2023 Archives | Rural Leaders

Rural Leaders deliver food security programme for US Gilman Scholarship alumni.

Key food security programme delivered in US-NZ partnership.

‘Mission New Zealand – Navigating Geopolitical Tensions and Climate Change as an Agri-based Economy’, was a week-long programme delivered by Rural Leaders in Christchurch.

Facilitated by Dr Scott Champion, the programme was designed to give a group of 25 visiting Gilman Scholarship alumni a deep dive into global food security.

Participants gained insights into the policies, technologies, and adaptation measures that aim to secure the New Zealand agricultural sector and reduce environmental impacts.

The programme was an opportunity to explore New Zealand’s innovation and initiatives towards food security. It included modules on global food security, trade, food and fibre value chains, a NZ Government perspective on food security, a Te Ao Māori perspective, food safety, precision agriculture, as well as presentations from supply chain, biosecurity, regulatory, and sustainability leaders.

For Rural Leaders the programme represented the strengthening of an important relationship between both enterprises, and more broadly, between the US and NZ.

Lisa Rogers, Rural Leaders’ CEO said, “We were pleased to be asked to host and deliver this Global Food Security focussed programme for the Benjamin A Gillman Scholarship from the US.

The week provided the opportunity to showcase NZ Food and Fibre’s innovative and entrepreneurial approach to food production.

With presenters to the group including politicians, officials and innovative producers, the group of scholars had an immersive week within our Food and Fibre sector.

The opportunity to hear external view points about our sector and its food production systems was as invaluable as it was refreshing.”

For the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program and the US Department of State, ‘Mission New Zealand’ has been a valuable cross-pollination of ideas and knowledge sharing, for food security and for the platform it has provided for discussing some of the challenges both countries face.

Gilman Scholarship Alum Darrin Vander Plas – REX podcast.

One attending Gilman Scholarship alum, Darrin Vander Plas (pictured above), took time to chat to Dominic George and REX online about what he and his colleagues learned on their trip to NZ, his role with the US Department of Agriculture Farm Loan Program in Maui and his time helping farmers in The Gambia and Uganda.

Darrin Vander Plas, from the US Department of Agriculture, is one of these people who has ventured over and he explains further what the goal of the trip is as well as some of the highlights so far.

Vander Plas, who manages the USDA Farm Loan Program in Maui County, Hawaii, highlights the resilience of Kiwi farmers despite the absence of government subsidies.

Additionally, he discusses his experiences in The Gambia and Uganda, where he supported local farmers through various agricultural initiatives and his experiences during last year’s wildfires in Hawaii.

Campbell Parker – Leading with authenticity in a fast-changing sector.

Farmers Weekly Managing Editor Bryan Gibson speaks to Campbell Parker, Chief Executive Officer at DairyNZ.

Campbell discusses his involvement with the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme and how leading with authenticity can go a long way to helping us achieve big things in a time of rapid change.

Listen to Campbell’s podcast here or read the transcript below.

Bryan Gibson – Managing Editor of Farmer’s Weekly.

Kia Ora, you’ve joined the Ideas That Grow podcast, brought to you by Rural Leaders. In this series, we’ll be drawing on insights from innovative rural leaders to help plant ideas that grow so our regions can flourish. Ideas that Grow is presented in association with Farmers Weekly.

Bryan Gibson, Managing Editor of Farmers Weekly.
You’re with Ideas That Grow, the Rural Leaders podcast. I am Farmers Weekly Managing Editor, Bryan Gibson, and with me today is Campbell Parker, Chief Executive of DairyNZ. G’day Campbell, how’s it going?

Campbell Parker, CEO DairyNZ
How are you, Bryan? Yeah, I’m pretty good, thanks.

BG: Now, you’re not an alumnus of the Kellogg or the Nuffield Programmes, but you have been called upon to work with some of the Kellogg cohorts, to talk to them about leadership. What does that involve?

Sharing leadership experiences with Kellogg scholars.

Image: Campbell Parker with 2024 Programme One Kellogg Scholars (K51).

CP: I had the opportunity in the end of January to go down and talk to the most current cohort. They were looking for a view around the dairy industry. Obviously, I’m CEO of DairyNZ, but that was where it started.

Ultimately, what you find in those conversations is that you start talking about the Sector, but then you start talking about leadership. The conversation with them ended up in a very interesting space around what are some of the challenges the sector has and where does leadership fit in.

What I also find interesting with a group like that is they’re interested in your own personal leadership journey and where they are in their own journey. How do we learn together and what is the role of leadership? You always find those sessions really stimulating; when you get to talk about what that is and what are we all trying to achieve from a leadership perspective.

BG: Leadership is an interesting thing. For myself, I hold a leadership position in our business. But to tell you the truth, a while back, I wouldn’t have thought leadership was for me. I’m a quiet person. I’m a listener, like journalists often are.

You quite often don’t marry that to what you stereotypically look for in a leader. What do you think about how leadership has evolved over time and what qualities are important?

Leading well starts with understanding yourself.

CP: I think leadership is an evolving subject, and it continues to evolve. But one of the things I’ve seen, I think people have a frame around what they think leadership is. I personally believe everyone can be a leader. First of all, you’ve got to lead yourself. That’s where it starts.

Some of the best leaders I’ve worked with aren’t necessarily the gregarious and outgoing people. But to sum it up, I think one of the most important traits around leadership is authenticity and being really clear about who you are as a person, what your impact on others is, and how you try and lead people.

It does start with having a good understanding of yourself, what motivates you, what drives you, how you react to certain circumstances, and then ultimately, how do you lead people to be the best that they can be. To me, that authenticity is not necessarily about corporate messages, because the people that have the ability to take people with them are the people that are trusted and are authentic. They have very honest conversations around where things need to be.

If I had to put it down to one thing and one word, I would say authenticity is one of the most important things.

BG: Yeah, I guess people are more likely to believe in and get in behind someone who they feel personally, or in a business sense, has their back, that you’ll be listened to, and that you have the chance to thrive on your own as well as within a collective. That’s really important, isn’t it?

Authenticity is key in a sector with little appetite for BS.

CP: It is. I think I was asked a question by the board when I was going through the interview process for this role. They asked me a question around what are the things you’re most proud of in your career. I said to them, and I was very genuine around this, it’s not an event or something, there’s been lots of those. But what I’m most proud of is the people I’ve had the opportunity to work with and the things that we’ve been able to achieve together. To me, that’s the important part of leadership, because when you work with teams and people, and you achieve something you didn’t think was possible, that’s inspirational.

I remember one person that I worked with externally who used to often say, the biggest limitations are those that we put on ourselves. I think we’re all a lot more capable of things from a leadership perspective than what we think we are. It’s through time and experience that you gage those things and you learn from them. If you’re a continuous learner, you want to continue to grow as a human being – I think if you can do that and do that well, then leadership can be really enjoyed and enjoyable

BG: You don’t know what you’re capable of until you give it a go, I guess. That lifelong learning thing.

CP: And sometimes you’re put into situations that are really challenging. Ultimately, you have to be prepared to make a decision and then live with those decisions, but you also need to be, I think, open enough to reflect on and admit when you didn’t get things right or be vulnerable enough to then change. Because, again, back to that point around authenticity and trust, that gives people the ability to trust you and then come with you.

The one thing I would say in our sector, in agriculture, and particularly with farmers, they’re pretty good at reading the ‘BS’ barometer, and that level of authenticity is incredibly important.

Remaining positive about the Sector’s future.

BG: Now, you mentioned you talked to the Kellogg cohort earlier in the year about some of the issues in our food production sector at the moment. Obviously, it’s been a time of rapid change. We’ve had global events, pandemics, that sort of thing, and also lots of regulation come down from government in the previous term. What do you think is the path going forward? How do we align ourselves to make sure we’re doing the best we can do for our sector?

CP: I think one of the things that we really need to make sure that we continue to do is respect all the really good work that have been done by farmers. This is something that’s really important. It’s not just dairy farmers, that’s all farmers. When I look across the Sector and I look at the progress that farmers have made over the last 10 years, we’re in a very different place today than what we were 10 years ago, particularly when you go to things like on-farm practices, and in the environmental space. You get into animal welfare, all those really important, which are quite big global topics and are not going to go away.

It’s really important that as a sector, we continue to have progress around that because it’s expected, whether it be from global players who buy our products or consumers, ultimately. But equally, when you talk to farmers, farmers care deeply about animals on the land, and they ultimately want to leave it better than what they found it. I think hope around that is really important. This sector contributes so strongly to New Zealand from a GDP, but it’s not just that. It’s not just the financial, it’s the communities.

When farming is doing well, communities thrive, and when communities thrive, towns do well. The whole impact on our nation is incredibly important. Yes, we’ve had some tough times. We’ll go through cycles, and we always have in terms of economic cycles and political cycles. But I think we’ve got to have the courage to continue to be passionate and positive about what our future is, because the world needs high-quality food produced in a way that’s sustainable for the environment.

Our farmers ultimately also need economic returns for that to remain viable themselves. It’s an industry that I certainly find not hard to get out of bed every day and get excited about because it’s got a really, really important role to play.

BG: Just a year or two back, it seemed we had a bit of a flash point, I guess, in terms of rural leadership. It was over the emissions pricing process. A lot of farmers and people in rural communities got the feeling that they hadn’t been communicated to well enough by the people who were advocating for them inside the beltway. That led to changes in leadership in various places. That communication and gaining and representing a mandate, that seems to be really important as you go and represent your community outside of it, if you know what I mean.

Learning from the past.

CP: I agree, and I think it is. I think the reality is if you’re talking around things like He Waka Eke Noa processes and things like that. Look, a lot of people put a lot of effort into those processes and tried to communicate things. Unfortunately, there was a bit of a void, and I think it’s important we learn from that because out of that comes this distrust and this concern around what are we advocating for.

It’s interesting because since being in the role, I’ve talked to a lot of dairy farmers, and a lot of farmers have raised that issue with me. When you reflect back on it and say, well, the alternative was we went straight into the ETS, we ended up with pricing, and we didn’t end up with a split gas approach, do you think we should have played that role? They unequivocally say, Absolutely, you should have. Somehow it got lost in translation. I think we do have to learn and reflect on that. I think we do have a role, particularly as industry good organisations to stand up and be clear about what we do stand for and be prepared to take a leadership position.

I know that from my predecessors and people in the business, that absolutely was the case. Somehow that got lost.

Getting the mojo back.

BG: You mentioned farming being not just a driver of economic wealth, but of social well-being. Often when you hear about farming, though, outside of the likes of the Farmer’s Weekly or that sort of thing, it seems to be always on the defensive, if you know what I mean? Farmers have been accused of this and here’s such-and-such from Federated Farmers to defend themselves. It seems we need to maybe front foot things a bit more and believe in what we are and what we bring and that sort of thing and change the conversation a little bit?

CP: I think as farmers and the industry, should be incredibly proud of what we do as a sector. Also, and look, times are tough. When you look directionally through and not just at the financial, the impact that the sector has on communities, people growing, schools, all those things should not be lost sight of.

If I cast my mind forward, I’m 54, if I go back to when I left school in 1987, post the share market crash, everyone said the agricultural sector was a sunset industry. It has certainly not played out that way, and it’s been really, really important for New Zealand. If I cast my mind then forward, I go, absolutely, will it be important in 15- or 20-years’ time? Absolutely. Can we balance both environmental and profitable outcomes? Absolutely. Lots of farmers are doing that. But somehow, we have to try and have a positive voice and get our mojo back.

BG: It does relate to a top-down approach with the likes of Government regulation, that leaves farmers in a place where they don’t feel in control of their own destiny. They’re being given rules with no contextual meaning. Whereas if, say, the likes of the current process of driven plans around scope-three emissions, they lead to premiums. There’s information from customers around the ‘why’. That seems to be a better way to do things in some ways.

