Rural Leaders talked to 2008 Nuffield Scholar Craige Mackenzie about change, technology and precision farming. His business, Vantage NZ, helps remove the complexity around technology-enabled change, while the family farm demonstrates precision in practice.
But as Craige explains, what really matters is mindset.
The foundations of a mindset.
Growing up, we knew the value of a dollar. They were hard to come by. We did the best we could with what we had. I was keen to get out and earn, so I finished school and went farming with my family. I learned early on that I enjoy pushing myself.
At 18 I travelled to the United States, instead of going to university. I saw the world for the first time, and it felt like we were all only limited by our imaginations. Coming home was a jolt back to reality. It was the 80’s and a tough period for farmers. If you have a hard time at any point in your career, the start is the place to have it. You learn how to survive early.
We took over the farm in 1984, buying it from my parents. We put in irrigation, expanded, and eventually removed all the stock from the system. We went into intensive seed production.
In 2006 we ventured into the dairy industry too, building up to 1240 cows at the peak. Then along came M. bovis. But it’s interesting, from adversity came opportunity. By having to cut the stocking rate down, we found our milk production per cow went up. We were on the efficiency journey, simply by doing the best we could in a tough situation.
Production is vanity. Profit is sanity.
In 2008 I did a Nuffield Scholarship, something I felt fortunate to receive. It meant travelling around the world for six months. My study topic was very broad, ‘Understanding the Carbon Footprint in Farming Systems.’ At the heart of it, I thought, if we cut inputs by 30% and still maintain outputs, we’ve reduced our carbon footprint by 30%, which in turn increased profitability.
While travelling I saw some intensive operations in Europe, broad acre framing at scale in the USA and Canada, through to small holder farms in China. It’s interesting to see what drives different decision-making and farming practises. Often these are influenced by subsidies and support mechanisms rather than efficiency, although I also saw some good examples of Precision Ag too.
Sometime after, I recall talking with Raj Khosla, the head of the International Precision Agriculture Association. He asked me to present at a conference, and I said “Ah Raj, we don’t really do precision.” He said, “…well you know exactly how many kilograms of fertiliser it takes to grow a tonne of wheat don’t you? You know what your inputs are. My friend, you are doing precision agriculture.”
Technology is a decision support tool, not a decision tool.
From then on, I understood what we were doing. We started thinking, how do we go faster? How do we do better? All of a sudden, it became easy to decide to invest in more technology to enable these things. So, we looked at crop sensors, moisture probes, electromagnetic mapping of soils, all sorts of new technology. But again,
the biggest change wasn’t the technology, it was our mindset.
One of the most important things about investment in technology, is profitability. The more you can reduce inputs while maintaining outputs, the more you are free to invest in technology.
You circle back around to re-invest your profit into the technology that reduces inputs. Like machinery that places a bottlecap of fertiliser on every plant. Exactly the right amount at exactly the right time. That leads to better environmental outcomes as well.
After our daughter finished her degree at Lincoln, we asked her what she wanted to do. We saw there was an opportunity to help farmers work smarter, to make more informed decisions. That’s when Agri Optics NZ was born. We’re exclusive Trimble dealers for New Zealand now too, offering a range of products under the Vantage NZ brand.
At the heart of it all is GPS technology: GPS, flow control, steering, automation, and land levelling software. GPS is the enabler though. Without GPS you can’t really do any of the other clever things that result in precision outcomes.
Is it better to go rabbit shooting with a .22 or a shotgun?
I gave a presentation in Bonn at a climate change meeting. Somebody asked me, what’s the silver bullet that fixes things? And I said, it’s not a silver bullet, it’s a silver shotgun.
We need multiple tools in a biological food production system. We need lots of levers to pull. Yes, you’ve only got short range with your shotgun, but you’ve got a whole lot of cover.
There’s no one thing that does it all though. So you need to carefully integrate all your tools into the farming system, rather than the farmer into the tool system.
Is the regulatory environment moving more arable farmers into precision?
The higher the regulatory pressure, the more people will work to get ahead of the challenges those regulations create. We need to continue to have as many tools on the shelf as possible to meet them. As tough as it’s getting, we need to be out in front of it.
I’d rather be having conversations with government and regulators, trying to constructively slow things down to help make the best decision, and create the best outcome for everyone, including the environment. To build the time needed to think about a more considered approach. There’s no advantage in putting regulations in place that are unachievable. None.
We’ve had lots of regulators here over the years. It’s hard for them to push regulation when you’re already past where they think they want to go.
If we can show we’re not leaching anything through the profile in the growing season, like water from irrigation, then it’s very hard for them to say we’re putting nitrates into the groundwater. Especially when there’s nothing getting past the roots. Having the data to show this is powerful.
Unlike GMO, is CRISPR a tool you’ll get to use?
The first thing is, CRISPR is GMO. Rob Horsch was at the forefront of GMO technology. He worked for Monsanto for 20 years on Roundup Ready, which is where it all started.
I had an interesting conversation with Rob a couple of years ago at a crab restaurant somewhere on the East Coast of the US. He said what you’ve got to remember is CRISPR is only going to make small changes in GMO technology. For example, GMO changes a normal wheat plant into a glyphosate Roundup Ready plant. Or equally, it changes a plant to being insect resistant. These are large jumps. Whereas CRISPR only makes small tweaks.
CRISPR is a bit like a pair of molecular scissors. You make small edits by cutting strands of DNA. It has huge applications for treating and preventing disease, correcting genetic defects, and improving crops.
There are changes with CRISPR that will be useful to New Zealand agriculture. Like ryegrass that reduces methane emissions. CRISPR could be a way for GMO to come in to New Zealand, as incremental, more palatable changes for consumers.
Has precision has been a way to stay competitive without GMO?
There’s two things that drive that. One, we don’t live in a country complicated by subsidies. A lot of farming around the world is. We run a business. We’ve had to make sure we are profitable. Precision practices help make that happen.
Two, when you travel like I did with Nuffield, you see the challenges that face the farming system when you’re not careful. Herbicide-resistant weeds are one of the challenges countries with GMO have steaming down the track at them.
Precision agriculture still fits even if you do have GMO’s. Because it’s really about the right product, delivered the right way, at the right time. It doesn’t matter which area of the food production system you’re in either: horticultural, arable, sheep and beef, it can fit every sector.
Will the future of farming look like the start of Interstellar, with autonomous everything?
We used to be sheep, beef and cropping, now we’re 100% cropping. Some of the crops we grow today: spinach, pak-choy, carrots, radish, have mostly evolved in the last few years because food production systems have changed.
We’ve got dairy cows on the Canterbury Plains, driven by the fact that the Waikato was too expensive. With irrigation, Canterbury was seen to be the right place. We know that some of that will go back the other way. And yes, there’ll be more automation, because labour is likely to remain an issue for agriculture.
We’ve been developing bigger machines to maximise production. As autonomous technology advances, the machinery will get smaller, smarter, and run for longer. It will be about maximising profitability. A profitability mindset will be the only one worth having.
We’re all looking further ahead into the future now too. It’s like driving a car, you’ve got a large window to look out the front and a small rear vision mirror. Yes, we should know where we’ve been, but really, we’re more interested in seeing where we’re going and what challenges are coming at us.
Challenges like synthetic fertiliser and pesticide use. Like shifts in consumer food preferences. We’ve got climate change and some water challenges too. All those things are going to shape what we do. They will have a big impact on how we operate and what a farm of the future looks like.
That’s where technology and an understanding of how you use water for example, becomes increasingly important. Soil moisture probes helped cut our water use by over 35%. We wouldn’t have thought our current water footprint per kilogram produced was even possible ten years ago.
Learn from your successes and imagine the next ones.
In 2016 we were fortunate to receive the ‘International Precision Farmer of the Year’ award.
We worked hard for it, but some of our success came from the fact that we live in an environment where you can grow pretty much anything: high yield wheat, ryegrass, many crops.
We’ve got water. We’ve got access to fertiliser and technology. So compared to many places globally, we have a wealthy environment.
We have challenges, but we have many opportunities to be successful here too. I do believe we’re only limited by our imagination as to what we can do, and what we can achieve.
The Otago Business School and the Department of Economics recently conducted research on behalf of The Mackenzie Charitable Foundation and The New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust.
‘The Mackenzie Study’ revealed remarkable results on the personal gains in entrepreneurial skills attributable to participation in the Kellogg and Nuffield Programmes. It is Nuffield Scholars’ broad and consistent level of achievement over time, that resonates most.
Preliminary findings are a compelling case for anyone considering applying for a 2022 Nuffield Scholarship, or looking to develop their leadership ability through the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme.
A comprehensive survey of Nuffield Scholarship Alumni was conducted in June this year, with invitations sent to all 135 living alumni.
The study had an unusually high participation rate of over 50%, especially given the flooding in Canterbury.
We’ll be presenting more results in due course, including comparisons between alumni and current cohorts. For now, here are just some of the findings demonstrating the professional accomplishments of Nuffield Scholarship Alumni.
