observing first, seeking to understand context, and challenging our own assumptions before forming conclusions.

Alice Rule – A delicate balance: vines, vision and family.

Listen to this episode of Ideas that Grow, or click on one of the platform icons below to listen on your favourite player:

In this Ideas That Grow Podcast, Alice Rule, Hawke’s Bay winemaker and 2019 Kellogg Scholar, talks to Bryan Gibson about her journey from a Bay of Islands farm to the wine industry.

Alice discusses her circular glass economy research, leadership lessons from Kellogg, and balancing entrepreneurship, rural advisory work, and family amid uncertain wine markets.

Episode Transcript

BG: Bryan Gibson, Managing Editor of Farmers Weekly:

You’ve joined the Ideas That Grow podcast, brought to you by Rural Leaders. In this series, we’ll be drawing on insights from innovative rural leaders to help plant ideas that grow so our regions can flourish.

Ideas That Grow is presented in Association with Farmers Weekly. Welcome to Ideas That Grow, the Rural Leaders podcast. I’m your host, Bryan Gibson, Managing Editor of the Farmers Weekly.

This week, we are talking to a Kellogg scholar, Alice Rule. Kia ora Alice, how are you?

AR: Alice Rule – Winemaker/Owner, Rural Advisor and 2019 Kellogg Scholar:
Kia ora. Thank you for having me. I’m good.

BG: You were part of Kellogg Cohort 40 in 2019?

Background and the journey to winemaking.

AR: Yeah, that was me. I was actually pretty lucky to get on there that early. They normally have huge waiting lists.

BG: And you’re in the Hawke’s Bay. Is that where you grew up?

AR: No, I grew up on a dairy sheep and beef farm in the Bay of Islands. A wee while away, but I moved to the Hawke’s Bay in my teens to get into the wine industry. I’ve always based myself here, even though I’ve done several vintages elsewhere. We just bought our forever home here. Yeah, this is base.

BG: Growing up on a farm, what caught your eye about viticulture?

AR: Grape growing really appealed to me because you don’t have to get out of bed so early in the morning. Poohed on by cows, that’s pretty relentless. As much as I love that farm life, I thought grapes would be easier, but on the flip side, potentially, in many respects, much, much more difficult.

The wine industry, I think from an outsider, looks very glamorous. It looks sexy. You see all these beautiful photographic images and videos of these swooping vineyards. But actually, behind the scenes, there was a lot of hard work that goes in day in, day out, and those vintages, they’re pretty gruelling.

BG: What part of the winemaking process did you want to be involved in, specifically?

The wine industry context.

AR: I took quite an unconventional approach in that I didn’t actually really specialise in either viticulture or winemaking. Initially, when I first started out, I did a lot of lab work in the wineries, did a lot of cellar work, and then I got into the vineyards because I understood there was this real big disconnect between the understanding on what’s happening in the winery and what was happening in the vineyards.

If anyone in the wine industry will know that there’s often tensions between the two, especially over harvest. I thought I’ll get into the vineyards, and I acted as a technical viticulturist for many years. But balanced that with my first year of winemaking vintages too. A lot of people would choose a discipline, either winemaking or viticulture or marketing in business, and just stay doing that. But that was never mine. Mine was actually far more broad.

BG: You’ve moved away from, specifically, the wine making business into a broader rural advisor role?

AR: Everyone will know that the wine industry is quite a challenging place to be. It has been for quite some time, really. I started exporting in COVID and was lucky enough to get into four international markets. At that time, the business was doing really well. Those four markets were keeping the business going. I was making really good money, but it wasn’t a full-time job for me.

I got into Rural Advisory and worked with a lot of farms on the East Coast. This was post-cyclone Gabrielle, and helped with them. The business has always kept on ticking in the background. I haven’t lost my love for it.

It’s just a plus because at the moment, it’s quite a frightening place to be, really. Producing with markets as uncertain as they are. I’ve been there, and I’ve recently had twin babies, they’re now toddlers. My risk appetite just isn’t there anymore. I’ve got to choose some security, so that’s why having a job as well as this is what I’m doing at the moment.

On Kellogg.

BG: It’s been a few years since you did the Kellogg Programme. What attracted you to it?

AR: I was actually quite young, and I’ve listened to quite a few of these podcasts, and there was quite a few people suggesting and recommending doing it later on. Get life experience and business experience.

I had a mentor, and he linked me up with Lawrence Yule, actually. Lawrence said, Listen, Alice, if there’s one thing that you need to do right now, it is get on to the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme. I didn’t at the time, know a lot about it. I followed his advice, and they let me onto the programme much sooner than what I anticipated, and all the stars aligned.

Reflecting back, that was the best thing that I could have done. For me in my career and where my business was at the time, the best thing that I could have done. Timing was perfect, and I would have been maybe in my late 20s.

