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Leading industry players Fonterra and CLAAS get behind the 2023 Rural Leaders Agribusiness Summit.

Leading industry organisations have come together to support the 2023 Rural Leaders Agribusiness Summit and its bold aim to promote global vision, leadership and innovation.

The growing list of support for this fast-paced, one-day industry forum includes Platinum Sponsors Fonterra and CLAAS, and Gold Sponsors AGMARDT, FMG and MPI.

“CLAAS welcomes and supports this important forum for sector professionals to share local and international knowledge on food and forage production solutions”, says Richard Wilson, Landpower Group Chief Executive Officer.

“Partnering with the Summit was a natural fit for us as we recognise that, alongside outstanding innovations in agricultural engineering, most important to us are our relationships with our customers and suppliers, developed over many years. We learn from each other and our customers. We are focused on gearing up our farmers to succeed”, says Richard Wilson.

Coming at a time when the fast-changing food and fibre sector is under increased pressure to adapt, the Summit will deliver an informative, inspiring and innovative day with practical and successful solutions to some of our toughest challenges.

Demonstrating the solutions shown to mitigate some of these challenges, the Summit, themed ‘Forefront’, will move past disruption, with local and global speakers, panellists, and delegates collaborating to discuss and debate the most topical agribusiness challenges globally and locally.

“As a Co-operative, it’s in our DNA to collaborate. We believe that by working with others we can overcome the toughest challenges our industry faces while maximising the opportunities to build more innovative and resilient businesses that contribute positively to society”, states Anna Taylor, Regional Manager, Fonterra.

“That’s what this event is all about. It provides a unique opportunity for the brightest minds in agribusiness to come together and share local and international case studies as well as brainstorm practical ideas for the future”, adds Anna Taylor.

While the one-day Summit stands on its own, it also forms part of the Nuffield Triennial Conference for international and national Nuffield alumni. The Conference is a nine-day agribusiness itinerary of travel through the South Island’s leading food and fibre operations – beginning in Christchurch with the Summit and ending in Queenstown.

Like the Triennial, the Summit seeks to play a key role in connecting sector leaders, producers and professionals with national and international peers.

Hosted by award-winning political journalist Corin Dann, the Summit features a stellar line-up of speakers that includes influential, global communicator and Keynote Speaker Devry Boughner Vorwerk.

Devry will speak on embracing change while balancing shareholder and stakeholder expectations – as well as outlining the mechanisms to succeed where geopolitical volatility, climate change and societal expectations are placing pressure on traditional business models.

The Summit is organised into three speaker streams. They are:

Our World – Our Natural Environment.

Speakers include: Harry Clark, Karin Stark, Tom Sturgess, Volker Knutzsch, followed by a panel including Dr. Solis Norton.

Our People – Consumer Trends and Trade.

Speakers include: Vangelis Vitalis, Lain Jager, Emma Parsons, followed by a panel including Anna Benny.

Our Future – Entrepreneurship and Leadership.

Speakers include: Traci Houpapa, Angus Brown, Mark McLeod-Smith, Dr Ellen Joan Nelson, also followed by a panel.

“While short and faced-paced, the Summit will be a quality-rich day for farmers and producers. It will explore meeting challenges and seeking opportunities for the sector while retaining the gentle balance of farming in a way that nurtures and supports the environment and remains profitable,” adds Richard Wilson.

Forefront is open to food and fibre sector professionals, producers and the general public. The Summit Dinner, with speaker Te Radar, is selling out fast.

Supported and sponsored by industry.

The 2023 Rural Leaders Agribusiness Summit has been made possible with the generous support of,

Platinum Sponsors – Fonterra and CLAAS.

Gold Sponsors – AGMARDT, FMG, and MPI.

Silver Sponsors – AgriHQ, PGG Wrightson Seeds, Tavendale and Partners, Ravensdown, Bayer, LIC, Ballance, Colliers, Cardrona Distillery, and MyFarm.

Bronze Sponsors – Barenbrug, Manawa Energy, Asure Quality, Pioneer, Ford Macauley, and OSPRI.