CP: I think you’ve always got to understand the context of what you’re trying to drive in. Self-regulation is always better than regulation. I think as an industry, we’ve got to take responsibility for our role to play in those pieces. We’re signed up to things like the Paris Accord. That’s all okay. We’ve just got to make sure that we are contributing and take ownership for our issues.

I think one of the observations I would make, Bryan, in talking with politicians, whether it be regionally or centrally now, is they don’t only want to know what the problems are, they want to know what the solutions are.

We see ourselves as being part of those solutions. But to your point, when people are uncertain, and that’s why we need enduring policy, that’s fear and pragmatic and can be implemented. We did get too much complexity into some of that space. Some of that’s got to be undone. But we need enduring policy that also gives farmers confidence to invest in the things that they need and to continue the direction of travel. If we don’t have that, then it becomes very hard. Confidence is a really important part of anyone’s psyche.

When you feel good about what you’re doing and you’re upbeat about where things are going, you’re more likely to have a positive mindset.

Kellogg - for leaders who want to make a difference.

BG: Just going back to your work with the Kellogg Programme, that must have been… I’ve been to a couple of their alumni events, and they’re amazing events because they’re just full of a wide range of people from all different backgrounds, all different professions. But they’re all just incredibly excited about the Programme, about being with each other and what they’re doing. How did you find it?

CP: They’re always energising. You get in a room with this year’s intake. In January, there was probably 20 people in the room. They’re all passionate about what they do. They ask good questions, which is good and challenging. But they’re there for a reason because they want to make a difference, ultimately.

They also want to challenge themselves to grow as leaders. I think any of those programmes that galvanise people towards that, but more importantly, that self-reflection around where you are and how do you grow and how do you learn from others, is a really good thing to be part of.

The alumni piece around how they continue to connect themselves up; I talked with one of our directors, Tracy Brown, and she remembers doing Kellogg 20 years ago, when she was in her early 20s, and the people she went through at that point. She’s gone on to do a Nuffield and sits on our board, and sits on a number of boards. Some of that started with Kellogg. I think that’s where sometimes the passion gets ignited, but they get drawn to do the Programme, generally, because they’re drawn towards doing it for a deeper personal reason.

BG: Thanks for listening to Ideas that Grow, a Rural Leaders podcast in partnership with Massey and Lincoln Universities, AGMARDT, and FoodHQ. This podcast was presented by Farmers Weekly.

For more information on Rural Leaders, the Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarships, the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, the Engage Programme, or the Value Chain Innovation Programme, please visit ruralleaders.co.nz

Hamish Murray podcast - Building stronger on-farm teams

Hamish Murray: Building stronger on-farm teams by getting out of the way.

(Image. Left to right: Kerry Worsnop, Kylie Leonard, Matt Iremonger, James Allen).

After over a year of immersion within the global Nuffield network; whether that be on the key programme milestones such as the GFP, CSC or on research travel, the 2023 Nuffield Scholars’ have completed their reports.

A brilliant group of people, a pleasure to spend time with and all great at what they do. Check out the report titles/summaries below or take a closer look at their reports here.

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Here are the report summaries.

Kerry Worsnop – The mountain we need to climb. Designing agricultural policy for a future in farming.

Kerry’s report addresses those in leadership, agricultural policy makers and others with an interest in how we deliver better outcomes for those on the land and for the land itself. Kerry’s report hopes to bring into focus what we need to comprehend about our operating environment if we are to navigate agricultural policy well.

Go to Kerry’s report.

James Allen – Redefining excellence in agribusiness advisory. The role of the rural advisor in the modern world.

James’ report explores the challenges faced by the rural advisor in a farming world striving to feed an ever-increasing population whilst also reducing its environmental footprint. This report gives guidance as to how the rural advisor might continue to add value to farmers in this fast-changing context.

Go to James’ report.

Matt Iremonger – What’s the beef? Opportunities for beef on dairy in New Zealand.

Over 1.8 million non-replacement calves are slaughtered annually at 4-7 days.
Matt’s report looks at the opportunity for beef on dairy to shift the value chain from dysfunctional to functional.

Go to Matt’s report.

Kylie Leonard – Boots on the ground are part of the solution. Transitioning agriculture towards sustainability together.

A reduction of Greenhouse gases is being demanded through our value chains. Kylie’s report focuses on the need for farmers to be at the table of this change (not on the menu) in order to steer agriculture toward greater sustainability outcomes.

Go to Kylie’s report.

The NZRLT board welcome Jack Cocks, Associate Trustee.

The NZRLT Board and Leadership Team are pleased to announce Jack Cocks’ appointment as Associate Trustee.

Jack replaces Olivia Weatherburn. As the role is for one year, Olivia now steps aside after her exemplary service on the board. Olivia’s positivity, energy and contribution has been valuable – and valued.

Jack now joins Kate Scott, Chair, and Rebecca Hyde, Murray King, Steve Wilkins, Trustees, and Hamish Fraser and Paul Crick, Independent Trustees.

“The board is excited to welcome Jack to the role of Associate Trustee. Jack brings a diverse background in farming, consultancy and the importance of personal resilience to his passion for developing others”, says Kate Scott, Board Chair.

Jack is an Otago high country farmer. He holds a bachelor’s degree in farm management from Lincoln University and a masters in agricultural economics from the University of Illinois. Prior to farming Jack was a Dunedin based agribusiness consultant.

Jack suffered a life-threatening brain aneurysm eleven years ago which saw him spend eight months in hospital over six years and undergo fifteen major surgeries. Following this experience he has studied and researched how ‘Resilient Farmers Thrive in the Face of Adversity’ through the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme.

He has been asked to do many talks to corporate, farmer, and student groups on his ideas around how farmers can be more resilient to thrive in the face of adversity.

“It’s a real privilege to join the NZRLT board for the next twelve months. I’m looking forward to the opportunity. I’m sure I will learn a huge amount, and I hope to add value to the organisation”, says Jack Cocks.

The Associate Trustee role offers valuable governance in practice experience to those appointed, while providing the opportunity to contribute to the Board’s objectives and to the wider sector in a meaningful way.

Jack’s first official NZRLT board meeting will be 3 July.

John Daniell Memorial Trust – supporting Kellogg.

The John Daniell Memorial Trust has kindly agreed to support two Kellogg Rural Leadership course participants annually.

This support comes in the form of two scholarships per year of $5,000.

Successful applicants will be expected to present to the trust either in person or online within three months of the conclusion of their Kellogg research project.

Learn more about the Trust and applicant eligibility below.

Aims of the trust.
To perpetuate John Daniell’s enthusiasm, love and philosophy in all aspects of pastoral farming.

To further promote and assist in achieving his long-held objective of increasing research effort into hill country and pastoral farming.

To recognise John Daniell’s significant contribution to the NZ farming industry.

Objectives of the trust.
To encourage or promote any idea, activity or project that is seen as capable of furthering understanding, knowledge or appreciation of any aspect of farming practice.

To encourage places of learning, person, organisations or government departments to participate in research and demonstration associated with specific farming projects.

To provide and/or assist in the provision of scholarships, bursaries, lectures, seminars, trophies and other benefits of incentives.

To promote research and demonstration of means of achieving the maximum volume and value of products consistent with the maintenance of a high standard of animal and pasture management.

To promote research and the demonstration of management systems to enable pastoral farmers to achieve optimum production and profitability on an ongoing basis.

The advancement of education in the farming of pastoral property.

To invest in any farming resource which will enable the research and demonstration of modern farming practices.

Eligibility.
1). Scholarships will be awarded to those who are focused on practical pastoral livestock farming or leadership in the pastoral livestock farming

2). Preference is be given to participants from the Wairarapa region in the first instance

3). Applicants must be NZ citizens

4). Applications to be lodged with the intended start date of the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme

5). The scholarship will be paid by the trust direct into the applicants nominated bank account at the commencement of the course.

Applications.
Applications for a John Daniell Memorial Trust Scholarship to attend Kellogg Programme One 2026, will need to be submitted to Delwyn Pringle at the email below by Sunday 5 October 2025.

NB. You will need to submit your Kellogg application by this date as well. Please indicate on your application that you are applying for this scholarship.

To start the process please email Trust Secretary Delwyn Pringle for an application form at delwyn@bakerag.co.nz

New Energy – The 2024 Nuffield Biennial Conference.

New Energy, the 2024 Nuffield Biennial Conference.

There’s just a little over a month to go until the Nuffield Biennial begins.

Open to Nuffield alumni and their partners, this key event runs 23-26 May.

The Nuffield Biennial features a stellar line up of new technology and innovation, networking opportunities and the best produce from the Taranaki region. Take a look at the planned schedule below.

Contact Annie Chant at Anniechant@ruralleaders.co.nz for any queries.

Or book here now.

The Conference schedule at a glance.

Arrival Day (Thursday 23 May)
2022 Scholar presentations and panel.
Drinks and networking dinner.

Day Two (Friday 24 May)
2020, 2021 Scholar presentations and panel.

Field Trips
Option One, Energy supply chain
Ross Dingle (CEO) Port of Taranaki site visit, Q&A energy sector leaders.

Option Two, Branching out
Michelle Bauer, Venture Taranaki.
Medicinal and Botanic growth followed by a visit to the Marae for a presentation with Meat to You and Michelle Bauer on Taranaki’s regional diversity.

Option Three
Taranaki Gardens visit with Ainsley Luscombe.

Later – Gin tasting with Juno Gin and buffet dinner.

Day Three (Saturday 25 May)
2023 Scholar presentations and panel.

Field Trips
Option One, Emissions and Efficiency
Rotary Cow Shed – Shane Arden.
Solar on Farm – Philip Luscombe, Matt and Roger.
Nestle Net Zero pilot dairy farm – Dairy Trust Taranaki.

Option Two, Got Milk
PKW Sheep Milk –Spring Sheep Milk.
Tawhiti Museum.

Later – Egmont Honey talk, seated dinner and band ‘Avalanche’.

Nuffield Biennial details at a glance.

Where: The Devon Hotel, New Plymouth (we have held some rooms here, though these are booking out).
When: Starts 3pm, Thursday, 23 May.
Register below by Wednesday, 1 May.

Fee: Registration is $475 + GST. Registration fee includes most catering, field trips and the Conference.

Jen Corkran – Trust, truth and how we learn.

Farmers Weekly Managing Editor Bryan Gibson speaks to Jen Corkran, Senior Animal Protein Analyst at Rabobank and a 2023 Kellogg Scholar.

Jen discusses her day job to provide red meat insights to clients and farmers. Jen also reveals what her Kellogg research tells us about trust, truth and the way farmers take on information.

Listen to Jen’s podcast here or read the transcript below.

Bryan Gibson – Managing Editor of Farmer’s Weekly.

Bryan Gibson, Managing Editor of Farmers Weekly.
You’re with Ideas That Grow, the Rural Leaders podcast. I’m Farmers Weekly Editor, Bryan Gibson, and with me today is Jen Corkran, a Kellogg Scholar. G’day Jen, how’s it going?

Jen Corkran, 2023 Kellogg Scholar, Senior Animal Protein Analyst at Rabobank.
Hi, Bryan. It’s good here. How are you?

BG: Yeah, pretty good, thanks. To get started, tell us a little bit about your background. Where are you from?

Foundations in rural Hawkes Bay.

JC: I grew up in rural Central Hawkes Bay, in a little town called Waipukarau. My mum was a teacher at a primary school there, Flemington School, so right in the heart of sheep and beef country in Hawkes Bay.

I grew up and went to primary school there and I think from that grew this really in-depth passion for the agriculture industry in New Zealand. Ever since I can remember, I wanted to be a farmer. So, I think that background set me up well for that.