BG: Every Kellogg Scholar needs to plough their way through a research report. You did yours on the circular economy of glass?

Kellogg research into glass sustainability.

AR: Yeah, I did. At the time, I couldn’t afford to do Kellogg, so I got a sponsorship through the Glass Packaging Forum and AGMARDT. Thanks to those guys for enabling this opportunity, big shout out.

It was a good opportunity to get behind the hood of what happens with glass in New Zealand once we’ve finished with it, the importance of recycling, what happens in councils where they co-mingle and they have dirty glass is an example, and the huge carbon benefits of actually recycling colour to a basically smashed up glass.

BG: A lot of people, I guess, they enjoy a bottle of wine. They chuck it in the green bin or whatever you’ve got it in your region. Truck takes it away, and you don’t really think about it anymore, do you?

AR: No, you don’t. It’s actually quite a complex system in that there’s only one, or at the time that I did the research, there was only one place that would actually harvest all of this glass. It was all deposited in one place.

We only had one major glass manufacturer, OI. They just recycle and re-melt this down, and that reduces emissions quite significantly because you can re-melt at much lower temperatures than virgin material materials.

It was quite cool. I got to go through the plant and see how it was all collected and the challenges and the waste and the dirtiness of systems where glass isn’t recycled properly. Got to look at the councils that were doing an amazing job, and Tauranga Council was being one of the leaders in that space. Hugely complicated supply system for just glass, but cool thing to research. Very grateful.

BG: The cool thing about doing these research projects is, as you say, you get out there and see stuff happening which is what your work is relevant to, but you also meet a lot of people and ask a lot of questions.

AR: Loads, like New Zealand Wine got involved, our advocacy team. They peer reviewed my report. They pushed it through the sustainable wine growing, and that opened up doors and got me onto the technical advisory group for SWNZ (Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand).

Back then, it was amazing. But again, this is all Kellogg, really. The connections, the learnings, the interactions. It’s not a research project that sits in a drawer.

BG: What about all the other bits of the Kellogg Programme? You have those three and a half weeks in intensive contact with your cohort being bombarded with information, really. When you’re doing it, it does seem a bit overwhelming. How did you find it?

Kellogg leadership skills and being anchored in your values.

AR: It was actually so good. We were really lucky to have such a strong cohort. Like any of my cohort that will be listening to this will agree with me. We are in regular contact. We have got such a strong, and I’m so grateful for that, so many different walks of life. But again, a huge bow of people to become Sounding boards.

I guess another really amazing thing is the people that we managed to meet along the way. They’ve become firm friends. Julia Jones is another example. She’s become the most amazing mentor for me over the years. It just opened so many opportunities.

BG: We’ve talked about the research opportunities that the Kellogg Programme gives you, and of course, the cohort and the connections you make there. But of course, it is a leadership programme. Could you tell me some of the key leadership tools you took out of it?

AR: That’s a cool question. Something that really stood out for me is the amount of confidence that I got out of the programme. It just equips you with so many tools. For me, I was a business owner at the time, and I’ve now moved into a rural advisory capacity. I look at leadership as being more than just a job title.

I’m looking at leadership as being grounded and who you are, owning your values, something I will not compromise on. That comes with this confidence. You get that confidence when you are surrounded by such amazing people and you have been given these opportunities by high performance coaches. That would be a key principle.

I think, it is just being anchored in your values.

I walked away from my MBA at the very last minute because I was anchored in those values. They wouldn’t let me do my dissertation or my research in sustainable business. I had that confidence to say, I’m not here for letters after my name. Catch you later. I’m going to do my dissertation on sustainable land use. I’m just going to do that.

Equally in the workplace, just having the courage to walk away from ongoing disrespect, I think that is leadership. To be trusted and respected and be that voice that people want to pick up the phone and call you, that to me is leadership. It takes time, and Kellogg plays a big part in that.

BG: That’s great to hear. It sounds like you really took a lot out of the programme.

AR: I did. Thank you.

Thanks for listening to Ideas That Grow, a Rural Leaders’ podcast presented in Association with Farmers Weekly. For more information on Rural Leaders, the Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarships, the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, the Horticulture NZ Leadership Programme, the Engage Programme and the Value Chain Innovation Programme, please visit ruralleaders.co.nz.

Alumni in the Spotlight – Lisa Portas, Dani Darke, Caroline Batley, Nathan Guy, and more.

Here are just a few of the media pieces covering the impact of Rural Leaders’ Programme Alumni in industries and communities across the sector.

Caroline Batley

Caroline Batley (Kellogg 2022)

Caroline Batley recently completed two years as a Trustee of the Waikato Farmers Trust. In 2025 Caroline was also appointed the new Chairperson of the St Peter’s Owl Farm Governance Committee.