For more information on the 2023 Rural Leaders Agribusiness Summit visit, https://ruralleaders.co.nz/forefront/

Media Contact – Matt Hampton, Marketing and Communications Manager, The New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust, 0274 171 065, matthampton@ruralleaders.co.nzplayers

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AGMARDT supports leadership development with new Kellogg Scholarships.

Lee-Ann Marsh and Nick Pyke, AGMARDT

AGMARDT Trustees have approved support for three new scholarships that seek to improve access to leadership development. The New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust (Rural Leaders) deliver the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, a critical point on the rural leadership pathway.  

AGMARDT’s support will manifest as three scholarships specifically for the Kellogg Programme. 

“We want to help improve access to leadership development by countering some of the challenges scholars can face. These may include the ability to meet the financial commitment required to undertake learning.  

It is vital industry does all it can to ensure leadership potential is given the space it needs to grow. To help achieve this, we’re thrilled to give our support to scholars looking to enter the Kellogg Programme,” said Lee-Ann Marsh, AGMARDT General Manager. 

How the AGMARDT Leaders Scholarship works.

The AGMARDT Leaders Scholarship allows three scholars to enter the Kellogg Programme per year. It covers the $6,500 fee for the Programme. A fee already generously subsidised by Rural Leaders’ Investing Partners, including AGMARDT.  

Applicants for the AGMARDT Leaders Scholarship are encouraged to contact the Programmes Manager at Rural Leaders to discuss the opportunity and how it might be best tailored to their own circumstances.  

“We are grateful to AGMARDT for their continued support of leadership development in the Food and Fibre Sector. Their support reflects AGMARDT Trustees’ desire to make leadership development as accessible as possible, especially those who might not have the balance sheet support of bigger organisations.  

This also recognises that in a fast-changing environment, we need grounded leaders who are strategically capable, now more than ever,” said Chris Parsons, Rural Leaders CEO. 

The new AGMARDT Leaders Scholarship will be available from Kellogg Programme One, January 2023, and joins three regionally available Scholarships that also support participation in the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme.

These are:

AGAMRDT Leaders Scholarship 

Three scholarships to participate on the Kellogg Programme per year valued at up to $6,600 each. These scholarships seek to increase access to leadership development. 

Whanganui and Partners Regional Scholarship 

Two scholarships per year to promote leadership in the Whanganui Region. Valued at $2,500 each, the scholarships are available to those attending NZ Rural Leaders Programmes who are from the Whanganui region or contributing to the Whanganui region.  

Te Puni Kōkiri Scholarships 

Up to two scholarship places on the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme may be awarded. Valued at $6500 each, the Te Puni Kōriri Scholarships support Māori in the Food and Fibre Sector to develop stronger strategic leadership skills. 

Whāngarei A&P Society Scholarship 

One scholarship per year to cover fees. The Whāngarei A&P Scholarship aims to grow future strategic leaders for Northland’s Food and Fibre Sector.  

Whanganui and Partners and Rural Leaders serve Strategy for Lunch.

A collaboration between Whanganui and Partners and Rural Leaders, Strategy for Lunch, has been created to meet a need among business owners, to engage more confidently in business strategy discussions and design. 

The programme consists of five neatly wrapped, bite-size, online sessions that provide the tools and knowledge to help Whanganui business owners build their strategic capability.

Some of New Zealand’s leading strategic facilitators have come together to deliver the five 90-minute, online workshops, from midday every Friday, starting 11 March.

Strategy for Lunch is designed for business owners from across all sectors and industries who are looking to advance their strategic skills, knowledge, and their businesses. 

The programme will help business owners undertake their own strategic analysis, identify opportunities, and to evaluate their strategic choices.

From sharing frameworks and tools, to recommended reading, review and reflection sessions, and group discussions, this innovative programme gives business owners a strong knowledge foundation from which to tackle their own strategic challenges.

Here’s a brief week by week outline of what participants can expect to cover and learn in this smart and highly accessible programme.

Week 1: 11 March – Orientation.

An introduction to core strategy concepts. We’ll also outline the programme’s  
5-week journey. We’ll answer questions like, what is strategy? What isn’t strategy? What are the forces influencing our world today? And tomorrow? 

Week 2: 18 March – Strategic framing. 