BG: Did that follow through to higher education or your first jobs, that sort of thing?

JC: Yeah, it did. After high school, I went to Massey in Palmerston North and studied agricultural science down there for three years, which was good fun. From there, I went farming in mid-Canterbury for a couple of years on a big beef farm. This is early, mid-2000’s, before the dairy boom. There was still a lot of sheep and beef country down that way. Before this farm did end up converting to dairy, it was all flood-irrigated beef, and spent two years down there as stock manager, which was great fun, especially coming straight out of university and not actually growing up on a big farm.

We did have a lifestyle block there in the Hawkes Bay with 70 odd sheep and a few cattle. But this gave me that real, in-depth understanding of farming, and through the seasons, and the longer term understanding of what it takes.

From that, I got inspired to go back to uni to do some post-grad. I did an honors year in Pastoral Science and Sheep and Beef Farm Systems. After that, it was great coming back into that, having spent some time farming as well. Then after few years in the UK I moved back to New Zealand.

Senior Animal Protein Analyst, Rabobank Research Team.

BG: Yeah. And you’re with Rabobank right now. What do you do there?

JC: Yes. I’m the Senior Animal Protein Analyst in the Rabo Research Team. So our job in Rabo Research is pretty much to provide insights and understanding around what’s happening in the markets in that global picture. My area in animal protein is red meat, for New Zealand, so sheep and beef. We cover all the commodities. In the team I sit in, we’ve got dairy in New Zealand, and sheep, beef, and then we’ve got a whole bunch of other Rabo Research analysts who sit out of Sydney and Australia and cover off a whole bunch of other stuff.

So great to be part of a global team as well. There are analysts all around the world for Rabobank. We’ve got real global reach to find out what’s going on in other markets, what’s driving some of the things that we’re seeing down here in New Zealand. We provide that insight to clients and farmers in New Zealand, arming people with good information so they can make the best decisions for their farming businesses.

BG: We enjoy getting your guys insights across our desks here at the Farmers Weekly. They usually turn into good stories. Now, talking today about your Kellogg Scholarship Programme. Tell us a little bit about what you decided to study?

Kellogg Programme research on pastoral farmer learning preferences.

Image: Jen Corkran speaking in Rabobank site at the Wanaka A&P, March 2024. (Rabobank’s Scott Levings in blue looking on).

JC: My research for Kellogg was on farmer learning preferences, pastoral farmers, to be specific. I was with Barenbrug New Zealand for over 10 years before starting with Rabobank. So, when I did Kellogg last year, I was still with Barenbrug. As a Pastoral Seed Company, they really wanted to understand how farmers are learning and getting information; pastoral is our bread and butter here in New Zealand. We turn grass into saleable protein.

How our farmers learning anything to do with harvesting homegrown feed? So, we know that the most profitable farm systems in New Zealand harvest the highest amounts of homegrown feed because it’s the cheapest form of feed, and they turn that into milk or meat. So, I guess Barenberg is a business, and I really was quite passionate about this topic, too, because at the time, I was in a pasture specialist role around helping farmers get the best from their grass and crops. How do they learn? How do they prefer to get information? And from that, what do they do with it, basically?

It was essentially more of a social science topic in terms of adult learning preferences. And some interesting results came out of that. It was a challenging project, but certainly understanding people and what makes them work is part of what we all do every day, too. So, yeah, it was great.

BG: That issue of tech and knowledge transfer through to the boots on the ground in the farming sector is one that has had lots of people scratching their heads over time. What were the key findings? How do farmers like to learn things.

What the Kellogg research revealed.

JC: So, there’s a lot to it. I had to go right back to the start to understand some of what’s already been done in that space. So, a big literature review in terms of what do we already know about how our farmers learn? You can look overseas, but really we’re quite a unique here in New Zealand, and we want to know how we, as more outdoor feed systems, are doing things.

So, yes, a big literature review in terms of what’s already been done. There’s a lot of work that’s been done, but it’s quite complex. But the real interesting findings came with actual farmer interviews. Just talking to farmers all around New Zealand, both in the dry stock, red meat sector, and also dairy, cropping, arable, whatever it might be, to find out how they learn. What we found was these two broad pillars, when it comes to learning, there’s a purely learning aspect, and then there’s a social aspect. They’re both equally as important as each other. And when it comes to learning, there’s information. People need to know what it is that they’re after. They also have to make a decision.

But before all of that, they need to be aware of what the thing might be. So for example, a new type of crop that might suit a certain area of New Zealand, say a summer crop where it’s summer dry, and this thing’s going to provide protein over that time. Before a farmer is even going to think about putting this new crop in, they’re going to be aware that it even exists and then understand how it works. What overlies that is understanding it through information, so whether it’s data or science or trials or your neighbour tried it, to make a decision to whether it will work for them. So that’s understanding their own farm business and seeing if it’s relevant.

Relevance is hugely important. But what overlays basically everything is this social aspect around trust and trusting the information that they’re getting is both true and relevant to them. Also, I guess, having a yarn about it with other people, as farmers in New Zealand, like to do. So this whole networks, trusted networks, trust is really key to farmer learning.

The other big one, I guess, that overlays the learning aspect is relevance to farm system. So, a dairy farmer is not going to necessarily be selling the same pasture and using it in the same way as a sheep farmer who struggles with more dry or harder conditions or in different soil types. They were the key pillars, I suppose. Obviously, in interviews with farmers, it was just so interesting to see all the themes lining up – networks and trust, those two words came up-time and time again.

Building trust takes time.

BG: Obviously, trust is the key. It doesn’t really matter where that trust lies. It could be different for different farmers, say, friends or colleagues or catchment group members, or it could be the seed rep or someone else. As long as there’s that relationship there, is that the thing that drives any evolution?

JC: Yeah, 100 %. What I basically did with the interviews is get a transcript and look for themes – a thematic analysis of themes. Some of the keywords that kept coming up were ‘trust takes time’, and trust doesn’t have to be for a person necessarily. It could be for a brand or a company or a business or a thing. But building trust takes time and has to be something that’s proven. I think a lot of farmers, and it’s something we hear as people in the industry all the time, you can’t just assume that you meet someone and then they’re going to trust what you’ve got to say. You have to earn it. And ‘earning trust’, I think, was one of the key things that kept coming up again and again. A business can become a trusted business within the inc of New Zealand also, and so can individual people.

Often, farmers said, they might have an agronomist who works for X company, and it’s the agronomist that they trust, and they’re going to follow that agronomist wherever they go through their career or their seed rep, or whoever it might be. Or it might be that they trust this particular brand, and they’re going to follow that. It could be whatever, but it has to be earned. I guess, backed up by some positive that they’re seeing. A lot of us work in the same way. We want to trust what we’re doing, and it becomes easier to make a decision if you trust that it is a safe one, I suppose.

BG: Farm owners hold a lot of the purse strings in terms of the wider industry, so they’ve got a lot of people coming down the driveway trying to sell them the newest and best thing. They do have that detector to go, ‘well, is this going to work for me. Or is this just someone trying to sell me something new and unproven or a one-size-fits-all approach?’ They really need to have that filter on, don’t they?

Trust in rural New Zealand.

JC: It was really interesting, because with the Kellogg Programme itself, we do the research project as one part of it. And then the other part of it that’s within the actual course itself in the in-person phases, is learning for all of us on the course. A lot of this was around critical thinking. How do you get to a place of trust, asking the right questions, critically thinking about things so that you are asking the right curious questions to find out if something is true or not.

We live in an age where there’s so much information out there. You type something into a little square on your computer screen, and you can come up with scrolls of information. But what’s actually true and what’s not, and how do we trust it? So, it was really interesting. Some of the stuff we learned about misinformation and disinformation and critical thinking on Kellogg really paralleled a lot with what the farmers were naturally saying and doing.

Some of the most experienced business people are farmers, right? They have to be across so many different things. And so for me, doing a leadership course and seeing it tie in naturally with these amazing farmers around New Zealand was really cool.

They naturally have this ‘right, can I trust you or can I not?’ And a lot of them said, it sounds negative, but they didn’t mean it in a negative way. I’ll always start from a place of distrust trust and then move to trust. It’s not necessarily that you’re going to have trust straight away. So good thing to think about, I guess, for anyone dealing in rural industries in New Zealand.

The Kellogg experience.

BG: Yeah, for sure. How was your experience going through the Kellogg Programme?

JC: It was great, Bryan. You have six months, basically, where you have this tight knit group of anywhere between 18 and 24 people. There was 23 people on our course, cohort 50, we were last year. You get really close to these people. You spend the first 10 days down at Lincoln together all day, every day, learning about leadership and learning about yourself.

You’re on this journey together and so those networks that you make with the people in your cohort, you can’t really put any value on it because it’s golden. Because you’re doing the journey together, you’re in this challenging but stimulating environment. It was really, really great. And that network is for life now with those people.

Outside of the people that you’re doing your Kellogg with, I think for me, it was the leaders that were put in front of us. Seeing the characteristics that they had was really inspiring. They’re optimistic, a lot of them, there’s a lot of humility there. They’re curious, they ask questions, they’re open-minded. These are the ones that stood out to me as the most natural leaders.

They’ve obviously got all of these learnings along the way that have helped them get to this point that seems magical. You can see things in yourself that you maybe already have or that you need to work on because you’re just getting this exposure to these things that you wouldn’t necessarily get in that six month period.

Critical thinking, being curious, asking questions, keeping an open mind. There’s these themes that keep coming up over and over again. You see places for your own growth too. You see places where you’ve had challenging situations and you realise why, perhaps. So, In terms of leadership, there’s a heap of learning. In terms of that bigger picture thinking, where this tiny little export nation sitting in the South Pacific Sea, selling produce to the world, but we are affected globally by a lot of what goes on.

For me, very much in that pastoral science space at the time, it opened my mind up to this bigger picture way of thinking, which was my big learning. I did my Kellogg last year in my mid-30s. A great time to do it because I’d had a bit of life experience, a bit of career experience, but still you realise how much you’ve got to go and do. So, it was really good. Yeah, loved it.

BG: Awesome. And what’s the plan for you? Just still sinking your teeth into global protein markets, that thing?

JC: Yeah, that’s correct. Kellogg did open my mind to other opportunities and started with Rabo at the end of last year. So very much in that getting into the role space, what’s driving global protein consumption. We’re going through a challenging time right now in the red meat sector with meat prices, especially. There’s a number of reasons for that. What is the light at the end of the tunnel? When might we see it? So no, it’s really good, and I certainly, leapt right into that big picture thinking, which is great.

BG: Thanks for listening to Ideas that Grow, a Rural Leaders podcast in partnership with Massey and Lincoln Universities, AGMARDT, and FoodHQ. This podcast was presented by Farmers Weekly. For more information on Rural Leaders, the Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarships, or the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, please visit, ruralleaders.co.nz

Kate Scott: Front footing the fast-moving regulatory environment.

Phillip Weir, 2020 Nuffield Scholar.

In February, Nuffield Scholar and Waikato farmer Phillip Weir was appointed an associate board member of the Agricultural and Marketing Research and Development Trust (AGMARDT).

The AGMARDT associate trustee position gives emerging leaders an opportunity to learn, develop and supports AGMARDT’s mission to nurture people and ideas and in putting people at the heart of what it does, while focusing on the things that create the most impact.

In a recent Farmers Weekly article Phillip said, “I’m looking forward to supporting fantastic people who have great ideas that will both change the future of New Zealand Food and Fibre production and will be essential in its future.”

Phillip is also standing for election to Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Board, Northern North Island region. We’re sure Phillip would appreciate our support.

Phillip and his wife Megan farm dairy-beef bulls and sheep on the side of Mt Pirongia, Waikato.