Each result is a strong call to potential applicants for the 2022 Nuffield Scholarships, to apply before midnight this Sunday, August 15.
A recent addition to The New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust’s cache of programmes is the VIP. The Value Chain Innovation Programme delivers a truly immersive experience, created to meet a growing need for strategically capable leaders in our food and fibre systems.
It is for those who are passionate about developing their leadership style, growing their networks, and contributing to their business and community.
Driving innovation in food and fibre.
The Value Chain Innovation Programme delivers two weeks of immersive learning, focused on strategic value chain analysis and design. The programme is a facilitated journey along ten or more established, disruptive, and novel value chains, delivering a sector and pan-sector view.
It connects participants to New Zealand’s key value chain influencers and accelerates their ability to adapt to a fast-changing environment.
It expands their entrepreneurial capability.
It builds advanced competencies.
And it develops a new mindset on food and fibre innovation in domestic and international markets.
Applications are open until 28 November 2021.
The programme spans two weeks for the industries immersion. Participants then return home and have three weeks to produce a value chain innovation report. The course structure is as follows:
Phase 1: Virtual masterclass.
As a build-up to the journey, participants attend a virtual masterclass via zoom, of 1 -2 hours. This covers the current landscape within New Zealand’s value chains and what is likely to emerge in the future.
Participants then submit a short PowerPoint overview on their own value chain, or one they wish to explore.
Phase 2: Value chain immersion 16-28 January 2022.
Participants assemble in Auckland on the 16th. They then undertake two weeks of facilitated field trips through the North and South Islands.
The tour culminates in Christchurch on the 28th.
Phase 3: Extramural value chain innovation report.
Work on an individual value chain innovation report. This may be submitted as a PowerPoint.
With five days to go until applications for the 2022 Nuffield Scholarship close, we thought we’d give five reasons as to why receiving a scholarship now, may represent a quantum gain in benefits over previous years. So calling all potential Nuffield Scholars, here’s some more food for thought.
There have never been so many of New Zealand’s best business leaders and innovators in the country at the same time. There are a few silver linings to the global pandemic. One might be the number of influential people affiliated to innovation and the food and fibre sector, who have returned home. While their move may not be permanent, now is the time to meet and connect with them. Nuffield can help with that.
With a programme that has adapted to the global pandemic, scholars currently have more flexibility, closer to home. We face many challenges right now. So, being away from family, farm and work could be tough on some. As a result of the global pandemic restrictions, the programme has adapted successfully by adding a deeper local layer, along with virtual and global input.
No matter what happens with regard to global travel, Scholarship recipients still receive $40,000 to conduct research. Whether the borders open up or not in the short to medium term, the Scholarship funds are not adjusted. In a situation where the borders do open, your global travel component will continue, safely.
Nuffield Scholars’ experiences and enhanced skillsets are increasingly in demand. As the rate of change in food and fibre and beyond increases exponentially, Nuffield Scholars’ exposure to research, innovation and leadership development, means their knowledge is always needed in governance and industry.
Scholars will be part of the new Value Chain Innovation Programme (VIP). Two weeks’ immersion into more than ten of New Zealand’s established, novel and disruptive value chains.
The Value Chain Innovation Programme introduces Scholars to value chains beyond their own. It represents an opportunity to meet, draw ideas from and connect with people across many industries.
Thinking of launching a product, or adding another to a range? This is just one way the VIP can help.
We caught up with 2009 Nuffield Scholar Mandi McLeod, who was speaking to us from Pirongia, Waikato. Mandi is an agri-business consultant who specialises in farm animal welfare, on both sides of the supply chain.
Internationally certified in dairy cow auditing and trained as a Cow Signals Master, she uses her passion, knowledge and experience to create animal welfare audit programmes for her clients.
With a degree in agricultural science and a master’s degree in rural systems management, Mandi is also highly experienced in group facilitation and farm business management, transition and succession planning.
A start in succession planning.
I grew up on a family dairy farm in Morrinsville, and we transitioned out of that through our own succession plan about five and a half years ago. We now have an urban ranch with a beef cattle herd. It keeps me grounded.
Twelve years ago, when I did my Nuffield Scholarship, there wasn’t much research out there on succession planning. Not just how the assets in a family farm business are transitioned, but also how values, knowledge and skills are transferred from one generation to the next. So, I looked at this for my Nuffield research paper.
I was able to create my own business through what I learned. It became my focus for the following decade.
At the time, succession planning was only found in an urban business context. Crazy when you consider that in our farming communities, we usually live and work on farm, so business is very close to home. In fact, it can be sitting right there at the kitchen table with you.
I’d like to think a lot of the work done in those years has now been picked up by other professionals. The fact there’s now a career for people in succession planning, and that farming families are getting more access to quality information and help. That’s really exciting to me.
What makes good succession planning?
The important thing is communication. Sounds obvious, but it is the most overlooked element.
How do we create the right environment for discussions? How do we ask the questions that matter? How do we really listen to the answers we get to those questions? It’s more critical now, than ever, because both the incoming and the outgoing generations have such different communication styles. It’s a recipe for problems if it isn’t handled well.
Once we resolve those differences, everything else can start to fall into place. It’s understanding the needs, wants, fears and expectations of both parties, and then saying, can we marry these up to some shared values?
If the family hasn’t got their values aligned, or if they’re not communicating well, then it doesn’t matter what solution you come up with on paper, it’s not going to work long term.
Sometimes the best resolution for both the family and the farm business is not having a succession within that family? It’s having another family come in. That can work very well too.
It’s more than a chat and a cuppa. But that’s a good start.
People are often looking for a silver bullet. It can take a year, or it can take ten years to get everything set up. You can’t do it in 24 hours.
I think it’s going to continue to be an issue because we’re in a period where the pace of change in food and fibre is increasing exponentially – yet succession planning needs time. There’s a conflict there that can be tricky to navigate.
A quick guide to success with succession.
Now this is by no means a definitive guide, but it gives you some idea of what’s involved and roughly, in what order.
What are your goals for the succession (and your retirement for example)?
Ask, who needs to be involved?
Agree on someone to facilitate. There are now professional facilitators out there.
Gather key documents. Like the last few sets of accounts for starters.
Keep lines of communication open between all parties.
Build a clear picture of the 1, 5, 10 year transition path ahead.
Share the emerging plan with all parties.
Keep talking.
Chickens and eggs.
A lack of good succession planning can have a huge impact on animal welfare. It can be where the next generation have not wanted to farm. As a consequence, the current generation can hold on too long, beyond a point where they are physically or mentally capable. The animals suffer.
If we help the farmer, the animals will benefit as well. There’s a big circular picture there, where everything is interrelated. But if we can intervene at various stages, whether it’s through facilitating a transition, or introducing an innovative approach to handling cattle for example, we can improve mental health across the board and improve animal welfare. Or vice versa.
It’s a bit like the chicken and the egg. Is a farm animal welfare issue causing poor mental health, or is poor mental health leading to an animal welfare issue? One can lead into the other.
There’s been a lot of valuable work done highlighting the need for mental health support and services for farmers, which is fantastic. There’s also a group of people that support those farmers that are often also in need. Like vets and consultants to name a few. When we turn up on farm, and if there’s a serious animal welfare issue, we’re impacted by that.
I think the link between farm succession, mental health and animal welfare is an important one. To me it highlights just how interconnected we are to our land and our animals.
When we feel great about our farm and its future, everything else benefits.
So, you’re looking to craft a cut-through Nuffield Scholarship application. If you’re like most people, the real struggle is getting started. There is something you can do while you stare blankly at the blinking cursor – ask yourself why?
Why are you applying for a Nuffield Scholarship? Your motivation is important. It will help you form a plan. A plan almost always leads to a better crafted anything really.
Let a strong, singular motivation shine through, in not only the way your writing sounds, but how it feels too. For the reader, it’s the difference between wanting to read something compelling, and words on a page.
Now, we can’t give you tips on what your motivation might be, but let’s just say anything along the lines of ‘I want to give back to the food and fibre sector’, is a good place to start. Remember you are submitting to a panel of smart, motivated people like yourself, who are determined to see New Zealand leading the future of food and fibre on the global stage.
Here are some tips from those who have read a few applications, to make the answering-questions-brilliantly-bit easier.
1. Be clear and concise as to why you want a Nuffield Scholarship. Choose your words well and be economical. A good answer does not have to be a long-winded one. The more concise you are, the more the reader will gain a sense of your single-mindedness. That your motivation is clear. 2. You’re likely to be clear about what a Nuffield Scholarship can do for you. Make sure the reader is clear about what you will do for Nuffield. The reader, also known as ‘The Selection Panel ’, will want to know about your propensity for giving back. That’s a big part of Nuffield. Bringing back the thinking and ideas that might advance New Zealand’s food and fibre sector.
A good application will show an understanding of how a Nuffield Scholarship will enable you to develop and implement strategic ideas and opportunities. Put simply, show you understand what a Nuffield Scholarship is.
3. Sell yourself, but don’t overcook it. A critical piece of your sell is including examples of community leadership involvement, and ideally sector leadership experience as well. Recent is best. Play any ace cards up front, don’t bury them.