Nathan Guy

Nathan Guy (Kellogg 1999) was appointed Special Agricultural Trade Envoy (SATE) late last year. He replaces Hamish Marr (2019 Nuffield Scholar) in the role.

He featured in a recent Rural News article in his capacity as SATE, saying the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India is a good deal for the country.

You can read the full article here.

Lisa Portas

Lisa Portas (Nuffield 2025, Kellogg 2019) has become Associate Trustee AGMARDT, replacing Phil Weir (2020 Nuffield Scholar).

Wairarapa-based, Lisa has over a decade of experience working in agriculture, rural businesses and supply chains in New Zealand and internationally.

Take a read of this Farmers Weekly article on Lisa and the AGMARDT appointment.

Dani Darke

Dani Darke (2025 Nuffield Scholar) and her husband Anthony recently spoke at B+LNZ Tasman Farming for Profit Field Day. They are sheep and beef farmers from the King County, farming Coopworth ewes and Fresian bulls.

Dani is a director for Ballance Agri-Nutrients and is currently finishing off a Nuffield Scholarship with a focus on how we sell our beef to the world. Dani is passionate about rural communities and is interested in making our farms more profitable and our communities stronger.

Michael Tayler

Michael Tayler (2012 Nuffield Scholar) currently serves as chair of United Wheatgrowers New Zealand. Based in Christchurch, the organisation manages grower levies, insurance schemes, and industry representation.

Michael featured in a Farmers Weekly article in January (and on TVNZ) about hail-affected cropping farmers counting losses in the millions after a series of extreme hail events, the worst recorded by United Wheatgrowers.

Three major hail events hit Canterbury farmers over the Christmas and New Year period, stripping crops. Michael said on average one hail event would affect 300 to 400 hectares. But from these events, 71 claims had been made accounting for almost 5,000ha of wheat.

Take a read of last month’s article here.

Kate Scott

Kate Scott (2018 Nuffield Scholar), Rural Leaders’ Chair and HortNZ CEO, appeared in Hort News recently. Kate reflected on the achievements the sector has seen over the last year, especially apples and kiwifruit.

Regarding apple exports pushing past the billion dollar mark, Kate says, “I think that is testament to apple growers, particularly if they have been recovering from the effects of Cyclone Gabrielle,” she says.

Take a read of the full article here.

Kylie Leonard

Kylie Leonard (2023 Nuffield Scholar) appeared in Farmers weekly recently. Kylie’s Nuffield research explored the effects of ESG on farm finance and this was central to the article.

Kylie travelled widely on her Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarship, and gained new perspectives on farming systems, ESG and the role farmers play in strong, resilient communities.

Take a read of the full Farmers Weekly article here.

Tim Orlando-Reep – on catchment groups, carbon credits and Kellogg.

Listen to this episode of Ideas that Grow, or click on one of the platform icons below to listen on your favourite player:

In this Ideas That Grow Podcast, 2025 Kellogg Scholar Tim Orlando-Reep shares how his Waikato beef farm integrates carbon forestry, biodiversity ambitions and catchment collaboration.

While pine credits stack up financially, his research through the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme explores how native plantings can balance profitability with environmental impacts.

Episode Transcript

BG: Bryan Gibson, Managing Editor of Farmers Weekly: You’ve joined the Ideas That Grow podcast, brought to you by Rural Leaders. In this series, we’ll be drawing on insights from innovative rural leaders to help plant Ideas That Grow so our regions can flourish. Ideas That Grow is presented in association with Farmers Weekly.

Welcome back to Ideas That Grow, a Rural Leaders podcast. I’m Bryan Gibson, Managing Editor of the Farmers Weekly, and our first guest for 2026, is recent Kellogg Programme graduate, Tim Orlando-Reep. Tim, how’s it going?

TO-R: Tim Orlando-Reep, Beef Farmer, 2025 Kellogg Scholar:
Hi, Bryan. How are you going? Thanks for having me.

BG: Now, you’re farming up in coastal Waikato, aren’t you?

A diverse Waikato beef farm.

TO-R: Yeah, we’re based in the Northwest Waikato. About 10k’s as a crow flies, from the Coast. So, we get some nice westerlies here. Very nice area. Lived here pretty much my whole life. We fatten cattle up here, so buying in a lot of wieners and finishing them and sending to the works.

BG: Obviously, you’ve got a pretty diverse operation. You’ve got some carbon farming going on as well?

TO-R: We’ve got about 10 to 12 hectares of pine trees and second rotation carbon. My father was a bit of a pioneer when it came to grabbing onto the carbon market. He had a love of trees, and we’re taking that to the next level. We have been doing a lot of carbon farming through the pine trees, and we also do a lot of spaced willows and poplars throughout the farm. As well as the carbon advantage, I guess, we also have the advantage of shelter for stock, which is becoming more and more prevalent and much more important.