Phillip’s profile for the voting can be found here.

You can also learn more on how to vote at the B+LNZ contact details below.

Candidate profiles and voting papers should be with voters (from Northern North island voting area) by now as part of the annual meeting voting pack. All registered farmers elsewhere across the country should also have received a meeting pack.

In a recent Farmers Weekly article Phillip said, “We have debt. We have kids. We shift bulls. I am not a professional director. I’m proud of our Ballance Farm Environment Award, my Nuffield Scholarship and industry contributions as Farmer Council Chair.”

About the voting process.

The director election and postal and electronic voting close March 13.
If you’ve previously received annual meeting materials from B+LNZ you’re already on the electoral roll.

However if you’re not sure and want to check, you can:
call B+LNZ on 0800 BEEFLAMB (0800 233 352)
or email enquiries@beeflambnz.com

Vanessa Thomson, 2023 Kellogg Scholar. Donna Cram, 2023 Value Chain Innovation Programme.

Vanessa Thomson, did the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme in 2023 and is a working mum with a young family, who sharemilks with her husband on two farms in the Waikato. She is also an ex-lawyer and currently the contract manager for DairyNZ.

In 2022 Vanessa received a scholarship to the Kellogg Programme through Dairy Women’s Network (DWN) and in a recent interview with DWN said, “It’s been a life-changing opportunity for me, and I am so grateful for the network that I have made through Kellogg, and the tools that it has given me. I am excited for the future, and what my leadership journey might bring.”

Check out the full article here.

Vanessa’s Kellogg research ‘The effectiveness of psychosocial services available to farmers following adverse events’ examined who the stakeholders are in the rural psychosocial ecosystem, how farmers interact with these stakeholders, and how these interact together. The research aimed to understand the challenges of delivery of effective psychosocial services.

In 2023 Donna Cram won the Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year. Donna chose to use some of the scholarship to attend Rural Leaders’ Value Chain Innovation Programme, instead of the Kellogg Programme.

Donna has said that just as much was learned from the deep, insightful and honest bus and evening meal discussions with other participants on the Value Chain Programme, as from the rural leaders who welcomed them into their businesses.

Applications close soon on 29 February.

More information about the award, click here.

To apply or nominate, click here.

James Parsons, 2008 Nuffield Scholar.

James Parsons is co-owner of Matauri Angus beef stud and the 600 hectare Ashgrove Farm, near Dargaville. He has been trialling Halter collars on breeding cows and heifers for the past three months.

You may have seen James on a recent brand ad for Halter. You can have a look here.

James and his family’s sheep and beef farming business, Ashgrove Ltd, breeds and provides sheep and beef genetics to clients throughout the country. He is also former chairperson of Beef + Lamb New Zealand and is a board member of AgFirst Northland and chair of Wools of NZ.

In a February 19 article in Farmers Weekly, James shared his thoughts on what he sees as a game-changer for hill country farming.

Check out more in the article around cattle adaptability, grazing pressure, and calf growth rates.

Kylie Leonard, 2023 Nuffield Scholar.

Kylie was recently interviewed by the Pathways to Dairy Net Zero initiative (P2DNZ).

Founded in 2021, during Climate Week, P2DNZ is dedicated to reducing dairy’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

P2DNZ is providing insights and solutions to help Kylie overcome any farm challenges and more broadly accelerate climate action throughout the dairy industry.

You can read the interview here.

Carlos Bagrie, 2024 Nuffield Scholar.

Carlos’s innovative and unique approach to farming, the transformation of waste into a viable resource, as well as a few impressive side projects, were the subjects of a not-so-recent interview with REX host Dominic in late December.

Carlos’s energy and passion for what he does is infectious and FYI, his innovation doesn’t stop at zero-waste solutions. There are plenty of great ideas being realised at Royalburn Station with his wife and family. This podcast is well worth a listen – especially if you need a good dose of positivity.

Dr Matt Sowcik. Humility and finding a common purpose.

Dr Matt Sowcik is currently on sabbatical from his role as Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural Education and leadership at University of Florida.

As part of his time here in NZ, he joined the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme in Lincoln. He spoke to Scholars (and Bryan Gibson) about the power of humility in leadership and its role in working together toward a common cause.

Listen to Matt’s podcast here or read the transcript below.

Bryan Gibson – Managing Editor of Farmer’s Weekly.

You’re with ideas that grow the Rural Leaders podcast. I’m Farmers Weekly Editor Bryan Gibson. This week we’ve got a guest from a bit further afield than usual. We’ve got Dr. Matt Sowcik, who is Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication at the University of Florida.

G’day, Matt. How’s it goin?

Matt Sowcik, Associate Professor, University of Florida.
It’s going great. Thank you so much for having me on the podcast. Blessed to be here in New Zealand and certainly excited to talk to all the good folks out there.

BG: Now, your area of academic expertise is leadership in the agricultural space.

An American agri-leadership academic in Aotearoa.

MS: Yeah, actually it’s first in leadership. I am interested in the psychology around leadership. I got an undergraduate in psychology and then went off and got a master’s in organisational leadership, and then a PhD in leadership studies.

I had applied it to businesses for a really long time, but found that the space of ag, natural resources and fibre really needed leaders. So was excited to join a number of colleagues down at the University of Florida, to really put all my time into this context. I think it’s so important as we more forward.

BG: You’re on a sabbatical at the moment, taking in a few leadership programmes around the world. And are we the first stop?

MS: Yeah, this is the first stop. And I’m really interested in this idea of humility and how humility impacts leadership. Certainly it’s something in the States that we need a little bit more. And as I was looking across the world, New Zealand was a wonderful place to study how leadership and humility were impacting this particular context. So came to Christchurch, worked in Lincoln, certainly understanding your rural leaders a lot better from the Kellogg Programme.

Humility in leadership.

BG: I’m interested in the concept of humility in leadership. Can you just sort of unpack that a little bit for me?

MS: Yeah. One of the things we struggle with is humility. It is so important and there’s so many reasons for it, but we’ve been under this impression that humility is thinking less of ourselves or not thinking about ourselves. The truth is, it’s just not true. I think New Zealanders really do that well. Farmers really do that well. This idea of humility, having confidence in ourselves, but not overconfidence.

When you get into overconfidence, you miss a lot of opportunities to develop and grow and adapt and innovate, and certainly to be a good leader. So, my interest was in better understanding this idea of how we could have the proper perspective of ourselves, others, this larger world, and use that in a leadership capacity.

BG: The amount of academic research that has gone into how to manage teams and be a leader is massive, isn’t it? It does seem to be we embrace more of a ground-up approach to leadership these days than, what did they used to call it, arrow management, or it’s my way or the highway, type thing.

MS: That’s absolutely right. Yeah, I think that’s true. I think we started to distinguish a little bit better this idea of managing or keeping things the same and running to an idea of leadership where we need really great ideas. Those ideas don’t often just come with one leader at the top who rides in on the horse and saves the day. It’s really this idea around how do we collectively get a group of people, all of their wisdom and intelligence, and certainly skills, and utilise that to adapt and grow and change the world for the better?

BG: It’s softened to if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room, and that sort of thing.

MS: That’s exactly right. Yeah. No, you find that no one person is going to be smarter than the entire room, and if you are, you’re in the wrong room.

Sitting in on the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme.

Image: Matt Sowcik speaking on Kellogg Programme One in late January.

BG: So, you’re sitting in on the Kellogg Programme at the moment.

MS: Yeah, it just wrapped-up yesterday, so I had an opportunity to sit through the nine days and to really engage myself. We’re so busy at times, we’re running with administrative stuff and doing our own programmes, that we don’t take the opportunity to learn.

I think what the University of Florida has blessed me with is this opportunity to come out, take a break from everything and just sit down and learn again and engage with this process.

So the Kellogg Programme, as humble as it is, allowed me to come in, have conversations, engage, explore the Programme, and really get to hear from some amazing academics, researchers in the private sector, certainly those who are doing the good work in farming, food and fibre. It was just a holistic experience to understand how leadership works so well here and certainly what we can bring back to the States to be better leaders there.

BG: It’s interesting you say leadership works well here. I don’t know how much you know about the recent history of New Zealand farming, but we’ve had kind of, some would say a leadership schism or something like that. Our farming leaders have really been under the pump and some of them haven’t survived the process. So we’re kind of soul searching in a way.

Working together with humility to solve the big challenges.

MS: I think it’s all about perspective. It’s this idea of the current problems, and certainly I can speak to those. The US is going through some current leadership crisis and of understanding how to engage with people.

What I saw on the Kellogg Programme made me feel positive and optimistic about the next five to ten years, especially around natural resources and farming; this idea that people are coming together. We need to move towards, in kind of a humble fashion, working together and engaging together. Those old philosophies of, ‘I have been doing this for ten years and I must have all the answers’, I didn’t see that on the Programme. What I saw was a collective effort of all of these sectors coming together.

I think that’s the positivity I talk about. I know there’s some current issues, some bumps in the road that are happening right now, but when I look at ten years out, about the leadership that’s happening here, I really feel optimistic that those engagements, those connections are being made and that folks are starting to realise, humbly, that we’re going to need to work together to be able to move forward in a positive direction.

BG: Yeah, I think some of those issues we’ve had last year or two really come down to communication. A failure of communication by government to sell its story, failure of communication by farming, leadership to report back to its stakeholders what’s happening through various processes. And if you’re not communicating well, then people will fill that gap with their own stories, if you know what I mean.

MS: I do know what you mean. I think there’s something so humbling about that, isn’t there? There’s this idea that we need people and people need us and we have to have that line of communication.

They often talk about communication as being the most important tool of leadership. If you don’t do that, if that breaks down, all of the other pieces, the innovation, the adaptation, the opportunity to move forward collectively, all really suffer from that.

The first step is to have some self-awareness, to be able to say, we have failed over the last couple of years to do this. So, how do we make sure we don’t fail in the future? How do we collectively come together even if we don’t agree? How do we have that civil discourse so we can understand eachother better?

The truth is, you’re all in the same boat here. I mean, it doesn’t matter who you are: Government, farmer, business owner, everybody’s on the same island moving in the same direction. And there’s some really important pieces of that, whether it’s exports, whether it’s understanding the changes in climate and some of the issues you’ve been dealing with around that. It’s a collective effort to be able to move that forward.

The challenge of individualism in the US and NZ.

BG: Yeah, we’ve had quite a number of discussions here about ‘carrot or stick’ in terms of getting progress going in environmental changes, sustainability, that sort of thing. I think farmers being sort of individualistic type people in a certain way, tend to want to be in control of their own destiny more and have (to be given a strong) reason why they should do something. Market driven approaches often work best, rather than government-led regulatory approaches. Is that similar in the States?

MS: Yeah, I actually think it’s probably more so. It’s not just farmers that we see that from, we’ve built our country on that idea of individualism and the ‘American dream’. Go get it! Pull your boots up! You can make it happen! What we’re finding is that sort of approach really lacks some humility.

My interest in researching that is, can we address some of these issues now? What we’re trying to understand in the States is, there are some problems where you can do that. If you think about it, there’s some issues that happen on a farm tractor breaks, you know that broken piece, you can fix that broken piece. You’re having some issue with a particular crop, you know that well enough. But, the problem with things like climate change and policy, they’re not simple fixes.

There’s this wonderful quote that I really love that talks about ‘all systems are not broken. There’s no system that’s broken. Every system is perfectly aligned to get what it gets.’ And what that means is no matter which way a system works out, it’s going to get the results you see at the end.

So the truth is you have to almost break it yourself if you want to change it, if you want to fix it. Those issues aren’t ones that are easily fixed by one person. They’re not like just changing out a gear. You have to bring people together, if we’re going to talk about things like policy and climate change. Those issues are ones that we need to have more than one person and they’re going to be issues that we’re going to have some trial and error, and mistakes on. Then as we move that forward, just continue to make it better and better along the way.