Before you submit your application.
Have you read it out loud? Does it sound the way you imagined it would when you wrote it? Try reading it out loud, it will help you find the things that aren’t quite working.
Can you make it shorter? Less is more. There will always be a few words you don’t need.
Have you asked someone else to read it? As great at writing as you may be, a second pair of eyes helps proof and sense check. When you’re the one writing, you’re often too close to see the obvious, like, glaring errors the spellcheck missed.
Any big words you can replace with simpler ones? Enough said.
Did you enjoy writing it? Are you pleased with what you’ve written? If so, chances are your reader will enjoy reading it too.
Sophie has been busy. Passionate about creating meaningful changes to the way we eat, and how that connects back to our planet – each step on her career path seems well placed to help make that happen.
Sophie’s Nuffield research paper, ‘Harnessing Social Media in Agriculture’, was followed by joining agri-tech start-up Figured, moving to Nebraska to launch it in the United States.
She returned to New Zealand in 2019 to join Autogrow and later WayBeyond, providers of artificial intelligence solutions for controlled environment farms. Sophie joined the board of the Dairy Women’s Network not long after.
Now standing at the intersection of agriculture, digital technology and innovation, we asked how the Nuffield Scholarship has helped expand her thinking.
“Before I received a Nuffield Scholarship, I was focused on the pastoral farming sector. But then [on the Global Focus Programme] you’re thrown into everything from row cropping to aquaculture. You get to see so many things. I met lots of interesting people in the agri-tech space too, from all over the world. I was exposed to a lot of diverse thinking, ways to solve problems, and to technology being used in different contexts. So yeah, the interest in agri-tech was sparked.”
On the potential of technology.
“When I came back to New Zealand, I noticed huge gaps, particularly with growers. Some hadn’t innovated for twenty years. And so, they were struggling to satisfactorily address challenges like consumer dietary preferences, traceability demands and sustainability evidence. New technology is the perfect solution to help address those things.
We can have a thriving, efficient agriculture sector using technology and at the same time achieve the sustainability and climate change goals we might have as a nation.
This is where social media is beneficial. There are always trends or signals that appear, often first on social media – signposts of the future. We need to start proactively picking up on those signals. One of my personal beliefs is to have a bias towards action – just make decisions and course correct later.
In the tech industry we have this concept of MVP, or Minimum Viable Product. It’s the quickest time you can get something of value out to a customer, so that they can try it, then you improve it.
We’re seeing the same thing across agriculture. People are asking, why don’t we just try something and see how it goes? And it doesn’t have to be solving climate change. Because that’s a big problem. It’s a very complex problem.”
We should instead ask, what is the smallest piece that we can carve off and solve? We need lots of players solving little pieces of that bigger problem. And eventually, we’ll all solve it.
On thinking differently.
“I started going to art classes recently – learning to look at problems in new and creative ways. It’s interesting to see people’s differing approaches to the same task – like painting a chair in the middle of a room. We all saw it from different perspectives – but from those perspectives you build a new picture. I like thinking about how we can apply that to the way we look at things in our industry – even just allowing me to approach my job differently.
I attended BOMA, E Tipu recently. One common thread running through many of the speakers was this idea of reframing challenges so that we tackle them from the opportunity rather than the problem.
What really stood out for me was hearing from Geoff Ross. He studied agriculture, but then he focused on creating great consumer brands like 42 Below Vodka.
He presented an aspirational and inspirational idea, something that could galvanise the primary sector. This idea was, could New Zealand be the world’s first climate positive farm? That’s an idea worth exploring. With that idea we know consumers would want to buy from us.
This ties back to my Nuffield social media research as well. Three years ago, you probably wouldn’t have heard about regenerative agriculture for example. Now, because of stories shared on social media, consumers have started to ask – is this produce from a regenerative agriculture ecosystem? Supermarkets like Whole Foods in the United States recognise this too, awarding New Zealand lamb company Atkins Ranch with their Supplier Award for Regenerative Agriculture Commitment.”
I’m interested in how we might catch the tailwind of these signals and ideas to get ahead of the curve too. I think telling better work stories can make that happen.
On Artificial Intelligence in agriculture.
“AI, the version without the gloves, is well and truly here – even still, people get scared of those two letters, AI. That it’s going to take everyone’s jobs and make us all irrelevant. For a different viewpoint, I went to TEDx Auckland recently.
There, Will Hewitt spoke about how medicine is using AI. He quoted Eric Topol who said, “AI won’t replace doctors, but doctors that use it will replace doctors that don’t”. And I think in turn you can replace ‘doctors’ with growers or farmers.
…AI won't replace doctors, but doctors that use it will replace doctors that don't. And I think in turn you can replace that word with growers or farmers.
At WayBeyond we find AI is most useful to growers for modelling six weeks ahead, to predict how many tomatoes they’ll have to meet their commitments to supermarkets. They’ve got thousands of data points, from temperature, from plant growth measurements, from colour change, so many things. That’s a lot of complex data for a human to process. They might get to 80% accuracy in a model.
Now, if you can use AI, you can continuously look at these data points and at the correlations between them. You go from 80% to 90% pretty quickly. The impact of that could be millions of dollars to the bottom line for large scale growers – and hugely reduced food waste.
There’s plenty happening within an operation that a computer just isn’t going to see though. You still need to walk the greenhouse. There are tweaks the grower needs to backfill with their experience.”
So, AI is a support tool for people to make better decisions, not the end of all our jobs.
On the next big leaps in agri-tech.
“They’ll be around solutions that are focused on sustainability. Because it’s something that consumers are driving and it’s important in terms of our shared planetary goals.
We’re going to see more around planetary accounting and carbon, things like that. Consumers want produce they can feel good about, produce that contributes to their morals and ethics.
We’re starting to think about how we can be more sustainable in aquaculture and commercial fisheries. We heard a bit about that at BOMA as well.
We’re in the very early stages of where we could be with artificial intelligence and neural networks. There’s likely to be many more technology applications here.”
…creating a digital twin of a plant or even a cow, would mean we can model and predict so many possible outcomes.
“Things like creating digital twins* of biological systems, and plants too. Digital twins have already been used with aircraft engines and other complex machines. Bringing it into a biological space and creating a digital twin of a plant or even a cow, would mean we can model and predict so many possible outcomes – like the impact of disease. It’s something we’re looking at within controlled environment growing.”
On making good things happen.
“We’re really focused on return on investment for our grower customers – being able to show the benefits of an innovative change. The innovation must provide value back to them. So, whenever we’re doing a proposal, we’re always showing what the return on investment will be – to the bottom line and to the environment too.
Real industry-wide change will only happen if we hear those stories. Stories about the leaders breaking new ground for the rest of us to follow. And again, social media is key here.
At the end of the day, our customer is that person on the other end of the tweet, or the Instagram post. They’re buying our products, especially when we’re using all the technology at our disposal to do things better, not just by the environment but by future generations too.
I want to help make meaningful change in the way we eat, and the way that connects back to the planet. I’d like to be part of telling the stories that help connect and create solutions for change.”
I think by tackling little parts of big problems, using technology and sharing the stories that inspire others to act, we’ll get there together.
*A Digital Twin is a virtual representation of a physical object or process. It enables the testing of scenarios under varying conditions.
It is with sadness that we announce the peaceful passing of 1960 Canadian Scholar Frederick Arthur “Fred” Walsh C.M. – age 91, of Berwick, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Fred Walsh was one of the stalwarts that helped keep Nuffield Canada alive during its early days and we are pleased to share his obituary with you all.
Fred grew up in Halifax and as a teenager he spent time working on farms in the Annapolis Valley or on his Grandfather’s dairy farm in Coverdale, New Brunswick.
He attended LeMarchant St. School and Rothesay Collegiate in New Brunswick. He entered NSAC and graduated from MacDonald College of McGill University in 1952 with a BSc. in Agriculture with a major in Horticulture.
Upon graduation Fred moved to the Valley and purchased a farm in Rockland where he grew apples, pears, peaches and plums. He also grew Gladiolis which he shipped all over Atlantic Canada as well as farming hogs, laying hens and beef cattle.
In 1954 he married Mary Mackay and they started their family of six children.
(Blake Vice, 2013 Scholar Chair of Nuffield Canada, spoke to Waldo Walsh, Fred’s son, yesterday. Waldo shared that he was born when his father was away on his Nuffield travels).
Fred had also worked off the farm with the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture and Marketing, first as a Resource Development Officer from 1972-76 and later as an Agricultural Representative, before retiring in 1994.
After his retirement, Fred spent much time working in his gardens, advising his children on their farming operations and volunteering in the community. Fred had been a member of the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers Association since 1952 and had actively served in many capacities, including Director, Chairman of various committees, and President in 1997.
Fred’s lifetime of volunteering culminated when he was recognized nationally with the Order of Canada in 2007.