Also, if the worst does come to the worst, we can always do a bit of pruning in the summer there and feed some of the forage. It works really well. It’s a great way of beautifying at the farm as well and providing a bit of colour in the autumn.

BG: How does the carbon farming or the forestry side of things, how does that fit into your overall strategy of farming? Is it easily done? How did you go about it?

TO-R: We identified the steeper parts of the farm. We’re quite lucky up here. We have some really good soils, but there are some fragile steep parts. Probably the only thing we could have done with that really was put it into pine trees. I remember most of my school holidays planting pine trees, especially throughout the winter, through those steep areas where the cattle were making a bit of a mess.

Even now, we’re identifying places where it should have gone into trees, but we’re looking at now how we can diversify that a bit more. But look, it’s a project, it’s about 12 hectares, and we prune it all ourselves. We thin it all ourselves.

Tell you what, on a hot summer’s day, like it has been for the last week or something, there’s nothing better than escaping to the forestry and pruning some trees 12: 00 to 3: 00 for a bit of shade and check in on a podcast and get an idea of what’s going on in the world.

BG: You mentioned natives briefly. Of course, you recently went through the Kellogg Programme, and your scholar report was about developing a more robust biodiversity credit system.

Kellogg research into carbon credits.

TO-R: It was really interesting. We’re now identifying probably not the most fragile areas on the farm, but the next layer down, so the LUC 5 stuff. Instead of putting a pine tree on there, I’m just trying to work out, well, the idea was what we put on there that could compete with the pinus radiata. How could a native stack up, I guess, as far as income per hectare.

At the moment, it’s chalk and cheese as far as that comparison goes, compared to a fast-growing exotic like a pinus radiata. I really want to delve down and see what we can do as an industry or even as a nation as far as how can we encourage farmers and landowners to be planting native instead of pinus radiata.

It might not be one to one as far as income is concerned, but something that’s close to that has a little bit more longevity and a bit more permanence compared to every 25 years, basically destroying the hillside. At the moment, I’m pruning some trees at the back of the farm So it’s 10, 12 years old, and there’s some beautiful ferns and stuff coming through.

And I think, in 15 years’ time, this is all going to be decimated if we continue this whole cycle of harvesting pinus radiata. If I could back it up before they went in and I could put in a native tree and receive the same income than I can from carbon credit, then that’d be a win-win for everybody.

And that’s what I really wanted to delve into as far as (my Kellogg research) the project was concerned. Because what do we have to do to really excite people about putting in a native plant instead of an exotic. Where is the financial reward? Because at the end of the day, the feel good factor doesn’t pay the mortgage. We need to make sure it’s feasible from a financial viewpoint.

So, what’s holding farmers back from being excited about putting in a native tree? It was really exciting going through the process of the research and understanding through a survey, through quite a large number of people, through the Waikato. A lot of people are already putting native plants in place, and they’re doing it off their own, off their own back. They’re not doing it for a financial reward.

They’re doing it for ecological or freshwater reasons. But there’s no (financial) reward for that. I just feel as though if there’s some way of supporting farmers to even bring back some of financial input they put into that so they can establish a bit more, it’s got to be a lot better than what it is at the moment, where you’re just pouring money into something that looks great and is a great thing for the environment. There’s no financial incentive, I guess, to do that. It was exciting to see that farmers are just doing it anyway. I just feel as though there’s a real opportunity here for farmers to be able to monetise or financially receive something for that.

BG: It would seem to me it’s more of a holistic way of looking at things. I mean, carbon farming is a reward system for battling greenhouse gas emissions, and you get rewarded for that.

Planting natives also combats climate change, but as you say, in a slightly slower way. But the fresh water implications, the biodiversity implications from diverse native plantings, that’s also really beneficial to everyone. Why can’t we come up with a reward system for that?

TO-R: Exactly. Look, there’s been a lot of work done around this area, and internationally, there are some good established schemes. Domestically as well, we have Maungatautari Mountain with Ekos, and they’ve done some fantastic work over there.

The thing that I’ve realised is it’s a lot more complicated to measure than carbon credit. So, carbon credit is just the species of tree times the amount of hectares of that species of tree cover. And it’s a fairly standard equation. When we come into biodiversity, how do you measure that? And that’s one of the things I got from my semi-structured interviews, is that it is so complicated.

A lot of the costs of auditing that get sucked up by our subject matter experts, our auditors, and all that thing. And does that follow through effect go back to the people who are actually putting the plants on the ground?

So, it was an interesting process to understand that, and then also, how could we pick some of the low hanging fruit there and say, right, we understand what’s probably restricting our biodiversity support or advancement in these areas already.

How can we help steady the ship, I guess, for the lack of a better phrase, and move forward and increase some of that biodiversity in some of those areas already. It was interesting.