BG: One concept that has had some real wins over the years in New Zealand are catchment groups. That’s a collection of farmers and other stakeholders in say, a valley, where all the water runs into the same place. They all work together to protect the environment more, clean up the waterways, that sort of thing. What they found is that that sort of groupthink way of doing things with aligned goals, and to be honest neighbour peer pressure, really helps to get things moving in the right direction.

MS: Yeah, it just makes sense. It’s stepping back from ‘me’ being the only thing that’s important to collectively saying ‘we’re all important’ and that actually there’s this bigger purpose we’re all working towards.

Common purpose.

A lot of the research around humility has suggested that this idea of people coming together with a common purpose, which really is leadership common purpose, you start to understand not only will you achieve that purpose, but a lot of other things come along with it.

One of those is performance or outcomes. You’re more likely to achieve an outcome if everyone’s buying into it. If there is some of that social pressure, ultimately everybody kind of shares information, communicates and engages in that process.

I’m not surprised to hear that, and I think we need to do that a lot more. It’s ‘how are my problems also similar to others’ problems?’ What are they doing? How are they engaging? Instead of keeping that in and pretending that’s some market advantage.

The real market advantage here is being able to share information, because if I figure something out or you figure something out, that changing, sharing, engaging, really is a process to not only move in that direction, but then to be able to move further in a direction, because things will continue to change.

BG: Can you tell me a little bit about this leadership programme you teach at the University of Florida?

Leadership education at University of Florida.

MS: I’m very fortunate. I have a kind of three-pronged responsibility at the University of Florida. Certainly, teaching is one of them. We teach the undergraduate level for the entire university. We offer a certificate and minor in leadership studies to undergraduates to get them started or interested in leadership.

We teach a masters and PhD in leadership in ag and natural resources. So that’s an opportunity to bring those folks in who are interested in doing some consulting in the area or going off and teaching leadership for land grant universities. That’s just one part of what I do.

I also do research. We’re a research one institution. So, looking at how we build organisational leadership programmes within different ag industries. I’m real interested in this idea of how do we build great capacity in those who are going to take over farms, who are going to work in those communities and engage in that process? How do we start to develop that young talent? But my favourite part of my job is what we call extension, and this is going out and practicing it. So, here I run two leadership programmes myself.

One is for our county commissioners. We have 67 different counties in Florida, usually a board of five. Folks kind of oversee that when they get elected, they come to our programme and they start to learn a little bit about leadership. They start to learn a little bit about the practice of leadership in that government setting and we help them better understand how ag and natural resources are impacting their job in a way that they can lead better from that government seat and work together as a board.

Then I also will go out to different ag and natural resource industries and provide training and engagement. Really those three approaches are my job and it leads to what I think is a healthier Florida and certainly a Florida that really appreciates ag and natural resources as we move forward.

Experiential leadership education with Rural Leaders’ Kellogg Programme.

Certainly speaking of the Kellogg Programme I think the things that I learned there is this is an extraordinary programme where individuals from different industries have an opportunity to come and communicate, engage with each other. What I really loved about the Programme is that they consistently, and in a very humble way, said, you’re going to get ‘a little bit’ out of what we talk about.

But the power is collectively coming together. And when we talk about communication, when we talk about humility, it is the folks in the room having access to each other, to share, to engage, and that’s really the power of the Kellogg Programme. Besides all the wonderful speakers and opportunities, it’s that ability for individuals in the Sector to be able to come together and communicate.

For more information on Rural Leaders, the Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarships, the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, or the Value Chain Innovation Programme, please visit ruralleaders.co.nz

Kate Scott: Front footing the fast-moving regulatory environment.

Hamish Murray: Building stronger on-farm teams by getting out of the way.

Emma Crutchley, 2018 Kellogg Scholar, talks to Bryan Gibson, Farmers Weekly managing editor about some of the challenges sheep and beef farming faces in a water-short region.

Emma discusses her Kellogg research, the Value Chain Innovation Programme, and the work being done on ‘Puketoi’ to find value-add.

Listen to Emma’s podcast here or read the transcript below.

Bryan Gibson – Managing Editor of Farmer’s Weekly.

My name is Bryan Gibson, Managing Editor of Farmers Weekly and this week, we are talking to Otago sheep and beef farmer, Emma Crutchley.

Bryan Gibson:
G’day, Emma. How’s it going?

Emma Crutchley, 2018 Kellogg Scholar, sheep, beef and arable farmer.
Good, thank you Bryan. How are you?

BG: Yeah, I’m really good. Yeah, so whereabouts in Otago are you?

EC: My husband, and I and two children live in a little inland basin called the Maniototo in Central Otago on a sheep, beef, and arable farm here called Puketoi.

BG: Sounds like a lot of work.

Maniototo sheep, beef and arable farming.

EC: Yep. So, I grew up here. My grandfather bought the farm in 1939, and we go a couple of more generations back here in the Maniototo. He’s one of the youngest sons, and he moved over from Kyeburn to Puketoi then.

I am an ’80s child, so I remember little bits of farming growing up through there. And I’m the youngest daughter out of…I’ve got an older brother. When I was younger, I had a love for animals and the farm and I could literally be found in any lamb pen, in any dog kennel, any filthy, smelly, or challenging job.

Growing up, I would be neck-deep in it. Mum and dad never really had a chance to get me out of it, and not that they ever thought that was a thing. They were very supportive of all their children, regardless of gender, being involved in the farm. I guess growing up here, I went away to boarding school and continued my love for the farm straight to Lincoln, and I never really looked anywhere else. From there, I moved on to work as a rural professional, as an agronomist, working in Christchurch for PGG Wrightson, and then later working for Pamu out of Wellington.

I knew I’d return home to the farm, but I was always a little bit hesitant because I love being around people and I love my networks and the social life side of it. I knew if I moved home, I was moving to a relatively isolated place away from a lot of the people that I really enjoyed being around.

I knew that it was the best opportunity I had and always something I really wanted to do. So I moved home in 2009, and imported a husband to the Maniototo, because it won’t come as a surprise, but being a small, rural community, everyone’s relatively related. I knew I had to find a husband before I moved home. So, yeah, he came home, and he moved here in 2010. And yeah, so we’ve worked to take over the family farm from my parents.

We’ve got just under 500 hectares of irrigation. The rainfall here is often what ‘wows’ people, it’s a 350ml rainfall. So irrigation creates the resilience we need to do what we do. We’re arable, so we grow about 100 hectares of arable crops: wheat, barley, peas, linseed, clover, rye for seed, and a few other bits-and-bobs as they come along.

We’ve got an angus stud as well. So we sell about 25 stud bulls each year. The main thing we do here, that is our main point of production, is our lambs. We have about six and a half thousand ewes. And apart from replacements, we finish all lambs born on the farm and also purchase more store lambs in January and carry them through as well to meet the demands of what we can produce and who we supply.

I do a lot in the advocacy space with Federated Farmers in Otago and also as a director for Irrigation New Zealand. My husband is very involved and he leads a lot of the rural fire stuff in this area. Being in a dry climate, it’s one of our challenges, I suppose.

BG: That sounds like a massive and diverse life you’ve got.

EC: Yeah, there’s a wee bit going on. They’ve got two kids of the mix, two, eight, and 10, so they keep us on our toes.

BG: Now, you mentioned the engagement with the Rural Leaders Programme was a Kellogg report, I think it was in 2018, that was on how to manage water efficiently and what that might mean. I guess it’s an issue that’s close to your home – and your heart. That’s why you took it on?

Kellogg research into water sharing in a water-short catchment.

EC: Well, as you know in 2017, one of the top election issues was around freshwater and how it’s managed in New Zealand. There was a lot of pressure around irrigation and the association with water quality and quantity. At that time, I was a director on our local irrigation company.

Being in this extreme climate where we are short growing season – long winters, and the value that irrigation is to our business in terms of the resilience and our adaption to climate change, I knew when I applied for the Kellogg Programme, exactly what I wanted to study in terms of a research project.

I’d been looking at it for a while, because the kids were, at the time, I think they were two and four, and at that time they’re starting to get a little bit more…I don’t know…I just went and did it!

So, my project was on water sharing in a water-short catchment, which was basically focusing in around, freshwater governance, or even crossing into environmental governance. I looked at different models from around the world and different examples of how water was managed, ownership rights, community management, and then investigated some of the policy settings we have. Also some of the solutions that might work in that space.

I think one of the learnings I got out of that was, as farmers in New Zealand we’re incredibly individualistic in how we run our businesses and that is a reflection of the challenges. The challenges we faced in the ’80s, we found ourselves then in that time of high interest rates and challenging Rogernomics type stuff. As individual farmers we had to farm our way out of it. We did that really, really well. But then that’s led us to being really innovative.

We need to understand the ‘why’ as to why the change is happening. I’m probably going a little bit off track here, but that project set the scene for me, for doing a lot of work over the last six years in the advocacy space and advocating for not only enabling farmers room to understand the ‘why’, but also those connections with stakeholders and the importance of that.

At the end of the day, the government calls the shots on policy, but the people that are voting for the government are our stakeholders, our New Zealand public, and the importance of understanding that dynamic for long-term goals rather than focusing on short-term advocacy outcomes.

BG: Yeah, I know you’ve done a lot of work. We had some stories in the newspaper this year on some of the work you’ve done to advocate for some changes to some of the water plans down your way?

Farming and the environment.

EC: I guess the thing that in Otago, we’ve worked first off the bat with land and water plans and regional policy statement, and I guess we’re also one of the most diverse regions in a Otago. For me, or for everyone really, farming systems in New Zealand are heavily intertwined with the environment. There’s always going to be public interest in farming because of our association with the environment that we farm in.

Everyone’s always looking over our fence. From that, it’s like, how do we set it up, so we enable farmers who are very good at change. So for that example, multiple challenges can be solved with one solution, and one challenge can be solved with multiple solutions. And what I mean by that is, how do you enable policy settings that enable this diverse, incredibly stunning region to actually find the scope within those policy settings to innovate around the challenge and to solve the different water quality, biodiversity, climate change challenges that we have faced.

I think advocacy is probably…I think it’s changing. We need to start learning. But it’s like communicating in a way which enables you to be understood. And my thoughts around that is we had in the Upper Taieri, one of our biggest challenges was the Upper Taieri plain and the diverse hydrology landscape that was tied up in the national wetland regulations. Then what that was the unintended consequence that that was going to create.

So, we had our big jobs for a nature project set up at that time, which involved the relationships with multiple stakeholders. I guess we always knew that if we were going to be successful in changing the settings around the wetland regulations that we needed to have a common ground with our stakeholders and what we were trying to achieve.

I know there’s a lot of narrative around, for example, the stock exclusion regulations and the huge cost they create on farmers. If you can flip that into, we need the tools in the toolbox to manage our environment, in a way that is best for the environment and best for our rural communities. We need to recognise the role that livestock can play within those systems to control our weeds and help with pest control. That was a common ground that we found.

So when we went to MFE with that case to Minister Parker, it was probably a more resonating message than just saying, ‘Oh, it’s a huge cost of fencing, and we’re going to lose all this land that we can graze’, which doesn’t resonate with everyone. They actually don’t care. They just want fresh water and they want a pristine environment. It’s explaining it in a way that actually identifies the unintended consequence of that.

So off the back of that, we managed to get that cut out of the stock exclusion rules, but it’s still a work in progress. We’ve still got to continue that conversation with our regional council as part of our water plan.

The art of making the tough conversations easier.

