K33 Reports

Why is family succession planning an issue we should be concerned about? It comes back to the word family. Family succession planning within the agricultural landscape conquers within, an emotional connection to the land and a cultural identity within New Zealand. There have always been family businesses running farms and there appears to be a … Read more

When looking at people and culture, it is difficult to use traditional academic processes to understand how we see the world, and how we think and feel. This is because the influences on humans tend to be more around emotions, rather than logic. Traditional academic process has been around logic or critical thinking, and this … Read more

Aoroa Farms Trust sees organics as a Get Out of Jail Card! This report was written to enable two decisions to be made: Whether or not Aoroa Farms Trust remain a conventional dairy farm or convertto becoming an organic dairy farm. If the decision is to convert do they supply Fonterra Coop or Organic Dairy … Read more

The coarse wool industry has been described as being in a state of malaise by the existing literature and industry experts. Back in 1981 Prime Minister David Lange infamously boasted that agriculture was a sunset industry (Federated Farmers, 2014). At the time this was challenged by industry sector leaders as being false. However, whilst undertaking … Read more

There is significant potential for New Zealand to increase its ability to utilise more bobby calves therefore making them a more valued product. It is important that we have a sustainable, viable, ethical and PR friendly value chain. It is also important that NZ Inc. gets this right to maintain farmers/producers’ ‘social licence’ to farm … Read more

The regional council of Southland (Environment Southland) is mid-way through its Water and Land 2020 and Beyond (WL2020) Project. This project consists of three stages, and is the council’s response to the government’s National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management. It aims to prevent any further decline in water quality, and to help the Southland community … Read more

Psa has increased biosecurity awareness in the kiwifruit industry, and is reinforced by recent fruit fly incursions and biosecurity communications by industry bodies. Kiwifruit growers believe that a future biosecurity incursion is a significant risk to their investment in kiwifruit, if not the greatest risk. Yet on most orchards, biosecurity practices have slipped from where … Read more

It makes sense to look at disruptive technology within agriculture when so many other industries have been disrupted. Music (iTunes, Spotify, Pandora), books (Amazon, Book Depository), travel agents (TripAdvisor), transportation (Uber, Tesla), accommodation (AirBnB), entertainment (Netflix), insurance (Trov), recruitment (LinkedIn) or energy (Flick) have all been affected. What all have in common is a lack … Read more

The dairy industry is in a difficult period and faced with volatile global milk price, increased farm debt and an increasing level of compliance and regulatory costs. The industry is entering its second consecutive year of negative cash flows. The industry’s biggest processor, Fonterra’s current farm gate milk price of $3.90/kgMS, which is well below … Read more

Many agribusiness leaders see New Zealand as going through a transformational phase in agriculture. There is a lot of rhetoric about how best to solve the commodity cycle conundrum we find ourselves in. This ‘cycle conundrum’ is not new to New Zealand as we have been commodity price takers for decades and there are plenty … Read more

The underlying motivation behind undertaking this research is to identify some of the key processes and initiatives that successful New Zealand family businesses implement to ensure their successes and human capital are passed down through the generations effectively. Conversely, I was also interested in clearly identifying some of the common issues which arise in family … Read more

The use of Palm Kernel (PK) as a supplementary feed for NZ dairy cows has seen unprecedented growth over the past decade, despite volatile milk prices. Demand has been driven by system intensification, a production focus and climatic challenge. The availability, flexibility and cost- competitiveness of PK make it a popular choice with dairy farmers.  … Read more

Rural women are moving their social space and networks online and increasingly seeking to work longer hours off farm, while the communities they live in continue to operate in the historical colonial space of a ‘man’s world’.  Survey results for this report portray farming Mums in particular, as largely feeling lonely and isolated and without … Read more

Investment in time and capital to satisfy compliance requirements in the dairy industry is increasing year by year. While this is a necessary requirement to operate a business in our modern environment there is potential to create value out of this at the same time. Often when we look at disruptions we look for solutions … Read more

New Zealand’s pastoral industry was founded on the breaking in of the land, and the romanticised image of cattlemen droving stock across rugged countryside remains a powerful image, even today. In abrupt contrast, however, is the more recent focus on stock access to waterways and its power as a catalyst for intense debate about water … Read more

The South Island Dairy Development Centre (SIDDC) is a non-profit set up through a collaborative effort of seven dairy industry partners: Lincoln University, AgResearch, Plant and Food Research, DairyNZ, Ravensdown Fertiliser Cooperative, LIC, and SIDE (South Island Dairy Event). Founded in 2001, it has operated the Lincoln University Demonstration Dairy Farm (LUDDF) as a means … Read more

T he New Zealand dairy industry is constantly evolving with changing practices, expectations from beyond the farm gate increasingly affecting farm practices, and consumer demands shifting – both in terms of product quality and the method of production. These issues are particularly noteworthy when looking at the Golden Bay population where this study is based, … Read more

The aim of this research project was to understand the main issues that growers perceive are (or will be) affecting their businesses and industry. A survey with 233 responses and four focus groups (two focused on vegetables and two on fruit) were conducted to get a snapshot of the industry and to help guide the … Read more

Use of private equity is well established in the agriculture sector. The dairy industry, in particular, has used private equity partners to fund purchases and conversions, successfully driving growth of businesses across different stages. This report identifies the limitations and opportunities of private equity for the sheep and beef industry, where capital constraints and cash-flow … Read more

The sheep and beef industry is one of New Zealand’s leading exporting industries. Many sheep and beef farms have remained within the same family for generations due to successful farm succession across multiple generations, as evident every year at the New Zealand Century Farms and Station Awards (NZCFSA).  Succession planning is the development of a … Read more

It is well known that the honey market is very crowded with multiple brands and product types; however, I believe there is space in the market for a special premium brand. The new brand would target the more sophisticated, educated, wealthy, female market. The brand would be differentiated by refined upmarket packaging and a range … Read more

New Zealand is a significant participant in the global dairy export market, making up 30% of this market. The major dairy export item from New Zealand is currently Whole Milk Powder (WMP), which is one of the most price volatile commodities in the world. The United States and European Union regions have become prominent competitors … Read more

Volunteering by the individual and society at large brings benefits across the social spectrum. The contributions it makes socially and economically are very important and volunteering contributes to a more cohesive society by building trust and reciprocity among citizens. In 2014 44% of New Zealanders did some form of voluntary work – that put us … Read more