BG: Yeah. I mean, it’s really heartening to hear that a lot of the farmers up your way are already on board ideologically with this stuff and are just doing it because they feel like it’s a good thing to do for them.

I guess some of these plantings, as you say, you’re seeing more heat events up there, the volume of rainfall is rising. I guess that work will build a bit more resilience into the farming system.

TO-R: I think a lot of farmers have realised that already. Bill Garland is a classic example. We’ve had a few open days up there, and what he’s developed over the last 20, 30 years on that property, he still has the weather events, but he’s the person who now says, well, look, we can put in something here, and it’s not going to get destroyed because we put in some mitigation.

That’s just a byproduct of what they’ve done. They’ve decided that’s the best land use for that particular gully. The flow-on effects of what’s done downstream have just been fantastic.

You’re right, it’s just building up a bit of resilience. It’s going to save you money in the long term, isn’t it? I feel so sorry for the people who have had these weather events, especially on the East Coast. You’re putting in fences again that you’ve probably only put in a couple of years ago. That can be quite a soul-destroying, and it’s hard. Until you get to that stage where you can start thinking long term, it’s a hard road.

Catchment groups.

BG: You mentioned Bill there. I mean, you’re quite a fan, I understand, of catchment groups, the catchment, collective way of thinking of things, farmers working together for a common goal. Do you think that’s the model for the future of environmental progress in New Zealand farming?

TO-R: Yeah, Bryan, I think that’s a really good point. The catchment groups tend to be very farmer-orientated. I think farmers learn a lot more by going out and seeing something and learning from someone else who’s done something compared to a group that might come in and say, right, this is how it should be done.

The catchment group, that farmer-led initiative, has a lot more clout than we give it credit for. It’s easy to see what’s going on in our area, especially. We’ve got King Country River Care down the road. West Waikato catchment just to the west of us. Our catchment, Whangapē, leads into a freshwater lake that goes into the Waikato River.

We have our challenges here, and it’s great to see a key group of people getting together and bringing other people in and saying, hey, this is what we’ve done. What do you think? And we have some informal days where people just bring their own packed lunch in a thermos and we’re just going to have a look at what people have done. I think the value in that for other farmers is to say, oh, gee, it’s not actually that hard to go and maybe just identify an area.

Now I’ve met all these people who have done a bit of work like that. Maybe I can ask them instead of asking the council if they’re nervous about getting the council involved or whatever. It is farmer-orientated action approach. Some of the things that we’ve talked about in the last month or so, it’s like, how do we go around and help other people plant out or give them advice without any external influence at all?

I spent four days planting natives last winter, and it’d be great just to spend half a day doing that and having a group come over, and then I can go and spend half a day somewhere else. I think that collaborative approach is probably a lot more beneficial for a lot more than just putting plants in the ground. It’s having a yarn and having a chat and talking about all the challenges that everyone has had.

Reflecting on Kellogg.

BG: You’ve had a month or so or so to recover from the Kellogg experience. How are you feeling about the whole thing? What was the experience like?

TO-R: It’s funny. I almost put it out of my head before Christmas. Then last week I thought, it’s actually stimulated a whole lot more thinking about the process and the project, what I learned. I think that’s one thing that Kellogg does really well, by having these blocks, you get bombarded with information and all the cool stuff that goes on, then you get a chance to go away and think on it. And then also the project in the background as well.

It just really changed my way of thinking about things and really engaging in a different way of interpreting information, I guess, for lack of a better word. And even now, I’ve got my little blue book, and I sat back and read it just so I was doing a bit of prep for this over the last couple of days, and just picked up some little bits. I seem to be using it more often than not. Some leadership programmes, you go and you do it for a day, and then I think after the second or third day, you might retain 20 % of it.

The way the Kellogg Programme was designed was just so good at reinforcing some of those things you learned before. And the crew that you end up with in your cohort. We’ve got such a wide range of people from the top of the north to the bottom of the south, and not just beef farmers! Outside my comfort zone, we’ve got dairy, we’ve got horticulture, we’ve got the wine industry, we’ve got everything going on.

It’s just a great opportunity to be able to get someone else’s point of view. Really, over those four or five days you’re together (during phases), you can really drill down into what they’re thinking and what they see the world as and share some good ideas. Yeah, no, really fantastic. We haven’t even got into mentioning the people we get to meet as far as presenters. There’s some absolute gold that we pulled out of there.

BG: Just for our listeners, I must admit that I was part of Tim’s Kellogg cohort, but I promise that all of his thoughts are his own.

TO-R: I was going to mention gentleman as well, but I wasn’t too sure if we were sharing that information. That’s great. It was an absolute blast.

BG: Yeah, it was, wasn’t it? How’s the year ahead looking for you? You got any big plans, working on any projects or just focusing on the farm? A bit of both?