BG: Sounds like you’re at the forefront of a type of evolution that’s been talked quite a lot in terms of managing our natural assets – has many stakeholders who mostly want to do the same thing. It’s not an us and them farmers versus, say, fishermen or environmentalists or anything like that. And if you can in advance find those shared values, then it’s much more easy to overcome the challenge.

EC: Yeah, and I think I was talking to Julia Jones a couple of months ago and we’re brainstorming. I think she said something, and it was ‘we have a responsibility to seek to understand diverse perspectives’, then I added on the end, ‘we also need to give ourselves the personal freedom to change our minds’. I guess for me, that crosses into the fact that we are a small part of the population in New Zealand.

Like a lot of people like those in Auckland don’t really care about farming. They might want a pristine environment, but they don’t care about farmers as such. So the best way to get people to understand your perspectives is to actually listen to them and when you can create an environment which lets people feel like they’re understood – it takes away the defensiveness and the silos, and it creates more of a safe space to continue that conversation.

So when you’re really passionate, I think, and I have to be aware of this, because I’m really passionate about Ag and what we do, but passion can show up in many different ways. And when you’re passionate about a topic like farming or the environment and both, probably, most of the farmers fit into both those camps, but it’s like, how do you talk to someone and create that curiosity to let them feel like they’re heard? And then you create that connection and then that’s progress.

The Value Chain Innovation Programme and finding the value-add.

BG: Now, you’ve had a more recent Rural Leaders experience. You were on the Value Chain Innovation Programme this year. What was that all about?

EC: Yeah. So my lane, probably, in the past year has been a lot around the environmental stuff – freshwater, irrigation. But as a sheep and beef farmer, we are doing so much behind the farm gate in terms of how we farm and environmental gains on-farm. For us, because we are main point of production is lamb and finishing lambs, we’ve seen a lot of disruption within the supply chain over the past few years, especially since COVID.

Then we had another one more recently this year, where some of the guys we’ve worked really closely with over the past few years to develop our lamb supply programme. We went to them eight years ago, probably a little bit frustrated at the time, we wanted to supply a product that worked with our lamb, our supply chain, and what was actually needed within that, so we could add more value.

So they came back to us. We said to them, ‘how can we better support what you’re trying to do so we can add value to what we’re trying to do?’ They came back and they said, we need to know when your lambs are coming three to four months ahead. We need all year-round supply, and we need to have a consistent hook weight. And we went ‘righto’ and took that away. Then over the next few years, we worked really hard to actually schedule three to four months out and supply 11 to 12 months of the year and build a system around that, but then also target those specific hook rates and get it right. So, it worked really well.

Then when we had a bit of disruption within our meat company, probably three or four months ago, it blew a bit of that away. It blew away those trusted relationships, and it’s a bit of an ‘aha’ moment for me, and I realised how vulnerable we are to what happens in that supply chain and what we do. Because when your main part of your business is producing lambs and something happens in the supply chain, that’s a big issue.

I’d looked at the Value Chain Innovation Programme last year and I thought it was probably not really in my lane. And then I was like, well, actually, it really is in my lane, because if we’re doing all this other environmental stuff and trying to add value on-farm, we need a supply chain that actually supports what we’re trying to do.

So we, as farmers with our increasing costs, our sheep and beef farmers, especially the catchment limits that you’re trying to farm within, you can’t just produce your way out of it anymore. So, the real important thing that I’m seeing is, how can we value-add?

I applied for the Value Chain Innovation Programme with Hamish (Gow) and Phil (Morrison) to look at all the different value chain examples through the North Island. We got on a bus in Auckland and went down to Hamilton, explored the Fonterra markets with the Fonterra value chain around there, going to a dairy farm and then into the Fonterra factory, and also looking at LIC and DairyNZ and how those operations also support the dairy industry.

Then we investigated kiwifruit, and we also went to Robotics Plus in Tauranga. That was pretty amazing, seeing some of the tech that and the robots that they can pull in to support different production systems.

From there, we went down to Taupo and went to Pamu, and also sheep and beef there. I’m probably missing one, but over to Hawkes Bay to look at the apples as well, and also First Light Foods and a couple of others in there, just investigating what all these systems are trying to target. From there, I figured out that we are…yeah, I feel like we are lacking a little bit in leadership to support innovating the value chain to create value for what we do.

A lot of us are also limited in the land use change that we can actually do to add value. So it’s really important to me to start thinking about how we do add value through the supply chain.

BG: It seems to be like the Holy Grail. A lot of the feedback I get at the newspaper about various regulations and environmental and sustainable goals, people just go, well, we were promised it was value-add, and we’re not seeing it. We’re still slave to the schedule, that sort of thing. And so that’s a real hard nut to crack.

EC: And it’s never going to be easy. People will probably listen and say, she’s crazy. You can’t do that. But what options do we actually have in some cases? It’s like saying, well, okay, it’s hard, but what else are we going to do? Because in New Zealand, we’re actually not… I don’t know, we’re passionate about what we do, we have an amazing industry in sheep and beef.

I guess the other thing is we’ve also…when I think about, I’m very much Ag right through my life. Everything that I see as sheep and beef farmer supports what I can do behind the farm gate and creating efficiencies within the farm gate. There’s not a lot that actually looks at how we create value through the supply chain.

So I think that was probably a bit of an ‘aha’ for me throughout the (Value Chain Programme) trip, is actually realising that, yeah, we are actually stuck. There’s been amazing work done, but it’s like, how do we realise that, yes, a lot of what we do, even with our industry bodies, is focused on production, and behind the farm gate, but there’s not a lot on added value.

BG: Well, the cool thing is, I guess, that the product is amazing already, so it’s a good launching pad.

EC: Yeah, 100 %

BG: It sounds like your experience with Rural Leaders has been pretty rewarding. Is that something you’d recommend to others.

EC: Yeah, absolutely. I don’t know where we would be in New Zealand’s primary sector without Rural Leaders – there’s some great options of different programmes you can get involved with, and there’s always stuff to learn. I think even if I went back and did either of those courses again, you’d still pick up something new.

The people you meet along the way as well and I guess the networks. And I guess when I’m thinking about something and I know I don’t know the answer from those networks, I have a fairly good idea that I will know someone that will. And if they don’t, they’ll know someone that will. It’s a small, small place, the New Zealand primary sector, and there’s a lot of power and networks as well.

BG: Thanks for listening to Ideas that Grow, a Rural Leaders podcast in partnership with Massey and Lincoln Universities, AGMARDT, and FoodHQ. This podcast was presented by Farmers Weekly.

For more information on Rural Leaders, the Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarships, the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, or the Value Chain Innovation Programme, please visit ruralleaders.co.nz

Julia Galwey. By-product to buy product – Pearl Veal NZ.

An innovation story that covers the journey from an idea to the challenges of development, and to implementation. Julia Galwey, 2020 Kellogg Scholar, talks about Pearl Veal NZ, a new sustainable utilisation of the bobby calf resource.

Pearl Veal NZ was the winner of the Silver Fern Farms Market Leader Award at the 2023 Beef+LambNZ Awards in mid October.

Listen to Julia’s podcast here or read the transcript below.

Bryan Gibson – Managing Editor of Farmer’s Weekly.

My name is Bryan Gibson, Managing Editor of Farmers Weekly and this week I am talking to the recent winner of the Market Leader Award at the Beef and Lamb New Zealand Awards, Julia Galwey.

Bryan Gibson:
G’day Julia, how’s it going?

Julia Galwey, 2020 Kellogg Scholar and Co-Founder Pearl Veal:
Good, thank you Bryan. How are you?

BG: Pretty good, where are you calling from today?

JG: I am calling from my home office in Christchurch.

BG: Nice. Have you been getting all the wind we’ve been getting up here?

JG: Yeah, it’s been pretty mixed bag at the moment. Very much spring weather.

Winning at the Beef+LambNZ Awards.

BG: Yeah. Now, it was a pretty big time for you, the Beef and LambNZ Awards.

JG: Yeah, it was pretty neat for Pearl Veal to be recognised at such a wonderful event. Just have an evening of celebrating lots of positive things happening in the industry with the various finalists and category winners. A big thank you to Beef and LambNZ for hosting the event, and also to Silver Fern Farms for sponsoring the market leader category.

BG: Yeah. Now, can you just tell us a bit about your background in the food and fibre sector?

Background - Julia Galwey, 2020 Kellogg Scholar.

JG: Sure. I grew up on a sheep and beef and deer farm near Fairlie in South Canterbury. Then I headed off to Lincoln to do an Ag Science degree. Following that, I had six years in the agribusiness team for ANZCO Foods based in Ashburton, which was a neat team to be involved in, and a really varied role, that got me going in the meat industry.

Then in 2018, Alan McDermott and myself, we set up Agri-Food Strategy, which is our own agribusiness consultancy company. It focuses on working with farmers and agribusinesses to address strategic challenges and opportunities. I guess, again, it’s been pretty varied in terms of the work I’ve been involved with in that space.

BG: Now, you took on a Kellogg Scholarship in 2020, which, of course, was the year of the lockdown, if I remember correctly. You chose to do it on a value chain for veal. What made you think of that subject?

Kellogg research into the potential of the bobby calf resource.

JG: Good question. Yeah, I guess the idea to look at this for my report was just being around the meat industry and the bobby calf topic continues to come up in conversations. There just wasn’t really a lot of information that I could see here in New Zealand in terms of looking at older veal animals as an option for this resource, a by-product of the dairy industry. I didn’t really want to focus on the discussion or debate around the bobby calves themselves. I did for some context in my report, but I just wanted to focus on looking at one potential solution or opportunity for utilising some of that resource.

BG: Then, of course, it’s one thing to write a report about this stuff, but you carried that on and started a business. How did that get off the ground?

JG: I guess while I was doing my research report, there’s a few things that came up in terms of some learnings and drivers or motivators. One of them was probably around learning how much of a bigger risk the bobby calf thing was here in New Zealand. Especially compared to other countries in terms of the scale, with our couple of million versus Australia would be the next biggest, at around 400,000.

The report highlighted we were out there on our own in terms of how big of an issue it might be going forward. Some of that, was a bit of a driver. I learned a bit around the varying types of veal markets that there were internationally and saw some opportunity, but I really struggled to find any information on pasture-fed veal systems.

So, it became obvious that maybe there was an opportunity for New Zealand to diversify in terms of our offering in the veal space with what we’ve got here. Also, in terms of some of those credence attributes – pasture-fed, free-range, rather than copying some of the international veal systems.

From research to innovation.

As I was doing the report, Alan McDermott, who’s my business partner, was keen to have a go. We could test out what opportunity there really might be. I mean, it’s all very well, like you say, writing a report, but you just must have a go to see whether something might work or not. Halfway through my project, that’s what we started doing.

We had a quick brainstorm for a name so we could get a company set up. There are quite a few negative connotations around the name ‘veal’, which I learned a bit about while I was doing my report, in terms of some of the historic practices that used to happen in terms of how veal was raised internationally.

There was, I guess, some questions around whether we should even call it veal or not. But we talked to a few chefs, and they pointed out that we need to call it what it is. That’s what they know it is. A lot of them have trained internationally and used it before, so just stick with what it is, but make sure you build a story you can underpin your brand with. We sourced some under 12 months of age, a whole 12 of them, and found a processor that was happy to process them for us.

We set up cut specs and went along to the plant to see how it would go and then started sending some products to chefs to see what they thought. We had a development chef that we were introduced to through a contact, and he kindly took us around Wellington for a couple of days. He introduced us to a few chefs and helped us learn how that world works in terms of getting into restaurants and talking to chefs – and how to get on their menus.

Building scale.

The feedback on the product was great. We started working with the team at Synlait, including one of my fellow Kellogg cohort members, which was quite cool. They’ve been supportive in what we were trying to do and helped us connect with some of their dairy farm suppliers who were keen to give it a go and rear some calves. It’s been a nice fit for us to work with the Synlait team and some of their suppliers.