Fred received many awards including:
Nuffield Farming Scholarship (1960) Award of Merit-Canadian Parks and Recreation Association Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International CNIB Volunteer Awards Distinguished Life Member of the Nova Scotia Institute of Agrologists Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
Fred devoted much time to many organizations, often in a major role, some of which are:
Kings County Councillor Scotian Gold Cooperative, Member from 1957 Scotian Gold Cooperative, Director ACA Poultry Cooperative, Past Chairman Canadian National Institute for the Blind – 18 years as a Board Member, Past Chairman of the N.S. – PEI Divisional Board and three years on the National Council N.S. Farm Health and Safety Committee N.S. Rural Beautification Program N.S. Institute of Agrologists, Past President Kings Mutual Insurance, Board of Directors
Fred’s ornamental gardens were his passion. He believed in planting shrubs, trees and flowers to celebrate marriages, births, and to honour peoples’ lives. He gave trees he had collected and nurtured from seedling to friends and families to celebrate their special events.
His gardens were the backdrop for numerous photographs of family and community events, marriages and reunions for over 50 years. His tireless work became the “Garden of Memories”, inscribed on a bronze plaque mounted on a large granite rock, dedicated to his family. Ending with the phrase “A Gardener by The Grace of God”, Fred was a man of great faith.
He attended the Berwick United Church where he was a member for over 60 years and held various positions. He was often asked to give the sermon, a request he thoroughly enjoyed because of his ability to effectively communicate his positive outlook on life.
In his role as an Agricultural Representative, Fred dealt with farmers on a daily basis and understood the realities of farming. He was able to inform them of new policies or grants and counsel those experiencing challenges in their farm operations.
Later in life Fred visited local nursing homes because he knew that the residents appreciated the company. It was also common for him to deliver freshly cut flowers from his garden to family, friends, and visitors – just to brighten their day!
He was active in the Elder-Hostel program at Acadia University acting as a tour guide. It was not uncommon for a large bus to appear unannounced in the driveway of the family farm.
Fred was very proud that two of his sons and a grandson continue in the tree fruit industry.
He is survived by his wife, Mary, six children and extended family members.
Mark your calendar and get your tickets for E Tipu 2021: The Boma NZ Agri Summit on 11–12 May at Christchurch Town Hall.
This is the must-attend event of the year: two days of international and national speakers, interactive workshops, valuable cross-sector networking, and more.
Learn about new trends, innovative tech, and exponential changes coming at us. Most importantly, you’ll learn how we can adapt our food and fibre sectors to be more innovative, sustainable, collaborative, and profitable now and in the future.
From left to right: Colleen Sheldon, Whanganui & Partners, David Eade, 2021 Nuffield Scholar, Andrew Watters, NZ Rural Leaders Chair
Rural Leaders & Whanganui & Partners
developing Whanganui region’s agribusiness sector
NZ Rural Leaders and Whanganui & Partners entered into a multi-year agreement last year to offer scholarships to Whanganui residents who directly contribute to the regions agribusiness sector. To be eligible for a Scholarship, candidates must undertake either a Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme or Nuffield Farming Scholarship.
David Eade, 2021 Nuffield NZ Scholar was selected as the first recipient of a Scholarship.
Independent Chair and Member for NZAGRC Governance Group
The NZAGRC is seeking expressions of interest for two new governance positions – an independent Chair and Member for the newly established NZAGRC Governance Group.
Rural Leaders are delighted to announce our new partnership with Whanganui and Partners to help grow regional leaders and entrepreneurial capital in Whanganui’s food and fibre sector.
As part of the sponsorship, two scholarships will be granted to Whanganui residents, or those scholars who directly contribute to Whanganui’s agribusiness sector, who are undertaking a Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme or a Nuffield Farming Scholarship.
Chris Parsons, CEO of Rural Leaders and Lindy Nelson, Founder of Agri-Women’s Development Trust joined Sarah Perriam on Sarah’s Country to talk about the year ahead and what to expect for 2021.
In this interview on Sarah’s Country Chris Parsons, CEO of Rural Leaders introduces the 2021 Nuffield scholars and talks about how they will navigate their global research with covid-related travel restrictions.
Chris also touches on the 2020 Nuffield Scholar insights that were presented at the 2021 Nuffield Awards Ceremony, following the work the 2020 Scholars have been doing on the sector impacts of COVID-19.
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 Hon Damien O’Connor, Minister of Agriculture, Biosecurity and Food Safety, Minister for Rural Communities and Minister of State for Trade and Export.
The 2021 Nuffield scholars are Ben Anderson, owner and manager of a dry stock farm in Hawkes Bay, David Eade, owner of a finishing block in Whanganui and GM of Apiary Solutions, Daniel Eb, Auckland based Communication Strategist, John Foley, Senior Seed Production Agronomist for PGG Wrightson Seeds in Christchurch and Lynsey Stratford, an equity partner in a 420 cow dairy farm in Curio Bay and Dairy Environment Leader with Dairy NZ.
The travel programme for scholars next year will be different to previous years due to border closures resulting from COVID19. Typically, the Nuffield Scholarship programme involves travel internationally for at least four months and participation in a Contemporary Scholars Conference with Nuffield Scholars from around the world. Followed by a six-week Global Focus Programme through several countries with other scholars.
“Next year our scholars will start their programme with extensive national travel to gain greater insights and deeper understanding into New Zealand’s primary sector before embarking on any international travel” says Nuffield NZ Chairman, Andrew Watters.
“Although the programme will be delivered differently to previous years, it will offer scholars new opportunities and experiences, along with a global perspective whether or not scholars travel abroad” says Watters.
The five new Scholars will join more than 160 Nuffield alumni who have been awarded Nuffield Scholarships over the past 70 years. Their research topics are likely to cover a range of different agricultural issues such as climate change, fractional investing in agriculture, repositioning the role that farming plays in society, technology in agriculture around automation of roles and health, safety and wellbeing on farm.
We select each course intake based on a mix across industries, regions, gender, culture and age. Unsuccessful applicants are advised once the selection decision is made.
Withdrawals after the selection process has taken place can create a change in our ideal cohort mix of participants and may leave unfilled positions on the programme.
A cancellation policy will therefore apply as follows:
Cancellation up to six weeks before programme start = 75% refund. No refund after.
Please note: If payment has not been received by the required date, we’ll assume cancellation.
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 better partner. Relationships are two-way so we urge you to consider Rabobank for your banking requirements and to tap into their extensive resources below.
Rabobank Research Podcasts
Rabobank’s global team of 90 food and agribusiness analysts regularly record podcasts where they discuss the latest developments in food & agri sectors & provide insights on what these developments mean for kiwi farmers.
The podcasts are a fast and easy way to gain a better understanding of how Covid-19 and other key industry developments are likely to impact your business.
To check out the podcasts, search for ‘Rabobank’ on your favourite podcast app & subscribe or you can access the podcasts on their website or follow this link to the Rabobank website.
We are delighted that our our relationship with Agmardt will continue for the next three years, following the re-signing of their Strategic Partner agreement with Rural Leaders.
We cannot acknowledge enough the incredible support provided by Agmardt to our programmes and events.
Vote Now! DairyNZ Levy Vote
The DairyNZ levy vote is open.
Please make sure you vote and get others to vote also. Now more than ever we need a dairy organisation representing the industry at government policy level, doing scientific research, and supporting many programmes including leadership and people capability for the sector.
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 is a transformative journey. The learnings you absorb over the Kellogg course will have life long impact, not only improving the quality of your connections with others but also in multiplying your ability for positive impact. Leadership is a life-long journey and I look forward to journeying with you. “
At the end of April we farewelled Anne Hindson who has led Rural Leaders from its inception. Her early pioneering work with Patrick Aldwell and Richard Green and Tony Zwart has been critical to the coordination of the iconic Nuffield and Kellogg Leaders programmes and their continual modernisation to ensure that modern scholars get world class leadership development.
We were sad to see Anne go, but grateful for her vision and commitment to the primary sector and Rural Leaders over the last six years.
Rural Leader’s Board appoints new Trustee – Kate Scott
At our recent AGM the Rural Leaders Board welcomed Kate Scott (2018 Nuffield Scholar) as a new Trustee, who replaced James Parsons. The Board will also be seeking to elect a new Independent appointed Trustee, following the recent resignation of Louise Webster.
This will hopefully be the last E-Nuff in the current format, as we develop a new look e-newsletter which covers the activities of ‘Rural Leaders’ and includes updates on both programmes.
Much of what
we want to say is relevant to both groups of alumni (some of who overlap) so the
new E newsletter will have organisation updates with the option to click
through to the latest Nuffield or Kellogg news including scholar reports,
insights and updates specific to each programme or group of alumni.
Our ‘E-Nuff’ & ‘Kellogg Konnect’ will be retained for use when conversing with each group on a programme only basis.
We Need a Name – Win the prize!
We are looking for a name for our new Rural Leaders E Newsletter. Get your creative juices going and send in some ideas and win a prize and the honour of renaming our newsletter.
A new initiative for 2019, 6 regions were chosen to host a Regional
Alumni networking event, bringing together different cohorts and both
Kellogg and Nuffield alumni. With Napier/Hastings,
Tauranga, Whangarei, Blenheim, Gore & Hamilton locations there was a mix of
our smaller and larger regions.