TO-R: As far as we’re really We’re trying to develop our catchment, so we’ve got a catchment coordinator on board. That’s been really interesting because it’s moved me away from the day-to-day running, and now I’m looking after that part. The farm is going fantastically.

We instigated Halter a couple of years ago, so we’re increasing our stocking rate. We’re trying to balance the environmental impact of that versus the economic impact. And just trying to bring the farm up to the next level. So it’s an exciting time, and I’m really enjoying it. Excellent.

BG: Thanks, Tim.

TO-R: Thanks, Bryan.

BG: Thanks for listening to Ideas That Grow, a Rural Leaders’ podcast presented in Association with Farmers Weekly. For more information on Rural Leaders, the Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarships, the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, the Horticulture NZ Leadership Programme, the Engage Programme and the Value Chain Innovation Programme, please visit ruralleaders.co.nz.

Future Food and Fibre Leaders Pulse Check – PwC and Rural Leaders.

What’s top of mind for Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme Scholars?

Rural Leaders, in partnership with PwC New Zealand, piloted Future Food and Fibre Leaders Pulse Check with Kellogg Programme One early in 2025.

Pulse Check is a snapshot of what’s top of mind for Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme Scholars, captured through workshops facilitated by PwC and Rural Leaders.

The second Pulse Check with Kellogg Programme Two 2025, captured five key messages.

Here are two:

Adapt and lead through changing times
Be empowered to redefine success

Click here to discover more in the short report.

Thank you to PwC, and to our Strategic and Programme Partners for their ongoing support of the Kellogg Programme and our shared mission to grow leadership in the food and fibre sector.

Lisa Rogers – on Rural Leaders, rural leadership, and on potential.

Listen to this episode of Ideas that Grow, or click on one of the platform icons below to listen on your favourite player:

In this episode of Ideas That Grow, Bryan Gibson, Farmers Weekly Managing Editor, talks to Lisa Rogers, outgoing CEO of Rural Leaders. 

Lisa reflects on her nine-year tenure, the growth of Rural Leaders, and the lasting impact of programmes such as Kellogg and Nuffield.

She highlights leadership development, collaboration, alumni influence, and the organisation’s vital role in building confident, capable leaders for New Zealand’s food and fibre sector.

Episode Transcript

Bryan Gibson, Managing Editor of Farmers Weekly:
Welcome to Ideas That Grow, the Rural Leaders podcast. I’m Bryan Gibson, Managing Editor of the Farmers Weekly, and we have a very special guest this time to see out 2025. It is the outgoing, as we now know, Chief Executive of Rural Leaders, Lisa Rogers. Kia ora Lisa, how’re you going?

LR: Lisa Rogers, CEO Rural Leaders:
Kia ora, Bryan. I’m going really well, thank you, as we head into the final phase of what has been another really productive year for Rural Leaders.

BG: Now, you’ve been with the organisation more than a decade, and about two and a half of as the Chief Executive, how does it feel to be stepping away?

On Rural Leaders and Kellogg.

LR: It’s bittersweet in some ways because I’ve got a fantastic team and I’ve met so many amazing people throughout our sector over the nearly nine years that I’ve been with the organisation, and it’s been very hands-on all through that time.

But at the same time, really excited for moving into a new chapter for myself, but also know that the team is just in such a great spot in the organisation as well. I think that’s one of the best legacies that any leader can leave, is knowing that the organisation can just keep hurtling along in a way that’s actually going to make everyone proud of what we’re doing.

BG: My apologies there. I added a couple of years to your age.

LR: Oh, yeah, that’s all right. Sometimes it feels like it’s been decades. In a good way.

BG: Now, I’m a member of the alumni. I can tell that we do age people prematurely.

LR: You had an awesome time as a Kellogger. How have you found that experience afterwards? How did it change you, Bryan?

BG: It changed me massively, to be honest. You have a narrow view of yourself and what you’re good at, and you don’t know whether that can translate into bigger things, I guess. The course, the specific things you learn, but also just the talking to people and meeting people and that thing, it makes you realise that, yes, you can do big things, and actually that skill set that you have is really valuable. Yeah, no, it’s really cool.

On potential.

LR: Yeah, the amount of personal growth that we see in people is extraordinary. And that’s the biggest satisfaction that I take out of all of my time is watching these people who, in my opinion, like buds of a flower where they’re just all potential. And they actually realise that going through. But a lot of them, it’s happening so slowly that they don’t always realise until they get to the end. And then they reflect and they go, wow. And it’s that sense of being able to have self-confidence in that being self-aware is what we absolutely love in our programmes, and actually for the sector as well.

I think a lot of our people in Food and Fibre are a fairly low key about their own ability, and they may not have always been in environments where that’s actually been celebrated or highlighted. To be able to bring that out in people is just extraordinary and show them that they’ve got all this value and knowledge to contribute as well, which is cool. As an aside, we often do a survey on who’s doing what around the sector.