BG: How difficult is that process? You’ve got a prototype product and you’ve started with a small number of animals to begin with, then you’ve got to scale that up to something that’s a viable business. What’s the process there?

JG: It’s one of the trickier things to balance. It’s a bit of a chicken and egg in terms of you’re not quite sure in terms of what market you’ve got, but you need to get enough product that you’ve got enough to supply to a restaurant to put it on their menu. Yeah, it is a difficult balance, and some of that is just to take a risk. I guess for us, one of the things that we were quite focused on was building around the story and attributes we wanted to go around our brand. With some of that starting with animal welfare for us in producing the best calf possible.

The rearing regime and how it works.

There’s quite a lot of challenge in terms of veal as anything must be produced before the calf is 12-months old, so a lot of the challenge is around getting it to grow as fast as possible and to reach a heavy weight in that time. It needs a good start in life as a calf, to be able to do that. Some of our system was built around a particular rearing regime in terms of good colostrum.

Then we only use whole fresh milk rather than milk powder, which has had a lot of the good bits taken out of it. Milk is what’s designed for the calf, so let’s just give it that and obviously some pasture as well. But because of that rearing regime, we can’t just go out and get any calf on the market.

It starts right from the start in terms of what we’ve built to underpin our brand. That also is a little bit harder in terms of, like you say, we’re planning what we need over a year in advance, and you don’t necessarily know what your market is then. A bit of risk, I guess, and just a balance of starting smallish so that you learn the risks, learn the things you need to iron out as you go.

BG: Getting back to your rearing regime, that must mean you need to work pretty closely with the farmers who are actually doing this stuff?

Collaborating for success.

JG: Definitely. I think the other thing in that space is the Synlait farms that we’re working with are all certified ‘Lead with Pride’, which again, helps underpin animal welfare and the colostrum management. Obviously, our contracts have got the rearing regime outlined in them, and we talk them through what that looks like and why. We also don’t have meal as part of our rearing regime. Part of that is around wanting to remain grain-free, so 100% pasture-fed and antibiotic-free, so that we can look at going into the US market in time.

Again, it’s the whole fresh milk, no meal. It is a bit of a change to how calves are traditionally reared here. We’ve got to work closely with the farmers on what that looks like. We’re thankful for those first few farms that were willing to take a bit of a risk and rear and finish calves for us.

We were a couple of random people saying, here, we want to contract you to rear these calves in a particular way and finish them through to an age and weight that’s not traditional here. They had to trust a bit that we would take them when we said we would and have a processor to process them and pay them.

I guess that’s probably also part of what’s been quite helpful working within the Synlait team. That helped farmers have a go. There’s just some great farmers out there that are keen to try something different and learn with us, which has been nice.

BG: Yeah. Now, who are you selling to now? What are your export markets, or locally?

JG: Currently, we are pretty much mostly domestic market into high-end restaurants. We’ve just started doing a little bit into some smaller retailers here, and we’ve just started a little bit of export.

BG: Now, obviously, the bobby calf issue is one that New Zealand’s farming industry is grappling with. Do you see this type of initiative as part of a solution?

A new veal value chain.

JG: Yeah, I mean, the bobby calf issue is obviously a big social license to operate topic in the dairy industry, and it’s a pretty tricky thing to navigate with the views of community here and also our customers and consumers globally.

I guess we just have to keep asking ourselves if we’ve got practices that we’re comfortable and being transparent about, and if not, then what are our opportunities and solutions to do something differently? I guess that’s really what we’re trying to do with Pearl Veal is.

I don’t like to focus too much on the bobby calf aspect of it. But more the opportunity that exists to take some of that resource and add value to produce a really quality veal-based product with a story and a brand that’s underpinned by animal welfare standards and a pasture-based system that we believe in. We’re proud to share with chefs and customers and consumers here.

BG: Of course, back to where this all started, the Kellogg Programme – how did you find it? Is it something you’d recommend to others who were thinking about doing it?

The Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme - where it started.

JG: Yeah, absolutely. It was such a good course and I guess a real opportunity to network too. We had such a great cohort of people. It was a good cross-sector group of people. You get to meet people that you wouldn’t normally be working with and the people and the speakers that come in are incredible. It really broadens your thinking and opens your networks and I would highly recommend it to anyone considering it.

That’s why I did it. It’s something that once people have done it, they’re always recommending to anyone that hasn’t. If you get that opportunity, jump at it. I think it’s one of those things that probably never feels like the right time when you’re in your working career because you’re always busy or home life as well. You just have to jump in and do it.

BG: Thanks for listening to Ideas that Grow, a Rural Leaders podcast in partnership with Massey and Lincoln Universities, AGMARDT and FoodHQ. This podcast was presented by Farmers Weekly.

For more information on Rural Leaders, the Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarships, the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, or the Value Chain Innovation Programme, please visit ruralleaders.co.nz

Hamish Murray: Building stronger on-farm teams by getting out of the way.

Kate Scott: Front footing the fast-moving regulatory environment.

Just over two weeks ago a group of people from across New Zealand came together in Auckland for a week of visits to operations within four key value chains – Dairy, Red Meat, Apple and Kiwifruit.

Any one of the twenty-two Value Chain Innovation Programme visits seen in isolation, would generate plenty of ‘aha moments’. To run four value chains in their entirety was quite something else. It’s what makes this programme work so remarkably well.

The level of access to the leaders, founders, operators met on the Programme created the feeling you were often being ‘let in’ on some extraordinary insights. This made possible by the understanding that Chatham House Rules apply.

In this article we share ‘field notes’ from the perspective of the people who were there.

Jesamine Wanoa, also wrote a post a day while on the Programme and offers her unique perspective as a specialist grower of native NZ plants and owner-operator of Tangikaroro Native Nursery.

Rachel Baker, was one of the four 2024 Nuffield Scholars on the Programme. We share her post-programme post. Rachel is a Farmer and Portfolio Manager of MyFarm Investments’ Hawke’s Bay apple syndicates.

12.11.23
Day 1 – Jesamine Wanoa:

Good first day, departing at 1pm from Auckland Airport to Hamilton.

Instantly connected with two Ngāi Tahu women, and enjoyed deepening my understanding of the three disciplines of value chain models, and seeing the potential for where Ngāti Porou might adapt a model to suit our purposes. A good overall general structural framework for navigating this journey with.

Thank you Hamish and Phil for both leading and Co-facilitating, and Matt and all my colleagues on this journey with me. What a talented bunch!

I’m so excited to finally be here growing our network and understanding together. Thank you my whanau back in Te Araroa and in Tuwakamana for this opportunity.

13.11.23
Day 2 – Jesamine:

Visited Te Rapa Farm (Fonterra Farm Source) and witnessed milk testing technology at Fonterra today, as well as cheese and dry milk powder production. Then visited the cold store facility prior to export. Every truck bringing in product must meet a standard of cleanliness! Amazing 40 ton forklifts that lift 28 ton crates.

Additional field notes:
First stop was a Fonterra Farm Source working dairy unit, where new on-farm technologies and innovation are trialled for wider rollout.

We explored MilkTestNZ, where milk samples from 10,000 dairy farms are tested every day in a remarkable feat of logistics and efficiency.

Then we moved to Fonterra’s impressive distribution centre, to LIC and DairyNZ where senior leaders spoke with us directly. And the NZ cream on top – a visit to Zenders Cafe, run by three sisters who grew up on a Dutch dairy farm.

14.11.23
Day 3 – Jesamine:

I was very impressed with our host Hayden’s approach. Hayden works with Robotics Plus. The ability of Robotics Plus to recognise where their strengths lie in solving problems, helps them then play between the flags of those strengths, to produce customer-focused solutions.

Their model allows for collaboration with other partners, who hold expertise in other areas of the value chain outside these flags, to create a solution fit for purpose to meet the client’s needs. Ka mau te wehi!

My take-away from this visit, is that it’s critical to customer trust and confidence to be transparent about what you’re skilled in, and then decide what components for the solution should be out-sourced to business partners who are better positioned to meet those requirements.

This collaborative approach towards knowledge sharing to solve the customer’s problem, allows business partners to use their unique skillsets to support you and your customer’s business, and vice-versa.

This model is so efficient and utilises a strong collaborative network approach that puts the customer at the centre – and is future focused. Everyone on the workshop floor understands that culture from apprentice to Manager. Everyone has genuinely taken ownership of their part in the value chain, creating an incredibly innovative and creative work environment that’s a safe space for developing their talent.

After Robotics Plus, the Ports of Tauranga. The volume and variety of export that goes through this space is mind boggling! It requires every individual on-site to be committed to best practice in terms of biosecurity and health and safety.

There are layer upon layer of control measures needed, not just to keep you safe on this extremely busy port, but to keep you alive! We saw here the forestry logs, and the automated Robotic Plus technology used, to measure each log’s length, diameter and therefore weight.

The next visit was at Zespri, who have shifted over time from being supported by government entities, to now leading and supporting our government on the international stage. Such is the success of their approach, which is thorough but future focused, with the consumer always front of mind.

Also invited to speak were KVH (Kiwifruit Vine Health), who focus on NZ’s biosecurity response. KVH anticipates future threats before they hit NZ, to mitigate and minimise their impact. Again, another visionary entity, who like Zespri and NZKGI (NZ Kiwifruit Grower’s Incorporated), were willing to share material in their presentations today, and made the process of choosing the kind of model that would be a good fit for Te Tairāwhiti easy.

I express my sincere gratitude to all the above businesses for their kindness in opening themselves up to our questions, and for their generosity in sharing their answers. I have found today absolutely invaluable. Kei te mihi tino nui ki a koutou.

Additional field notes:
Port of Tauranga Ltd, the largest of NZ’s 13 ports. An impressive operation to see firsthand – 80% of NZ kiwifruit exports, 70% meat exports, and a total of 24.7 million tonnes moved through the Port last year.

Next stop, hearing from senior leaders at Zespri, KVH and NZKGI in Mt Maunganui – a collaborative model combining single point of entry via Zespri, strong advocacy via NZKGI and world-class biosecurity from KVH.

15.11.23
Day 4 – Jesamine:

We started the day with Plant and food research, who perform a critical service in protecting our horticultural industries like Zespri. They have a pioneer research team working on taonga foods. I’ll share about this at a future date. So exciting!

We then left for Trevelyan, who are a legacy NZ company that’s been around for eons. Time critical performance schedules for grading, sorting and packing, to get produce exported to their international market.

Then we had the pleasure of a walk through an A Class nursery, Southern Cross Horticulture. An awesome set up that’s got so much to offer in specialist knowledge for growing Kiwifruit.

Additional field notes:
Day four, continued the kiwifruit value chain. First stop – the Kiwifruit Breeding Centre, a collaboration between Plant and Food Research and Zespri. KBC finds out what growers need in a cultivar and then deliver through accelerated research.

Then onto the Te Puke based Trevelyan’s, an independent, family-run, single-site kiwifruit and avocado packhouse – and NZ’s largest. It has a 50+ year history and has family values woven through all facets of the operation.

Southern Cross Horticulture – orchard developers, cropping and orchard management. We saw a perfectly constructed system, consistently delivering the perfect plant.

Finally to Pāmu’s Wairakei Estate to complete the dairy value chain. We heard from senior leadership on Pāmu’s dairy beef, organic dairy, winter milking, A2 and deer milk, and pastoral business mix, as well as an extensive sustainability strategy on all 112 Pamu farms.

16.11.23
Day 5 – Jesamine:

Today I broke my ‘beer drinker virginity’ with a tall glass of Gizzy Gold! Thank you Gerard and Jason from First Light for treating the local pub as your classroom 😀. By embracing a real world approach, (the course) allows us as participants to get up close and personal with export industry leaders, in their mix and mingle comfort zones, which in NZ is the local pub.