The purpose of the initiative was to provide a vehicle for:
alumni to meet each other – across programmes
& cohorts
reconnect with Rural Leaders & its developments
as a new Trust
introduce potential new applicants to both
programmes
hear the reports and experience of a recent
Nuffielder and Kellogger from the region
investing partners regional reps to connect with
alumni for B2B and network development
One of the highlights demonstrating the power and history of
the programmes was in Waikato where we had an original Kellogger from Course 1
1979 and a current Kellogger from Course 40. Similar span of alumni years were
also seen in other regions.
After fantastic feedback, despite the late timing of the
events, the plan is to roll out the concept in 6 more regions next year. Meanwhile we will work with each of the recent
region hosts to determine a sustainable networking format for the future.
Feedback has been really positive about the benefits of
networking and potentially providing some upskilling opportunities and/or
providing a voice on some regional issues although in some regions we battle the
problem of distance with some having to drive over 2 hours each way to attend a
central location.
The recruitment of a full time marketing person will
provide a much needed resource and ability to be much more effective with our
external and internal communications and relationships and keeping the brand
presence throughout the year. We hope to report our new appointment in the next
newsletter in early December.
A board sub committee has been working with Scott Champion
on refining our strategy and business plan over the next few years as we
respond to market changes but more importantly work on developing and growing
our alumni programme and influence.
Our 2020 Nuffield Scholarships have recently closed
and the selection process is underway. This year we have a good number of
female candidates with six being shortlisted so we hope that we can achieve a
better gender balance this year. The
Awards will be held at Parliament, hosted by Hon Damien O’Connor, on 5 November
(a relevant place to be on Guy Fowkes). Watch for the pre announcement email to
alumni announcing the 2020 scholars.
The Awards will be preceded by a forum with the 2019
Scholars sharing their global insights and discussing implications for the
industry with our investing partners & Trustees, hosted by KPMG.
The Nuffield2020 Triennial is gaining momentum with
an updated programme released and registrations opening on 1 September. Check
out the website here https://www.nuffield2020.com/programme.
We are really pleased to welcome some new partners who have come
on board to support this international event alongside our existing Rural
Leader investing partners. Check out the next Triennial EDM for the latest details
& updates. The one day Summit is shaping up to be a great event and watch
out for speaker announcements shortly.
The support of our New Zealand alumni to attend and host our international guests is critical to the success as we want to showcase some of our leading business models, on farm and environmental practices and agri tech to our international colleagues & guests.
Chair, Michael Tayler and the team are hoping all alumni
will use the event to encourage reunions of your Nuffield cohort and
international networks.
Upcoming Events
Kellogg Course 1 2020 Applications close: 14 October
2020 Nuffield Scholar Awards: 5
November
2019 Scholar Insights Forum: 5 November
Kellogg Course 40 phase 3 presentations: 25-28 November
Nuffield2020 Early bird registrations close: 30 November
Nuffield International 2019 Africa Agribusiness Tour Ben Todhunter (New Zealand, 2006 Nuffield Scholar)
In May and June of this year, Nuffield International organized a tour through East Africa for past scholars and invited participants.
A tour overland through Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe for 24 days was always going to be an ambitious and challenging undertaking. But what an opportunity! Having family history in Tanzania had always put East Africa on the travel list, and when the chance came up to visit on a Nuffield tour, I was in. The attraction of travelling with other like-minded people from around the world while learning about Africa and interacting with locals seemed like an opportunity too good to be true – especially if someone else organized it.
On 20th May 10 Kiwis, 1 Aussie, 2 Canadians and our guide
Wayne Dredge met in Nairobi, with local contact Dr. Sarah Flowers. The team
represented a wide range of expertise and interests including fishing,
genetics, feedlot beef production, large scale dairy, forestry, hill country
sheep and beef, fine wool, broad acre cropping, guided hunting, tropical dairy,
transport and the oil industry.
Twenty-four days later we all departed Victoria Falls as firm
friends having shared an amazing experience with some stories to tell, and
retell.
Jim Geltch and Jean Lonie asked me to provide a bit of a summary of the trip in a couple of pages and I must say because of the sheer scale of what we observed and the country we covered I have been procrastinating at the daunting prospect of condensing all that down
to a few pages of pithy points. It’s sort of like writing a Nuffield Scholar
report in executive summary form. My apologies in advance because I think I
might fail on the two-page limit.
But first the funeral. Wayne’s partner, Caroline, who was to travel
with us had her father pass away as the trip started. We extended our
sympathies as best as you can in the circumstances and missed her presence for
the tour.
Wayne provided some very useful basic facts prior to our trip and I will do the same here as context:
Kenya
Tanzania
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Population (million)
49.3
58
16.5
16.5
Population (density: people/sqKM)
78
47.5
17.2
33
Population growth
1.50%
3%
2.9%
2%
2050 population projection (million)
97
137
42
29
Average age
18
17.7
16.8
19
Agriculture (as % GDP)
34.5
24.50%
8.6%
12%
GDP growth over last 4 years
5.70%
6.25%
3.7%
1.50%
2018 GDP per capita (USD PPP)
3461
3227
4216
3024
Sources: Wikipedia & World Bank
These countries have all got young populations and are going through
the phase of population growth driven in part by improved longevity and reduced
infant mortality. As female education and opportunity improves it is expected
the rate of population growth will slow. However, with the demographic make- up
of the population there is a long lag time before population growth slows.
This large pool of cheaper labour is starting to attract some
interest for business as some Asian countries age and become more expensive.
Mobile phone coverage is good, so Africa is potentially leapfrogging through
some technology changes such as missing the fixed line era and developing
mobile banking apps that work in their markets.
Kenya and Tanzania have been growing consistently and strongly,
Zambia less so and Zimbabwe has had some growth but contracted last year and
looks set to do the same again this year.
The group visits a social enterprise operation in Nairobi.
Our first place to stay was the Karen Blixen Coffee house in Nairobi. Blixen wrote “Out of Africa” and her story mirrors some of the stories of success and progress and decline that are intertwined with some African narratives. At one stage she wrote:
“Here at long last one is in a position not to give a damn for all conventions, here was a new kind of freedom which until then one had only found in dreams”
The freedom to do as one pleased and be free of regulation and
bureaucracy, especially in the labour and land management areas, was cited by
many people we visited as one of the advantages of living in Africa. Sadly for
Blixen her first husband had a bit too much freedom and she reportedly
contacted syphilis from him which she claimed affected her health for the rest
of her life.
Our accommodation was generally in gated lodges and to a high standard. It did remove us from some of the hurly burly of African life but it was maybe designed to restrict some of
our aforementioned freedoms and to keep us safe.
Farming is not viewed as a great career in Kenya but land ownership
is a sign of success. An aspiration to build a house on one’s own plot was
regularly mentioned. Simplistically land is owned by larger farmers and
corporates and by small holders. The small holders may be subsistence farmers
but also may have other jobs and use the land to provide food for the family
and additional income. Some of the small holders in higher rainfall areas run
incredibly productive diverse systems, with pigs, chickens, vanilla, bananas,
avocados and timber trees.
One of the opportunities to improve the lot for communities in East Africa is to improve the lot of the smallholder. Many NGO’s focus on this group but where we saw real opportunity and progress was with commercial enterprises providing and scaling commercial solutions for these smaller farmers.
A useful example of this is Margaret Munene, the owner of Palmhouse Dairies. She described her journey building a dairy business which was working with 500 mainly women suppliers with 3-4 cows to provide a healthy product to consumers and provide profit to suppliers. Some of her key challenges (which are not just limited to Kenya) are:
Farmers need credit, so
Palmhouse provided and took off the milk cheque.
High costs of inputs e.g. feed is purchased for the cows and is expensive.
A resistance to the cost of vet
care for the cows so vets are used and cost is taken from the milk cheque.
Infrastructure for collection.
Collection points, measurement, QA, poor roading. Interestingly Kenya
decentralizing and going to a federal system has improved infrastructure.
Seasonality of production.
Inadequate farm R & D, so Palmhouse is providing Tech transfer
to suppling farmers.
These economies are often cash based and Palmhouse endeavoured to pay into bank accounts which reduced the opportunity for corruption but also had the advantage of giving the women more control over their finances. Margaret was then able to set up the Palmhouse Foundation that has
helped to educate over 1000 children from poorer areas.
Natural Extracts Industries in Moshi, Tanzania was another business solving the problems of traceability and QA with small holders by using mobile solutions. Now with 4500 farmers supplying vanilla one interesting strategy had been to train “champion” farmers to help with distribution, scaling, R & D, and tech transfer.
A wide spectrum of technology on display in Africa.
One of the major challenges of dealing with smallholders is ‘side
selling’. For many storable products there are a range of traders with dubious
reputations offering cash at farm gate. This is not just an African issue.
Where support for small holders did not appear to be
commercially driven it looked to me to be a recipe for locking these people
into subsistence farming.
