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

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

Meat and Fibre

Greg Shepherd

The first settlers were recognised for establishing farms and runs by breaking in land, building boundary fences, establishing key farm infrastructure, processing facilities and forging development of new distribution channels. Pastoral farming[1] rapidly became the mainstay of the New Zealand economy, creating the fabric of rural communities, provincial towns and provided the opportunity for urban … Read more

Siobhan O'Malley

This paper examines whether there is demand for a carbon neutral attribute on a red meat brand offering. The vision for how supply criteria of this product would need to be met is modelled on milk and wool supplier criteria from added value brands. The certification of the carbon neutral status of the product would … Read more

Rob Kidd

“The large-scale commercial farming of deer started in New Zealand, and New Zealand remains the world’s largest and most advanced deer farming industry” (DINZ, n.d.). Recently, a significant increase in demand for pet food products has developed. This has been fuelled by American and European customers buying for pets which are now so highly regarded … Read more

Paul Ensor

The aim of this paper is to clearly define the Circular Economy (CE) concept and showing its potential for NZ agribusiness using mini case studies to provide insights on how we can improve our sustainability and add economic value in an ethically values-based way.  The research methods used for this report involve a literature review … Read more

Harriet Cameron

In a knowledge driven world, changes to the buying behaviour of consumers is shaping the need for New Zealand exporters to pivot towards a consumer centric model. This requires us to shape the way we produce and market New Zealand products to fit the demands of the discerning consumer. Changing consumer buying behavior and the … Read more

Helen Andrews

The aim of this report is to identify opportunities for the NZ pork producers to compete with continued and increase imported pork. The three main areas I have investigated are “WHY?” we need to compete. I investigate the reasons for the increase concentrating on pork production in relation to population data. I studied the imported … Read more

John Tatere

New Zealand farmers have often looked to adopt technology to use in their farming business to increase productivity. The use of technology throughout the entire farm business has increased as modern day farming techniques become more complex and large scale investment in the rural sector increases. Sheep & beef farmers in New Zealand have benefited … Read more

Leyton King

“Groundhog Day (noun): A situation in which events are or appear to be continually repeated” (Collins dictionary) I grew up with a dog whistle around my neck, a handpiece in my hand and a knife and pouch around my waist. Farming was always going to be my journey. Yet after seventeen years of management and … Read more

Amanda Jordan

The future of our primary industries relies on the wealth that we, as farmers, can create by having safe and integral products that we can export and market to the world. We also need to have a ‘second to none’ provenance story to command a premium price per unit from our increasingly conscious consumers. The … Read more

Robbie Hill

Soil carbon is a key indicator for the health of the land. Arguably, the long-term agrarian wealth of a nation is determined by whether soil is being formed or lost. If soil carbon is being lost, so too is the economic and ecological foundation on which production and conservation are based. Soil carbon provides the … Read more

Gary Massicks

The purpose of this study is to look at what options exist for owners of farm businesses in the sheep/beef sector to ‘exit’ either; their role or ownership in the business. This is not an investigation into the overall succession topic, more a look at one of the key parts of the process. Where are … Read more

Craig Trotter

Change is constant and the change of pace for the global supply of protein and its make up is going to alter considerable over the next 20 years. Alternative protein sources such as through the rise of plant based and synthetic meat products will take place of the current traditional commodity meat market across the … Read more

Justin Geary

An industry founded by entrepreneurs and innovators, the deer industry is relatively young. Farming the most recently domesticated animals, deer farmers have experienced all of the highs and lows that markets can deliver. With boom and bust cycles a regular occurrence, industry leaders developed a strategy to create an appellation for premium New Zealand Venison … Read more

Turi McFarlane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3OYmYDhyLc&list=PL_FGrpOWrfXvXSGWBr9pj48LJHnXeZeJ5&index=1 Listen to the podcast Download the report New Zealand farmers are being confronted by the need to improve multiple environmental outcomes while still returning a profit. How the primary sector continues to evolve to deliver sustainable returns for farmers responding to increasing environmental pressures, is one of the defining challenges of our time and … Read more

David Kidd

A paradigm shift in the way we farm is occurring, one that emphasises the importance of producing more effectively, efficiently and responsibly, with a particular focus on protecting the environment. New Zealand farmers are confronting these changes now. Our geographic isolation no longer shelters us from the global and instant communication and information networks are … Read more

Kate Taylor

The school bus pulls away from the farm driveway and the already-exhausted mother sinks into a chair at the kitchen table to drink her now-cold coffee. The pet lambs have been fed, school lunches made, lost uniform items recovered, homework sorted and kids packed off to school. There’s washing to hang out, beds to make, … Read more

Olivia Ross

Each of the sectors within the primary industry has an ageing population of employees. These people are going to need replaced by 2025 (as Julian Raine spoke about during the panel discussion, phase one of course 36 the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme). The red meat sector is New Zealand’s largest manufacturing employer and provides jobs … Read more

Phil Weir

Modern work enabled by the aforementioned advancements, particularly the rate of digital technology change, is becoming increasingly accessible around the clock, which results in a progressively blurred line between work life and home life, with the concept of a work life balance under significant challenge. This challenge is exacerbated when farming households are engaged in pluriactivity. Pluriactivity is the situation when family members invest time off-farm, which is not a temporary situation responding to changed circumstance or shock, but rather a permanent and accepted feature of farming societies globally, that is driven by a range of diverse factors, including household, farm and spatial drivers.

Kylie Phillips

By the year 2020, over $1.6 billion of New Zealand taxpayer money will be invested in science and innovation per annum. What share will Primary Industries have of this investment?  “With the coming of the fourth industrial revolution – fundamental change to our daily personal and professional lives from the combination of physical, digital and … Read more

Amanda Giles

My project has investigated some of the current beef industry quality assurance (QA) programs which provide evidence based marketing tools to the livestock industry. The case studies have allowed me to identify key aspects of these programs which would be useful to utilize when designing a holistic QA program for the beef industry.  The key … Read more

Johanna Scott

New Zealand’s animal genetics industry started when two sheep were imported, and they both died within four days, (NZ Rural Press Ltd, 2007). Since then, with the expertise of passionate breeders, scientists, farmers and advisers it is has significantly expanded and will continue to do so. By 2021, animal genetics is expected to be a … Read more

Michael McGehan

Throughout its short history, the New Zealand Wagyu Industry (NZWI) which was established in the early 1990’s with the introduction of cattle from Australia and the United States (US) via original parents in Japan has been struggling to grow.  This is partly due but is not limited to the long time frames required to breed … Read more

Victoria Magazinovic

Central Otago is a region where farming is predominantly sheep and beef. The profitability of these farms varies, and in the last few years lamb prices have not helped this. Nitrogen use has the potential to help farmers improve production and profitability, but the use of it also varies a lot from farm to farm … Read more

Dwayne Cowin

Environment protection to some degree is something that every sheep and beef farmer in the country is going to have to either deal with currently, or sometime in the near future. The degree of environmental protection will depend on the regions location and also the issues relevant to every individual farm, but it would be … Read more