2026 Nuffield NZ Farming Scholarship. Apply by 17 August 2025. Read More...

Apply for 2026 Nuffield NZ Farming Scholarship by 17 August 2025. More details...

Rural Leaders News

Horticulture NZ keen to work with new Government

‘In 2019, the New Zealand horticulture industry was worth more than $6.39 billion and has grown by 64% in the past ten years. That is thanks to industry innovation and grower investment in new varieties and growing techniques to stay ahead of international competition and respond to consumer preferences. This growth is also because the

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NZ sheep & beef farms close to being carbon neutral

Beef +Lamb NZ recently released a significant new piece of independent research that shows the woody vegetation on New Zealand sheep and beef farms is offsetting between 63 percent and 118 percent of their on-farm agricultural emissions, meaning our farms are close to being carbon neutral. Link to report: https://beeflambnz.com/net-carbon-report “This research shows that of

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2021 Nuffield Scholars

2021 Nuffield NZ Scholarships Awarded

Photo from left to right: Lynsey Stratford, Daniel Eb, David Eade, Hon Minister Damien O’Connor, John Foley, Ben Anderson    Media release, Tuesday, 3rd November 2020 The latest cohort of emerging leaders in New Zealand’s primary sector were awarded a 2021 Nuffield NZ Farming Scholarship at Parliament on 3rd November. The Scholarships were awarded by

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Siobhan O’Malley & Wayne Langford – Meat the Need

In our last newsletter we featured the work Siobhan O’Malley and Wayne Langford have been doing with their new charitable venture ‘Meat the Need’.  Tune in to this podcast where Siobhan and Wayne talk about how and why they got started on the ‘Meat the Need’ charity concept. To find out more about Meat the

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Anna Nelson’s work for King Country River Care Group

Anna Nelson, 2016 Kellogger, is currently working as the Co-ordinator for King Country River Care Group. Anna recently featured on Sarah’s Country where she talked about the work she has been doing for the King Country River Care Group who have been awarded an $844K grant to support clean waterways in the King Country. Click

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Programme partners update

We were pleased to welcome LIC on board as a Programme Partner in June this year with the signing of a three-year agreement. Our partnership with LIC helps support NZ Rural Leaders mission to grow world class leaders capable of local, national and international impact. LIC is a herd improvement and agri-technology co-operative that empowers

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NZTE Funding Assistance for Kellogg Applicants

Rural Leaders are now registered with the NZTE business Capability Scheme. applicants may be eligible to receive funding assistance up to 50% of the Kellogg course fee. Kellogg applicants now may be eligible to receive funding assistance up to 50% of their course fee.​ Do you qualify for funding? The following criteria will be used

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Rebecca Hyde’s Nuffield Journey

Videos | Articles | Report Rebecca’s video insights from her travels around the world Before leaving… Notes from India Brazil Denmark Quatar USA USA continued United Kingdom Canada, Ireland, UK China Rebecca Hyde’s Nuffield Report: Effective industry collaboration of environmental gains Rebecca’s stories and articles Rebecca Hyde: REX Interview, what’s next for 2021 Nuffield Programme?

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Hamish Murray : Lessons for farm teams in study

Nuffield Scholar Hamish Murray’s work on the changing nature of farm work highlights how even that bastion of stalwart farming types needs to change to remain a relevant, exciting and desirable place to work for a new generation. Read the full article sourced from Farmers Weekly (18 June 2020) here. Click here to listen to

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Corrigan Sowman : All Black thinking tackles stress

Nuffield Scholar Corrigan Sowman believes an All Black approach to thinking will build more resilience in farmers. Farmers are under increasing pressure as changes in society, technology and climate leave them questioning their role as producers of food. The challenges are making the right decisions for their wellbeing and producing food modern consumers demand.  Corrigan

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Nigel Woodhead : Young Leaders Vision

Nigel Woodhead completed the Kellogg Rural Leadership programme in 2019 and that same year, sat at the most sought-after strategy table in NZAg – the Primary Sector Council. The young Otago farmer reflects on his leadership journey so far. This article appeared in the June 2020 edition of ‘The Farmlander.’ Click here to read the full article on page 20.