We had a look at Dudutech, a smart Integrated Pest Management company, delivering biological pest control solutions into the East African market, demonstrating what can be achieved with good execution. The visit also highlighted some of the local talent available for
these businesses and some of the cultural biases evident. Where we had a local
and foreign executive presenting to us the foreign one often dominated the
conversation but did not necessarily dominate in the knowledge or skills area.
Dudutech was one of the few companies where environmental concerns
were explicitly mentioned. Environmental issues will affect Africa but the trip
highlighted that provision for the environment generally comes after economic
growth and food provision.
Another encounter with game in Zimbabwe led to ‘NDE No1’. There may be different interpretations of the events that lead up to this Near-Death Experience, but in the nature of history writing, he who holds the pen has the say. Rhinos are so valuable for poaching that they are generally under
24- hour armed guard. Visiting a game preserve with four Rhinos, we were
allowed to go to the fence of the enclosure they were gathered in at night.
Standing at the fence was an incredible experience as Rhinos came up to check
out the visitors and some of us could scratch their horns with only a fence
that looked like matchsticks to a rhino between us.
The offending Rhino!
One of our team, who shall remain nameless, chose to get a different look out to the side at the open entrance to the enclosure. This appeared to attract the male rhino who came and walked out of the gate past said member. Having a wild Rhino go past within a meter of you is an unforgettable moment. What also is unforgettable is watching the rest of the team scatter as the Rhino proceeded to do two charges. Luckily for us, and for Derek, air – and not much
at that – separated the Rhino from contact. Pulling his hamstring as he outran
one of nature’s fastest and more dangerous animals will be a story to tell and
retell.
As we drove the roads of Kenya and Tanzania, we saw herders grazing
their flocks of sheep or goats or herds of cows. Many of the animals looked in
poor condition and the land appeared overgrazed. A historical herding culture
and their displacement from traditional lands is leading to poor land
management and a complex issue that will be difficult to solve. Good grazing
management has the potential to regenerate soils throughout Africa but dealing
with the cultural and property right issues to enable this will not be easy.
Looking at some of the cropping soils also outlined some of the challenges.
Continued mechanical cultivation led to reduced organic matter and poorer
structured soils. Using No Till and cover crops improved this but finding a way
to incorporate animals into the rotations seemed an opportunity to further
improve these soils.
Driving the Tanzanian roads it’s impossible to avoid the traffic police. Virtually every town had traffic officers on the outskirts which did not appear to be serving any safety purpose. Foreign vans seemed to be fair game and may have provided more opportunity for revenue.
We got a bit bored with this game and started getting our bigger
members to ‘listen in’ on the judicial discussions. Our attempts at
intimidation probably made no difference but made us feel a bit better and more
in control.
One of the issues in Tanzania appeared to be the acceptance that the
government could have a large say in your lives such as the overzealous
policing. This carried over into the potential to interfere in markets for
agricultural products and was one of the bigger risks for investment in this
country.
Driving the roads, we are also confronted with the sheer logistics
challenges present. To export avocados from Mkushi in Zambia requires 4-day
trips to Mombasa in Kenya or Cape Town in South Africa. A 12-hour trip crossing
the Tanzanian border into Zambia along parts of the northern Zambian arterial
road in a confined van with a driver not used to our personal hygiene practices
was a challenge for much of the group. The road a main linkage to the mines in
the Congo and Western Zambia was a mess and was chocka with fuel tankers
servicing these mines.
The Mombasa Nairobi Highway is a vital arterial link from the coast for Kenya, and for the land- locked countries of Burundi, Eastern DR Congo, Uganda, South Sudan and Rwanda and carries more than 50% of goods traded in the East African Community. Given the scale of trucking and traffic the road is grossly inadequate and dangerous. On our way to Tanzania we were halted for a five- truck pile up. A toll expressway is due for construction to start to replace the road cutting travel times by more than half.
China has invested in infrastructure throughout Africa including the Nairobi-Mombasa Railway. There are criticisms of this investment and in some places, it is highly visible and may not be delivering the purported benefits. Improving infrastructure and access to global markets is important for African development. To my mind if you wanted to invest in Africa, you would want to do it very carefully, you would want to deeply understand the local laws and cultures, and you would want strong relationships with the people you were dealing with on the ground. The risks for that investment are high. I don’t see that Chinese investment in Africa is any different and it looks to me that some of this investment will benefit African countries more than Chinese companies.
The World Agroforestry center in Nairobi had some gems of research for industry such as speeding up and reducing the cost of soil testing with hyperspectral imaging, new crops for semi-arid lands and crop selection decision support tools. It however did have the appearance of an institution a bit removed from industry.
African farmers do not appear to be immune from the economics of
agricultural product cycles. We saw much investment in Avocado and macadamia
production, which would be a cautionary tale for those investing in these
products elsewhere – unless you have a supply window advantage. Macadamias
present a challenge as a storable product that makes theft a viable
proposition. Security costs and slippage were cited as reasons not to plant
maca’s
Sorting maize by hand
Labour costs are another notable difference to our production systems. We have invested heavily to systematize and reduce labour costs. It was foreign then to see areas where labour is still used in processes that could be mechanized. Given the costs of labour at $1USD to $3USD/day this is entirely rational. Large areas, of mainly women,
de-husking and sorting maize seed by hand was a common sight on Maize seed
farms. I felt uncomfortable when taking photos of these women and they often
asked for money.
The African women are to be admired. Not just for their carriage and physical appearance, but mainly for their persistence and diligence at work. It is not uncommon to see one walking with a child carried front and back and a load on
head and in hand. Pulling up at a Zambian petrol station and having drunk men
on one side and women trading products on the other was an extreme example of
the working roles of the different sexes.
Social License is increasingly used as a term in New Zealand in
relation to farmers ability to carry out their work with the support of the
whole community. In some ways this appeared to be magnified in Africa. Those
farmers who were embedded as part of the community, tended to have less
problems whether that be with theft or getting things done quicker and
generally had less trouble. Being part of the community sometimes included
providing healthcare and education.
One of the benefits of travelling on a tour like this is the
strength of the Nuffield brand and network. The access to top farms and the
willingness for capable people to give up their time to show us their
enterprises and to come and talk to us provided so much depth to our
experience. As an example, in Dodoma we dined with the ex-president of
Tanzania. Having local people travel with us providing commentary and insight
throughout the journey helped with our understanding of the history, geography
and cultures of the countries we visited. Enjoying many sundowners with groups
of locals after a day travelling and visiting provided rich memories for the
participants. Special thanks to Ellie Stanley, Sarah Flowers, and Rob Fisher
who travelled with us for parts of the trip and were very generous with their
time and knowledge.
Kafue fisheries near Lusaka, Zambia was a fascinating visit. Run by the character Speedy Holden the integrated pig and fish farm is circular in nature.
Pigs are farmed on pond banks, effluent from the pigs is washed into
fishponds of Tilapia fish. The effluent promotes algae growth which the fish
feed on and then the water is drained out through reed wetlands to reenter the
river in as good a state as it leaves it. The feed conversion efficiency for
the fish didn’t fully support some of the claims but it was an impressive
operation. Speedy provided an interesting example of an unintended consequence.
He gives thanks to Bill Gates, on a daily basis, claiming the Gates foundation
provision of insecticide treated mosquito nets provides a cheap fishing net
resource which pollutes waterways and reduces insect populations in rivers and
hence wild fish stocks, thus reducing Speedy’s competition.
Land ownership throughout Southern Africa is a highly charged topic,
and Speedy made the comment that “there will be no major portions of white land
ownership in Africa in 20 years.” Given population pressures and political
realities it appears the ability to hold onto larger, single family land
holdings in the future will be difficult. Better to invest in highly productive
smaller areas or further down the value chain.
Tea plantation in Zimbabwe
“Near Death Experience
2.” Travelling out to view wildlife from Victoria Falls one morning a few of
our team got closer than they wanted too. A large Elephant came out of the bush
and their driver swerved to avoid it. They just missed the ellie, but went off
the road and rolled the vehicle. Fortunately, again they were all well and
unharmed, but unfortunately for them by the time they got another vehicle and
had a look for wildlife the viewing wasn’t the best.
Zimbabwe appeared to be a basket case but also presented the most opportunities. There are fuel and power shortages as the country lacks foreign currency to pay for them. There was an upwelling of hope after Mugabe’s ousting as President. His successor Mnangagwa was Mugabe’s enforcer and has not delivered the hoped for, improvements. What is impressive is the way people are innovating and trading and finding ways to operate when an economy is not functioning effectively. For many, finding ways to generate USD or trade using USD has been the way to operate. Sadly, Zimbabwe has now banned these practices, which looks to me like they will need to have a crisis of some sort before the country can start moving forward. The opportunities are enormous
in this country and we saw pockets of investment. It looks too hard just now
but could be worth watching.
Farming has been tough in Zimbabwe, and farmers have the choices to
get out, to get on with it, or to get bitter. The resilience of those who have moved
and those who have stayed is impressive. Many Zimbabwean farmers are now
driving farming productivity in other parts of Africa. The Zim roads are still
in ok order and there are many farming assets sitting idle. There is a cluster
of Zim farmers in Mkushi, Zambia starting to rebuild their lives after losing
land in Zimbabwe.