Alum from our programmes are just hugely represented in leadership positions throughout food and fibre sector, which is really important because otherwise, we will have the same people being, dare I say, worked to death slowly.

It’s massively important for these people to be coming through and have the confidence to start stepping up into roles where it could be governance, it could be politics, it could be leadership in an organisation, all sorts of things that they can contribute towards. So it’s wonderful.

On productive discussion and debate.

BG: One of the other key things, I think maybe I think about it more because of my job as a journalist, but the programmes create an environment where you can, for want of a better phrase, argue with compassion, if you know what I mean. You can thrash out these big challenges. Everyone’s coming from a different place, but everyone respects everyone else.

LR: Yeah, I think setting the ground rules nice and early around that in our programmes, but also the people that are selected to attend these programmes as well. They have a little bit more of that social understanding of how to actually do that. Having what are really productive conversations and debates, but everyone can go out and have a beer at the end of the day, is such a mature and enlightened way of being able to thrash out these ideas, because if we can’t do that, then everyone just sits in their own little corners, don’t they? And we get nothing done as a sector. I suppose underlying that is collaboration, really, isn’t it? But it’s without actually using collaboration as the word. It’s just inherent in everything that we actually do, which is so good.

BG: I guess related to that, most people are pretty familiar with the Kellogg and the Nuffield programmes. But of course, that discovering new perspectives on our world and our food production sector, that really fits into some of the other programmes you have, like the Value Chain Programme.

On Rural Leaders’ recent history.

LR: So when I reflect, as I am at the moment. I started nine years ago, Anne Hindson, who set up New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust as the first CE, did an amazing job of bringing together two of our most iconic programmes in the sector, so Nuffield Farming Scholarships and the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme. Both of them had been going for a long time.

We’ve just celebrated 75 years of Nuffield Farming Scholarships in New Zealand. They needed a bit of a refresh in being able to bring in both programmes together gave them a new lease of life, as it were. I started working with Anne, and that was an amazing opportunity to start from the ground up with an organisation. And then as we’ve gone along, we had Chris Parsons join us in 2020, and he pushed the accelerator, on that and said, there’s more that you can do, and gave us the vision to actually see how that could be possible. That was awesome as well to start accelerating at quite a swift rate of knots. But since then, and under my tenure, we now run five different programmes in the calendar year.

Kellogg gets run twice, and then we do quite a few bespoke programmes as well. Those bespoke ones are usually a spin-off of what our Engage programme is. It is a joint venture with us in Lincoln University, and that is all around capability for people coming into the sector, but it’s also about continuous learning and improvement for different organisations throughout the sector as well.

We’re doing some really neat stuff around that that’s short and sweet, so different to our longer, traditional programmes. There’s a real need for that in the sector. We’ve got all the fantastic contacts and people who give us their time because they value what Rural Leaders does. I think that’s one of our biggest legacies that we’ve got, is that people understand the value of what we do.

On collaboration.

So as a result, we’ve got this amazing stable of programmes, and we love working with other organisations as well. So every now and again, we get the opportunity to partner up with some of our other friends in the sector or offer opportunities to attend our programme as ways of increasing that applying for newer people into the sector, for example, working with Young Farmers, Federated Farmers, and Dairy Women’s Network.

Having this big ecosystem or a whanau is It’s amazing for us to get to know all these different people. There’s room for all of us in the sector. Nearly 380,000 people in the sector. I think if you can’t find a space in a niche for everything, then there’s something really fundamentally wrong. We fully get that. Times are tough at times for our producers. The first thing that can often have a line put through it is training and development. We get that because sometimes it really does come down to those last few dollars.

I think most people understand the value of what we’re doing. To our credit in the sectors as well, and our investing partners with whom we literally couldn’t do this without them. We’ve seen through COVID, we’ve seen through tough times out there for return on farm, and people are still valuing that development and that leadership training and experience people are getting through our programmes.

BG: One amazing thing I’ve just clarified in my head, you do these big projects as part of the Kellogg or Nuffield Programme. As someone who’s done post-grad tertiary qualifications before, that’s all well and good, but with the Kellogg Project, especially, it seems like it’s just not for you because you’re contributing to a pool. It has ramifications for your small wedge of the pie, the bit of food production you work in, and for the sector as a whole. It’s more you’re doing it for something bigger than your own.

On alumni and their research.

LR: Too right, Bryan. We see our alumni and our reports as our two biggest treasures of troves, as it were. Actually, one of the team, Matt Hampton, did a bit of digging the other day and realised that we’re in the top five (holders) of rural research reports that are sitting with any one organisation in New Zealand.