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Rebecca Hyde: REX Interview, what’s next for 2021 Nuffield Programme?

Rebecca Hyde, NZ Rural Leaders Trustee and 2017 Nuffield Scholar joined Hamish McKay and Richard Loe on Rural Exchange (Sunday 14 June) to talk about what’s next for the 2020 Nuffield Scholarship Programme post the COVID19 global travel restrictions. OPEN NOW!2021 Nuffield NZ Farming Scholarships Applications  Are you an NZ Farmer/grower or Agribusiness Professional looking

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Bio-ethics can help tough choices – Ben Hancock

Ben Hancock, 2019 Nuffield Scholar joined Sarah Perriam recently to talk about his scholar report ‘Rural Leadership taming the wicked problems‘ and how to grow the toolbox to foster society’s trust. Click here to listen to the full podcast on Sarah’s Country – 20th May. Ben also spoke with Richard Rennie from Farmers Weekly (28th

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Mat Hocken on working smarter

Mat Hocken, 2017 Nuffield NZ Scholar and Chairman of the Rural Innovation Lab recently featured on Sarah’s Country along with his wife Jana. They talked to Sarah about the concept behind their venture the Rural Innovation Lab and how to work smarter, not harder. 

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Craige Mackenzie on Climate Change

Craig Mackenzie, 2008 Nuffield Scholar, recently featured in the Irrigation NZ News, Autumn 2020 edition (see page 16).  With knowledge about climate change and the environment, farming for the future is a passion for Craige.  Read the full article here ‘Climate change: A Farmer’s perspective.’

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Nadine Porter in Wales

Nadine is a 2017 Nuffield NZ Scholar and in recent years has been living in Wales. Earlier this year, she was appointed to the Welsh Red Meat Promotion Board (Hybu Cig Cymru) for a period of three years. “This position allows me to advance my views on the need for global messaging around red meat

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Nuffield Programme 2020 & 2021

2020 Programme Update 2020 scholars were just starting Day 1 of their Contemporary Scholars Conference (CSC) and their 15-month programme with 70 other international scholars in Australia when the government announced new border and arrival measures.  The scholars decided to return home the next day and the CSC programme was eventually cancelled three days later

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Energy & ag a lasting marriage – Cameron Henderson

Cameron Henderson (2019 Nuffield Scholar) used his Nuffield Scholarship to explore links between agriculture and energy and how technology can work to harness farmed energy sources including waste matter to supply national energy needs.  Read the full Farmers Weekly article. Listen to the interview on Sarah’s Country (12th May 2020). Click here to read Cameron’s

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Is Roundup our friend or foe? : Hamish Marr – 2019 Nuffield Scholar

Is Roundup our friend or foe? For more than 40 years glyphosate has been an invaluable chemical weapon in farmers’ arsenal as a low-residue, safe and simple weed control enabling greater flexibility and less soil disturbance. Canterbury arable farmer Hamish Marr devoted his Nuffield Scholarship to examining how glyphosate fell from grace in the public

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Meat The Need NZ

Wayne Langford and Siobhan O’Malley have just launched their new charity that allows farmers to donate fresh meat to help feed New Zealand’s most vulnerable.
Wayne joined Sarah Perriam on Sarah’s Country recently to talk about their latest venture ‘Meat The Need NZ.’

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Our New Programme Partner – Rabobank, and more…

Meet our new Programme Partner – Rabobank Rabobank NZ We welcomed Rabobank on board as a Programme Partner in January this year and look forward to working with them and tapping into their extensive international and national networks and expertise. As the only Co-op bank focused on the Rural Sector, we could not have signed up a

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New appointments at Rural Leaders

Rural Leaders welcomes new CEO – Chris Parsons We are pleased to announce that Chris Parsons joined us on Monday, 4th May as our new CEO. Chris was recently interviewed by Rural News and would like to convey the following message: “To all of you on the journey to develop your leadership, well done! It

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