Aims to understand a business’s value discipline and maps its business model. Questions we’ll answer in this session are, what is your ‘value discipline’? How do you create customer value? What is your business model for delivering customer value? 

Week 3: 25 March – Strategic definition. 

Defines a customer’s “job to be done”. This session also aims to understand customer drivers of value. It will unpack what the best options are to increase value for your customers?   

Week 4: 1 April – Strategic options. 

This session aims to explore a business’s strategic innovation options. We’ll answer questions like, how might you design or adapt your strategy for a competitive advantage? How do you develop a blue ocean strategy? 

Week 5: 8 April – Strategic action. 

This final session brings it all together. We evaluate strategic choices, including key implementation considerations. WE answer questions like, how do you move from strategy prototype to market offering? How do you test and validate an MVP? What are the key considerations for scaling-up innovation? 

Find out more about Strategy for Lunch, or to register, head to
https://discoverwhanganui.nz/news/strategy-for-lunch/ 

KPMG Food and Fibre Insights Course.

KPMG New Zealand and the University of Waikato have partnered to deliver a new and unique Food and Fibre Insights Course. 

The part-time, six-week course is targeted at working professionals who are seeking to expand their knowledge of topics at the forefront of agri-food systems. 

Facilitated by Ian Proudfoot, Jack Keeys, Professor Frank Srimgeour, and Dr Jack Dorner, it will deliver leading insight collated from experts across New Zealand and the world. It will cover one topic per week. 

Course structure will include a combination of independent learning, working through readings, videos, and questions on an online learning platform, in addition to a weekly virtual discussion session. Further information about the course can be found in the attached brochure.  

An exclusive discount code has been offered to Rural Leader readers and is available here: Partner’s link 

If you have any questions or would like any further information, please feel free to contact Jack Keeys via email at jkeeys@kpmg.co.nz, or by phone on 09 363 3502. 

Two Te Puni Kōkiri Scholarships available for Kellogg Whanganui.

Te Puni Kōkiri is generously sponsoring two places on Whanganui’s Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, May start.

This is an extraordinary scholarship opportunity, covering programme fees and giving applicants the chance to develop leadership skills closer to home.  
These scholarships are open to passionate Māori as part of their leadership journey in the Food and Fibre Sector.

Those wishing to apply for a scholarship, should include a cover letter with their application indicating why they should be selected. 

In the cover letter, evidence should be shown of leadership in Māori Food and Fibre, along with discussing how the scholarship will contribute to personal leadership development.

How to apply.

To get an application underway, prospective applicants should register their interest through the link below. They’ll receive an application form to complete. When they return this form, include a cover letter indicating intention to apply for the scholarship, at the top. 

For any questions about the scholarship please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Lisa Rogers, Programme Manager, at lisarogers@ruralleaders.co.nz 

Apply now

FMG Young Farmer of the Year – Tasman Regional Final. 

Meet you Saturday night at Springston Hall.

Did you know Mary Bumby introduced honeybees to New Zealand in 1839? No? Incredibly, her name has nothing to do with the naming of Bumble Bees, or any bees. Quite possibly history’s greatest example of a surname impacting the course of a life.  

The seven Tasman Region finalists for the FMG Young farmer of the Year hadn’t heard of Mary’s exploits either. Though they had answers to other questions during the four quiz rounds at Springston Hall, Saturday evening, 19th February.  

Rural Leaders were fortunate to be invited by our strategic investing partner FMG to catch this thrilling conclusion to several days of competition, to find the Tasman Regional Winner. Competitors had given their all in three components of competition: Agri-business, Agri-skills, and Agri-Sports. They crafted a ‘chair’ from a wood palette, filleted (in some cases butchered) a salmon, they did the maths on the application of fertiliser, and competed in fencing too.  

And so, it all came down to the Springston Hall for the fourth Agri-Knowledge component, to determine the winner and finalists for the national competition later this year. 

Te Radar sounds the alarm.

After a BBQ dinner and some masked, socially-distanced mixing, long-time host Te Radar kicked off the evening with the housekeeping, which included the obligatory fire evacuation notice – and at that exact moment an actual fire alarm sounded. We all evacuated. The rural fire brigade eventually gave the all-clear and the seven finalists took their places.