They’re free for everyone to access. They’re sitting there on our websites, and a lot of them are incredibly topical years after being written. The way for us to keep pushing those and making sure that they’re available and through different tools that we’ve got available on our system is extraordinary.

There’s about 1,500 alumni in total for the Rural Leaders programmes, which when you think that Nuffield has had about 194/195 in total in 75 years, It just goes to show it’s a pretty special group of people. We don’t like to think of ourselves as being in any way exclusive or anything, but we are special. The value that our alumni get over the years when they reflect on that is something that we’re seeing through people approaching us for legacy payments and gifting as well, which you get that at a university level.

You don’t always see that in our programme that you’ve done with an organisation. We are incredibly thrilled to be able to be part of that. But in my nine years, I reflect, I’ve had direct contact or seen over 400 Kelloggers go through. I’ve had at least 40 Nuffielders do their programmes as well, and countless others for Value Chain and Engage and the HortNZ Leadership Programme. The touch points with our alumni are incredibly important and very special to me. It’s been quite a, not bittersweet, but satisfying to think that we’ve had a really positive impact on so many people around the country.

BG: I guess looking big picture, given some recent struggles in terms of big challenges in our sector, there has been a lot of naval gazing about how we develop leaders, how do you go about it? Do we set our future leaders up well to succeed or do the people who give them the mandate, understand what they’re doing, all these big things. Obviously, Rural Leaders is one of the big pipelines of leadership skills and strategies, that sort of thing. What’s your take on where we’re sitting at the moment?

LR: I think it’s always going to be something that needs focus continually. You can’t take your foot off the accelerator. To bring people through into those leadership roles is vital. I also believe strongly, but in a really positive way, that our Māori scholars are also in demand.

We need a lot more of our fantastic Māori Kellogg and Nuffield Scholars to step up into these roles and encourage that, but they will do that in their own way in their own time. We’re here to support, of course.

BG: I guess I speak for every person who’s done a Kellogg or a Nuffield to say thank you for your leadership of the programmes over time and wish you best in whatever you choose to do next.

LR: I’m laughing with some of my friends and saying I’m having a gap year at last. But no, certainly we’ll be looking to be back into it again by April, May. That’s when I’ve got something organised. But in the meantime, going to be enjoying a fabulous summer off. And those who know me all know that that probably involves a bit of golf and lots of time with family and friends. So couldn’t be happier. But also my team here know that if they ever need to know where something is or something that they were thinking about a while back, they can always ring me.

But yeah, I’ll definitely leave with a lovely smile on my face because I know that the organisation is in great heart and thriving. Yeah, so awesome.

BG: Excellent. Thanks, Lisa.

Thanks for listening to Ideas That Grow, a Rural Leaders’ podcast presented in Association with Farmers Weekly. For more information on Rural Leaders, the Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarship, the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, the Engage Programme and the Value Chain Innovation Programme, please visit ruralleaders.co.nz.

Hamish Murray: Building stronger on-farm teams by getting out of the way.

After six months, 19 in-person days, delivered across three phases, K54 Kellogg Programme Two 2025, have completed their individual research reports and have graduated.

Congratulations Kellogg Programme Two 2025

Rural Leaders are pleased to share the latest reports from the graduates of Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme Two 2025 (K54).

Over the last six months the graduates have grown as people and as leaders. A large part of this growth has come from a deep dive into a research topic of interest to them and of value to the sector.

Congratulations to all of the Scholars. Anna Vaughan, Matt Scarf, Tara Dwyer, Tim Orlando-Reep, Natasha Cave, David March, Tim Waehling, Bryan Gibson, Nick Vernon, Nicky Halley, Zac Howell, Pranoy Pal, Geoff Crawford, Olivia Smith, Campbell Smith.

The reports covers such topics as: Biodiversity credit for sheep and beef farmers, news with value, genotyping the NZ sheep flock, wearables, dairy social license, data interoperability, and competition vs collaboration.

You can read K54’s reports here

The design and delivery of the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme is only possible through the generous and ongoing support of our investing partners:

Strategic Partners: DairyNZ,AGMARDT (The Agricultural and Marketing Research and Development Trust),Mackenzie Charitable Foundation,FMG (Farmers Mutual Group).

Programme Partners: Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI),Farmlands Co-operative Society Limited,Horticulture New Zealand,Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC),Zespri International,Rabobank New Zealand,Beef + Lamb New Zealand.

Media Partners: CountryWide Media, Farmers Weekly NZ

Professional Partners: PwC, Tavendales, Federated Farmers

The Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme has been developing leaders for the rural and agri-food sector since 1979.

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The Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarship is one of the most valued awards in New Zealand’s primary sector.

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Innovating for our fast-changing value chains.

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Fast-track your food and fibre skills, knowledge, and confidence.

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Develop horticulture-specific leadership knowledge and skills.

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On Rural Leaders and Kellogg.

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On productive discussion and debate.