Religion has been a strong part of these farmers lives and belief
systems and continues to be so. Access to capital is difficult and the ability
to borrow against a land asset is not the same as in NZ. Cashflow then becomes
critical.
Zambia as a landlocked, resource rich country with bad neighbours, has a few of the classic development traps. It is the least populated of the countries we visited and has large areas of undeveloped country.
Chinese presence in Lusaka was visible and 25% of Zambia exports
mainly copper go to China. The Zambian farmers were investing in their
businesses but appeared to have less confidence now than a few years ago.
As I travelled, I looked to see opportunities for investment. I expected to see more. I did see some, but I was much more cautious of the opportunity after the trip than before. To take up the opportunities you would almost have to be on site for a couple of years prior to investing. Deeply understanding the local cultures would take even longer and you would have to build relationships with people you can trust on the ground. There appeared to be a bit of discipline needed on the drafting gate to find these people.
This was a tour that had been at least two years in the making. Wayne put an inordinate amount of work into providing an interesting program, organizing transport and accommodation and making sure all the other logistics worked. It was an incredibly stimulating experience. The interactions with the group throughout the tour enriched the experiences and we had a wide range of visits and insights. This report only touches on the depth of those. It is always possible to tweak or improve something in hindsight but as a travelling and learning experience I would have no hesitation to recommending this tour or similar, to Nuffields, or like-minded people. Thanks to Wayne for all the work he did.
And to the wedding. Wayne had appeared a bit stressed throughout the
tour. We had assumed it was related to trying to keep us all safe, occupied and
out of trouble. Caroline rejoined us at Victoria falls and this stress did not
seem to disappear completely. After we had departed, he proposed to Caroline
and the next photo we see is a stress-free beaming Wayne. Our best wishes go
with Wayne and Caroline and we await invitations to the wedding to be held we
suggest at the completion of Wayne’s next tour!
Cheers to the happy couple! Wayne and Caroline celebrating their engagement.
Singapore – Japan – Indonesia – France – Canada – United States
Hello Nuffield family,
Having just finished six weeks of GFP travel through Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, France, Canada and the United States there is so much to think about and say, so many emotions, so many memories and so much information.
To echo those that have gone before, it is exciting, busy, hard work, the time of my life and a real honour to travel the world as a Nuffield Scholar, the places visited and the opportunities afforded are exactly what we were told but did not necessarily believe. Prior to the GFP I had spent a month in the United States on my own and I was in a great head space for travelling and excited about everything that lay ahead. The time spent prior taught me some valuable lessons about engaging with unknown people and how to get the most out of every opportunity along the way. One key thought for me throughout has always been that the only stupid question is the one you didn’t ask.
Singapore
Our GFP started with
two groups of ten scholars in Singapore for three days. Having met each other at the CSC in Ames,
Iowa in March, I think we were all eager to catch up with each other and it was
great way for our tour to start. Two
days of formal meetings gave us much insight not only into Singapore itself but
also a good overview of how the economy and trade works in Southern Asia. It is no accident that Singapore is the
powerhouse it is, successive governments have recognised that the relatively
small size of the country make it incredibly reliant on others for survival and
they have used this to their advantage by staying a neutral player in the
politics of the region and attracted other countries to use them as a brokering
base. It seems that most multinational
companies and countries have an office in Singapore.
Japan
From Singapore we flew
to Japan for ten days where we spent time in the North Island of Hokkaido,
around Tokyo and in the southern Island around the city of Miyazaki. The Japanese are very particular about the
food they eat and it can be seen everywhere in the quality of the food. As a country they depend on imports for 60%
of their food and the first assumption is that local agriculture would be in a
strong position.
However we were
interested to find out that the truth was very different. Ageing farmers and no replacements is
agriculture’s biggest problem. The average age is 68 and they work farms with
an average size of 1.2ha. Current estimates have abandoned farm land at around
one million ha.
Japan agriculture is
controlled by a farmer co-operative and it is the biggest lobby group in the
country and the biggest influencer in government. They have control of the entire value chain
including finance and have even a funeral division. What was interesting was to
see first hand what was set up to help farmers is now crippling them by
stifling innovation and guaranteeing those that don’t break even. There are of course exceptions and exact
numbers were hard to get but Waggu beef for example can gross as farmer between
$12-$15,000.
Japan was the first
chance for our group to establish itself as a team of people rather than a
group of individuals. Ten days in a
country where English is not spoken at all certainly ensured we learned how to
get along quickly with each other as even the simple things in a foreign
country require trust and teamwork. Culture
and traditions are very important to the Japanese people. It is remarkable for a country with the
population it has to be so ordered and clean.
It is very noticeable in public how quiet the people are and it is a
real contrast to other parts of the world.
The country does appear to be in decline, an ageing population and a
declining population can be seen everywhere and there is a feeling of tired
infrastructure
Indonesia
From Japan we flew to
Indonesia and had two nights in Jakarta.
Where Japan was civilised, quiet and clean, Indonesia was everything
but. Comparing the two countries almost
everything is the opposite, where in Japan trains travel at 300km/hour, in
Indonesia it took five hours to travel 135kms by bus. This is classic example of how difficult the
logistics of business can be especially in such a populace place. Geography is a major hurdle to growth, the
country has over 17,000 islands, 8000 of which are inhabited.
Chaos reigns in
Indonesia, there are 77 million motorbikes registered and at times its as if
they all on the road at once. Indonesia
is very much a developing country and is recovering from years of political
corruption and one quote we were given is that loyalty is only as good as
hunger and it is clear to see the years of neglect. In many respects the country is third world
with many people living a subsistence life and the farmland is dominated by
very small holdings of land worked by people with no mechanisation other than a
motorbike.
Rice is a very big crop
and a staple diet. The intricate network
of small fields and the water channelling systems maintained over generations
was great to see and one of the highlights of Indonesia. It was fascinating to see amongst the chaos
and subsistence farming operations big feed lots, a new 5000 cow dairy farm
with plans for a second and a shrimp and rice factory producing over fifty
lines of food items and exporting them around the world. As an interesting contrast, the population
generally are very poor but they all have smartphones including the
children. An amazing example of scale
and how it can effect supply price.
Indonesia is a very
complex and a very religious country, the call to prayer can plainly be heard
at times through out the day and the girls in our group were warned several
times about covering their legs. The
scenery is quite something, every square meter of available land is used for
farming including near vertical hill sides.
France
Our next stop was a
week in France including a day off in Paris which we all put to good use by
seeing the sights and a week later we flew out of Toulouse in the south. For me France is all about tradition that has
been in place for generations. Tradition
that sees their farming and their food system relatively unchanged because the
demands of the consumer haven’t changed.
Fresh bread every day, cheese, coffee, wine and meat and two hour
lunches dictate the terms in France.
It was interesting to
be there pre Brexit. The French people are of the opinion that the EU imposes
too many rules but the common trade and open border policy has many benefits
that outweigh leaving. There is much to
be admired by the attitude of the French and their work life balance seems to
be ingrained in their psyche.
Nova Scotia, Canada
From France we went to
Nova Scotia and of all the places we visited it was not what I expected at
all. When you think of Canada you think
big scale, Nova Scotia was quite the opposite.
The province is almost an island and as such has a very maritime climate
but it is far enough north that it has very cold winters. It is a land of many
lakes and is over 70% tree covered. We
encountered very small scale farming, dairy, beef, horticulture and fishing. In the case of dairy farming it was a real
step back in time, we saw cows with collars and chains around their necks that
are milked side by side in free stalls at ground level. We also had a visit with Dairy Farmers of
Nova Scotia, the governing body in the province and among other things had an
explanation of supply management and quotas.
From the outset Canada
does not wish to export any dairy product due to trade obligations of other
commodities and it produces only enough for itself and here the supply
management system is born. To discourage
over production the farmer price is set at breakeven point for the 50th
percentile of farmers. We were told that
this system is the envy of the world however our very quick conclusion was that
from the outset the system that the farmers support sets 50% of them up to fail
and ultimately stifles progress and innovation.
Horticulture is a big
industry in Nova Scotia and we spent a lot of time looking into it and it is a
success story due to some very clever marketing by the farmers. Some years ago, two Nuffield scholars and
many others organised themselves to each specialise in a particular crop and
pool the produce as a way to minimise internal competition from the
supermarkets. The biggest surprise from
Nova Scotia was wild blueberries. This
native plant grows wild anywhere the forest has been cleared and they are grown
on a huge scale, the industry is 80,000 hectares plus in the province alone and
worth around $80 million annually.
We were billeted out
with Nuffield Scholars for four nights in Nova Scotia, I stayed with Richard
Melvin, a scholar in the 70’s and his wife Jaqueline. They arranged meetings of various groups and
organised a farmers dinner for our group at a state park in which I gave an
address on the history of the Nuffield Scholarship and what we were seeing
around the world as a way to inspire some young farmers to think about
applying.