The finalists were: Archie Woodhouse and Phoebe Smailes of Lincoln University Young Farmers, Andrew Allan and George Dodson of Lincoln Young Farmers, Jonny Brown of Dunsandel Young Farmers, Ash Foley of Waimakariri Young Farmers, and Blair Anglesey of Renwick Young Farmers. 
 
Entering this final evening, Jonny Brown had the lead, with Andrew Allan in second.  

Fingers on buzzers please.

The first round ‘Photo ID’ asked contestants to identify everything from a specific arable crop to a breed of pig, through to filling in a missing element on a familiar sector logo. 

Round two ‘Rapid Fire’ gave each contestant 30 seconds of questions. Performances here were strong, with the highlight being an ability to anticipate the answer to a question cut-off by the timer. Contestants were allowed to answer despite not having the full question.  

Best anticipation efforts were Archie Woodhouse’s ‘Marlborough’ to the cut question “What region…?” (What region is the mainstay of New Zealand mussel farming?”) And Phoebe Smaile’s ‘Four,’ to the cut question “What is the minimum clearance…?” (“What is the minimum clearance for equipment from overhead powerlines?”)  

Round three was an observation round. Here a video was played with questions following. A hard round, though had this not been a dry event, it would have been harder still. 

And the winner of the FMG Young Farmer of the Year, Tasman is...

The final round was a ‘quick buzzer,’ here big movers were Phoebe Smailes and Ash Foley, but not enough to break into the top three. After a focussed period of calculation from the judges, the final places were awarded.  

The top female competitor’s prize went to Ash Foley. Third place, by just one point, went to Archie Woodhouse, second was Andrew Allan, and seasoned competitor Jonny Brown took the overall win, after missing out last year. 

FMG Young Farmer of the Year Tasman Regional Winner

This was an expertly organised event and a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Thank you to FMG’s Michelle Stephenson for the invite. 
 
The Contest series Grand Final is scheduled for Whangarei in July. 
 
Keep an eye out for details here.

The Knowledge Hub

Over the past 12 months GroundHQ have been working on pulling together a podcast series called The Knowledge Hub focused on connecting farmers and growers with information and knowledge on the topical issues facing agriculture.

The Knowledge Hub is about creating a platform for informed conversation, and ultimately helping to create a path for environmental excellence for New Zealand’s farmers and growers.

Check out the first episode on regenerative farming (in a series of 8 podcasts that will be released every fortnight between December and March) featuring  our very own 2016 Nuffield Scholar Sam Lang.

His research was on the same topic and you can access the report here.

Click here to access the full podcast series.

Feel free to share this content across your own platforms, encourage conversation, and keep supporting  the New Zealand Food & Fibre Sector.

The Knowledge Hub is brought to you by Ground HQ, powered by Landpro.

Open Farms is back and looking for hosts

Strong connections between farmers and urban Kiwis are essential for a thriving agri-sector. The work of farmers should be valued and our customers need to understand what it takes to grow food.

We know that most people are disconnected from their food – so let’s do something about it.

That’s why Rural Leaders is a channel partner of Open Farms – a platform to reconnect urban Kiwis with our food, land and farmers via a nationwide open farm day on Sunday February 21, 2021.

Click through to their Visit a farm page.

We’re supporting Open Farms to find open day hosts, by connecting them with farming leaders like yourself. If you are farming close to urban areas around Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Tauranga and Dunedin and your keen to be an Open Farms host – You can register to host or request a call back on the Open Farms website.

Open Farms is a nationwide initiative to reconnect urban Kiwis with our food, land and farmers.

Few reasons why you should host an Open Farms Day

 

  • In March 2020, 3,500 Kiwis visited 45 farms across New Zealand for the inaugural Open Farms.

  • Your Open Farms event can be as small or as large as you like – farmer hosts choose the size, format and focus of their event.

  • The Open Farms Host Handbook answers all of your questions, including health & safety, activity ideas and tips for using your event to promote a product or diversification. Leave all the marketing and registrations to Open Farms – you just focus on running an event and sharing your farming story.

  • Post event research shows that just getting urban folks on farm, changes the way they think and feel about agriculture, and their own actions in the food system.