Washington DC, United States
From Canada we went to
Washington DC for three days including one day off. If ever there was a city worth visiting,
Washington DC has it all and it explains some of my thoughts about the
patriotism of the American people. The
district of Columbia that houses all the government is full of amazing
buildings, monuments and gardens and is very grand. The national museums are all incredible
dedications to history of this very proud nation.
A highlight of our time
in Washington DC was meeting the other GFP group and seeing that they had also
developed into a very tightknit unit and clearly all enjoyed each others
company. We spent two days in meetings with
the USDA, Bayer, Syngenta, the Australian embassy and Senator Chuck Grassley
from Iowa who gave us forty minutes of his time.
The American political
system is very complicated and is near impossible to understand but the country
is such a powerhouse that its political system should probably reflect
that. Every country we visited was
worried about the trade war with China and the US and where it would end.
West Virginia, United States
Our last week together was spent in West Virginia which upon reflection is not a wonderful state to be farming in. The landscape is dominated by 75% Oak and Maple Forest and the terrain is very mountainous. As a result the state is not known for its agricultural output but we did look at a large amount of operations and industry thanks to West Virginia University Extension Service and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. The NRCS will subsidise a lot of on farm improvements if they are deemed to benefit the environment, fencing, water systems, wintering sheds for cattle, handling facilities etc and we looked at some of these projects. One shock was most farmers in West Virginia work off farm, and growth is not on the radar at all. The shale gas industry is a very big player and has artificially inflated prices of land.
In every country we
visited the lack of young people entering agriculture was a big concern. In Japan, West Virginia and to a lesser
extent Nova Scotia, there is a lack of farmers in general, land sitting idol
and wasted potential. Young people
everywhere look at farming as a life of committed hard work and a salaried job
in the city is a more enjoyable existence.
The three mentioned places appear to be grappling with tradition and
struggle with the concept of simply trying something else.
In Japan the successful
farmers have broken away from the overarching co-op and selling direct to
market. We saw very small dairy farms in
Canada (less than 60 cows) that were very defensive of the same quota system
that is holding them up from expansion.
In West Virginia I gave a talk to a group farmers and politicians on our
final night there about what we had seen and how to make farmers profitable and
attract young people. My answer was
polite but blunt, to be successful you must be clear on your business intent,
intent breeds good decisions and good decisions result in good outcomes, try
new things, ask for help, focus on the basics.
For young people to get
involved it needs to be attractive to them.
It was tricky to be tactful but it seemed to our group that the USDA in
its kindness is subsidising the status quo and similar to the quota system
stifling farmers own ability to innovate.
Everywhere we have been the very successful people are the ones that
have the courage to look critically at what they are doing and make changes as
required.
There is no hiding from
the word environment, with the exception of France and West Virginia we
encountered very little action or even discussion on anything to do with soils,
water or the climate. West Virginia was
the only place where conservation was considered as important. It is easy to be defensive of what we do in
New Zealand but I think we do very well in this space and we will continue to
improve. In terms of climate change France
was the only country visited that is doing anything about it and that was via
EU regulation, as far as we could tell it is not on the radar of many people
although extreme weather is a frequent talking point.
The six weeks of GFP
was so much more than I hoped it could be for so many reasons and I have so
many memories of places and people. Our
group went from 10 individuals to a very tight group of organised and cohesive
people. I think we all come away from
the shared experience with a huge amount of knowledge not just about
agriculture but about ourselves and the need for empathy for those around
us.
We also need to constantly clarify what we are doing and the directions we are going in.
To move forward in business and in life the big take home from me from the GFP is understanding your why, why are we farming? Why are we growing, what we are growing? Why are we living where we live? The successful farmers and business people we visited around the world clearly new the answers to these questions and were driven as a result of that simple question, why?
As an ambassador for New Zealand over the past six weeks it is incredibly humbling to be told a lot about how great our country is, even by people who have never been but want to. It is hard to fathom how we manage to pull our weight on the international stage as much as we do considering the distance to markets and the machine that is international agriculture and trade. The entire food system is very complex and is so different between and even within countries.
For New Zealand to
continue to prosper we need to be ever mindful of our image to our customers
overseas. We can be leaders
environmentally without effecting production or farmers livelihoods as long as
we strive to be better tomorrow than what we are today and not being afraid of
making mistakes while making progress.
I have been extremely
proud to travel as a New Zealander in a group of nine others and we have been
to some amazing places and seen some amazing things together. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of
people to be travelling with and I have made nine lifelong friends I am sure.
At the very forefront
of all of our learnings and what my Nuffield experience has taught me is the
importance of three things in our industry. Agriculture, Food and People: For
agriculture to prosper we must embrace the needs of the people we are producing
the food for and they should be in the forefront of everything we do. I come home from my time away very grateful
to have been given the experience, keen for more and very proud to call myself
a Nuffield Scholar.
California – Argentina – Chile – Italy – United Kingdom
Hello Nuffield family,
great to be sharing some insights with you all again.
When I last spoke to you at the conclusion of the CSC in Iowa, my reflections centred around New Zealand’s place as a nimble food producer. I felt that our story around our culture, our taonga tuku iho (heritage), our environment, the safety of our food, our nutrition and our manufacturing skill to differentiate were a key strength.
Over the following 40 days, I joined 7 other fantastic scholars from Australia, Zimbabwe, Brazil, UK and The Netherlands to travel through 5 countries. We started in the San Joaquin Valley (The Valley!) of California, then to Buenos Aires and drove through the grain growing heartland to Rosario along the Parana River. We jumped the Andes to Santiago, Chile, starting in the drier north we travelled through horticulture central finishing in the forestry and cropping region around Temuco.
A change in hemisphere and continent bought us to Italy, where we begin our food journey in Turin before driving south via Milan to the mountainous Abruzzo region and then on to the historic city of Rome. Finally, we flew to the UK and started our week on the Fens in Lincolnshire, travelled south to Somerset, around Wessex finishing back in London for a first-hand look at Extinction Rebellions protests at Westminster, London.
Climate
The first common trend across almost every farm or business visit we had is that the climate has changed and growers are struggling to adapt. Primarily the change is expressed as more variable rainfall with much more intensity when it does occur. Only in a few cases were there plans in place to adapt, most are on the back foot with varying degrees of acceptance as to how permanent the change is. Infrastructure to compensate for the changes doesn’t exist in many cases. My conclusion – expect supply volatility everywhere.
GM
Secondly there seems to be two very strong positions around GM, one is accepting and has embraced it fully for production gain. The other is firmly of the opinion that the market doesn’t reward GM, it simply adds yield but no additional profit to the grower and locks the production system into the control of multinationals licensing the tech. My conclusion – GM has not substantially rewarded the grower in most cases I saw.
Biologicals
There are however exciting prospects around the understanding of soil biology and integrated pest management with biologicals. We saw strong recognition that we are just beginning to explore what opportunities exist to improve the biological performance of our soils and reduce our reliance on synthetic chemistries. This is a trend that I don’t think will go away.
Nutrition
The US and South America are firmly focused on feeding the world. Nutrition is becoming a more common word but not ahead of yield yet. Mostly it’s commodity, commodity, commodity. If we produce more, we will win is the mentality. My conclusion – NZ has significant relevance in nutrition, it has limited relevance in competition on supply. It is also clear that manufacturing IP brings nutrition opportunities to the fore. Giving up ownership of manufacturing is at our peril. I saw very limited examples of value chains with grower ownership and control like I see in New Zealand.
There is strong social pressure for sustainable farming practices felt by all growers. This is irrespective of the economy being stable or unstable politically or economically. That surprised me. In most cases from what I have seen the NZ grower seems to be light years ahead in this space with demonstrable data. My conclusion – we can prove our story; many others can only pay lip service. The greatest place the NZ grower can add product value inside the farm gate is through verifiable attributes that sit behind how the product is produced.
Christchurch terror attack
Lastly, we were abroad during the 15th March Christchurch terror event. This afforded us the opportunity to see the response through the eyes of the international community. What shone through during this difficult period was our value in humanity, the moral code that most New Zealanders live by. What I can now reflect on is the way many from around the world view New Zealand. We are deeply respected and admired for doing the right thing because it is simply the right thing to do. Our food is New Zealand food, not New Zealand milk or meat or apples, its New Zealand food. Anytime that any of us interacts with our global customers, we represent all of us.
Values, quality, heritage
For many of you this probably hasn’t been
anything overly new, but it really cements for me where we should play and
where we shouldn’t as a country and with my own vested interest in the dairy
industry. The most successful multi-generational businesses I visited are
very clear on their values, absolutely focused on quality, constantly relating
what they do to their heritage and are telling the consumer about it. They all have
a culture that constitutes excellence, their strategy is an outcome of this
culture, they are clear on vision.
It is extraordinarily hard to articulate
after one week back in New Zealand what I witnessed in my 8 weeks abroad. But one thing is clear to me. A united New Zealand food story, premised by
action not words, vested in a short value chain owned from grower to customer
and differentiated through food science based on nutrition, provides us a
bright future. Let’s be clear on our why
and very smart in our ability to pivot around that.