However, before we got to the pub, we visited Lochinver, a huge farm with huge stock numbers. The value chain here is commodity based, which is very different from that of First Light.

Aside from livestock, I can see huge potential in the land itself here, and the still untapped natural resources of native plant seed harvesting and propagation, and gourmet food developed from wild Canadian Geese. The geese are a pest here, that could add economic value as meat. However, that would require a shift in mindset which may not suit their current customer focus.

So what I learned from First Light is that different value chains will have a different focus depending on who they identify as their customers, which can be at different ratios for customer groups, with strategies to cater to each of those customer groups.

Additional field notes:
“We’re driven by growth, but by growth in value.” Jason, First Light Foods.

Jesamine:
Being able to forecast how the dynamics in the make-up of that customer group will change over time is key to longevity. Looking after every step of your product’s journey from farm gate (nursery) to the customer, while never losing your “story” and point of difference, is also a skillset NZ is leading in, but can always improve on.

Additional field notes:
“I’d rather stab myself in the stomach than lose a point of difference.” Jason, First Light Foods.

Jesamine:
The journey from Lochniver to Napier took our team through Eskdale Valley, where a colleague walked us through the disaster as she experienced it. What we saw, the impact on the land, the homes and the lives of locals was incredibly sobering. To say that the people here are resilient is an understatement.

Upon reaching Napier, prior to meeting the owner operators of First Light, we had the privilege of meeting Gourmet Direct, who BBQ cooked delicious samples of Rose Veal for us, and believe me, it’s to die for! It’s the one thing that both Gourmet Direct and Zespri got right. They both show-cased their product for us to taste test. That’s a mark of confidence that’s earned each of them a 10/10 in my book.

I loved Kate and Perry’s “who and why” story for their value chain. The success of it will be significantly influenced by how well that story is communicated both locally and internationally. (I shared an idea. I hope they use it).

Additional field notes:
Lochinver Station kicked off day five on the Value Chain Innovation Programme. 13,000ha’s of mostly sheep and beef finishing.

Next stop was one of New Zealand’s first direct to consumer online perishables retailers, Gourmet Direct. Owned line, Rose Veal, sees animals raised in pasture to 8 Months. No hormones, antibiotics or palm kernel are fed.

First Light Foods’ founders hosted an inspiring discussion at Havelock North’s Giant Brewery. First Light continues to show how to produce the highest quality grass-fed wagyu and farm-raised venison.

17.11.23
Day 6 – Jesamine.

Today we visited Turners & Growers, Rockit and Mr. Apple. So in a nutshell, apples were the food of choice for the day. We also were introduced to a newly created beer, one of my course colleagues produced. I’ll wait until he launches it first though, before I mention the name. My Dad would absolutely love it.

We saw the differences in the value chain models employed by each of NZ’s top apple growing companies. We also touched on the impact of Climate-change, Covid, Delta, War, Government, and building human capacity, and how that looks for each group.

I met people today, who are not just international superstars in the horticultural and agricultural space, I also witnessed trail blazers passing on the torch to a group of passionate, driven and motivated visionaries – my colleagues. It’s humbling to meet local NZ giants, who understand the international market place so well, they can put you at ease, while describing their story in a way that makes it easy to digest.

There were times I could enjoy bite-size pieces, and there were times I knew I just had to live in the moment and absorb whatever I could. The thing I felt grateful for, was that the way they told their story allowed me to feel I was sharing in it. The quality and callibre of leadership in the room amongst my colleagues, meant that I was learning from the questions they asked and the answers we all received as a result.

I hope they in turn, were able to take away something from the answers to my questions. I’m really proud of all our NZ apple exporters. Thank you for your commitment to lifting our country’s economic future up to where it needs to be on the world stage. Tautoko!

My last point, is that the style of teaching in this course, requires you to have an appetite for the market place, regardless of what your focus is in your given industry. You can’t wait to be spoon fed. You have to be proactive, to stretch yourself – at times painfully – outside your comfort zone. That in itself, is a very important characteristic in the market place, which changes shape often. Adapt or die is a loud enough message here.

Fortune favours future-focused visionaries, who appreciate the value of our own authentic story, to share in a new way on the world stage for everyone to enjoy. It’s our point of difference, that makes us the premium product, and therefore the premium price point.

Additional field notes:
Day six, T&G Innovation Orchard. This vertically integrated continuous improvement model covers research, growing, sales and marketing.

Next was Rockit Global, where we spoke with one of New Zealand’s most experienced, accomplished, and humble sector leaders.

Rockit was a clever apple waiting for an idea to fall on it. And, the idea that landed turned out to be rather big; apples in a tube, sold at service stations – and a huge export earner too. It’s a story that “…neatly blends FMCG requirements with fruit realities.”

The final visit Mr Apple, export 25% of the New Zealand’s apple crop around the world and follow a philosophy of “…discipline not control…”

To end the day, programme participant Carlos Bagrie kindly shared the first pull of his fantastic new beer in the hi-tech brewery it was made in.

18.11.23
Day 7 – Jesamine.

The opportunity to see Craigmore Orchards today, was an experience that will stay with me for a long time. Simply because of the sheer size and scale of the operation. There are literally tons of apples taken from here to international markets, with most being IP branded to specific companies.

The fascinating thing about the apple industry, is the collaboration between growers supplying the market. Growers are both transparent and supportive of one another. Working together lifts the standard on both the domestic and international front, because best practice outcomes add value to the market’s perception of NZ apples as a “trusted source”. This perception of us as a trusted source, is what allows us to trade our NZ apples (in competition with other international growers like Chile 🇨🇱, USA 🇺🇸, etc.) at a premium price.

Our country’s leadership in the apple industry, regard people as a valuable asset to be invested in, developed, and up-skilled. The apple capital of NZ is Hawkes Bay, where staff retention can be a challenge. So this approach is pivotal to this industry’s survival and success. There are good success stories with migrant workers, which has benefitted our local retail in Hawkes Bay, and the families of these workers in the Pacific.

Out of all the apple brands out there, Rockit, Mr Apple and Turners & Growers lead in this space. Thank you everyone for your enormous generosity towards our group, who will one day be your future industry leaders.

Additional field notes:
The last day of the Programme – Craigmore Orchard, producing 2500 tonnes a year. The Orchard’s leader has a passion for people, “…along with locking up great IP … good social practices will be something that differentiates NZ Horticulture.”

The day ended with Lisa Rogers, Rural Leader’s CEO, and facilitators Hamish Gow and Phil Morrison chairing participant preso’s before a final dinner together.

A truly inspiring and informative value chain experience, where sharp ideas, insights, new connections and friendships have been made.

Good things.

Summary – Jesamine.

The Rural Leaders Value Chain Innovation Programme: If there is one word that springs to mind to describe this course, it would be “access”. Access to a wider vision for understanding the same landscape. Access to business models that can shift you from a business transaction to a business relationship with other entities. Access to incredible industry giants who I believe genuinely care about “our country”.

The second word is “relationships”. The wealth of “industry know how” across the horticultural and agricultural sectors became available to other course participants and I, because of the relationship “Rural Leaders” has with industry gurus in their field of expertise.

So then after having found access to these relationships, the question is now, “Where to from here?”

My experiences have re-shaped my vision. I arrived in this space believing I would discover a value model that I could take home, adapt and bend into a Maori framework to create a “Maori Rural Leaders Value Chain Programme” for Ngati Porou. What I realised by day 1, is that this approach would rob my own people of the huge value that is found in the interactions between Pakeha, Maori and Tauiwi course participants in this space.

The learning in these interactions is just as valuable as the knowledge gleaned from sitting face to face at the table with industry experts, and the mentoring by course leaders.

Although my Koro, Ben Wanoa was a farmer, as was his father Rev. Matauru Wanoa, I myself had no experience of farming other than to feed Papa’s chooks as an 8 year old from the wool-shed platform. Listening to the calibre of questions issued by my Pakeha colleagues working in dairy and beef, to CEOs, Chairpersons, Managers and the like, gave me a greater appreciation of their huge concern for the horticultural and agricultural industries in Aotearoa-NZ.

There were also Ngai Tahu women leaders present as course participants, whose skill and expertise were wonderful to witness. I believe my own questions and answers had some impact, even if I hadn’t intended to challenge the CEO of Rural Leaders.

When I was asked, “What do you think is the biggest impediment to Maori accessing this course?” I plainly answered, “Money. I have heard my Pakeha colleagues share about the very real hardships they have faced with Covid, weather events, government and industry bodies. If they’re operating at 60% with all they have access to, then my people who have no access, are operating at 40% or less.

We can’t say NZ’s the best in the world if we’re operating at 40/60. We’re only the best when we’re all operating at 100% in total. To get there we can’t operate as ‘them’ and ‘us’ on the world stage. There has to be just ‘us’ if we’re going to compete as a country against international competitors. The 100% lift we’re looking for with resource allocation, must be right across the sector to get prime product status for all of NZ. Rural Leaders are acting on this.

Rachel Baker – via LinkedIn.

Last week I toured the North Island exploring NZ food sectors on the Value Chain Innovation Programme delivered by Rural Leaders and facilitated by Hamish Gow from Lincoln University.

This is a truly outstanding programme. Learning as a group from each other, while being connected with the leaders, innovators and rockstars of businesses in dairy, red meat, kiwifruit, apple and logistics, and doing a deep dive into each.

It continually struck me over the week that as a food producing nation, we trade on trust. Trust in relationships (many buyers were customers of 20+ years), the quality of product (rigorous grade standards, consistency), how it is produced (sustainability, transparency) and who produces it (farmers and growers behind the product). Trust must ultimately reach and deliver to what our customer wants. Customer-led value chains knew their customer profile intimately.

Taste was talked about a lot. “People buy with their eyes. Marketing will get you the first sale, but taste will ensure you get the repeat customer.” We put this to the test with Zespri SunGold, Rockit apples, Rose veal and a soon-to-be released craft beer.

Other observations were that while NZ’s seasonality plays to our farmer/grower strengths, on the flipside it has the potential to erode value with uncontrolled volumes and inconsistency of product.

Capitalisation of some value chains is needed to manage future planned volume increases, and to fund innovation and technology advancement – in a capital constrained environment, where will this come from, and how will it be prioritised?

Every value chain required more highly skilled and trainable people. Those with seasonal staff celebrated and individualised them, which is not often highlighted when politicised. Our education system needs to be geared to advance our primary sector, yet some tertiaries are reducing their focus on ag/hort, science and food…

Much “thought for food” and “food for thought”…!

Thank you to all who generously hosted our tour group and to Nuffield NZ for giving me a thought provoking and inspiring opportunity.

Follow Jesamine Wanoa on LinkedIn here.

Follow Rachel Baker on LinkedIn here.

Register your interest in the next Value Chain Innovation Programme here.

The 50th Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme graduates.

With Alumni now numbering 1075, the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme has had a long and rich history of leadership capability lift across the food and fibre sector.

To celebrate the 50th cohort’s graduation, the collective impact of alumni, and the Programme’s history, the NZ Rural Leadership Trust (Rural Leaders) hosted an event at Lincoln University’s Waimarie Building.

Kate Scott, Lisa Rogers and Dr Patrick Aldwell, spoke at the event, with Dr Aldwell sharing more the Programme’s genesis.

Serial impact.

The William Keith Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) was established in 1930 as a philanthropic organisation, running alongside the Kellogg’s Breakfast Cereal Company (Kellogg’s).

William Keith Kellogg initially set up Kellogg’s to support his brother’s business – a sanitarium.

Over his lifetime (1860-1951), William donated nearly $70m in stock to the WKKF, as he put it “to help people help themselves.” He wanted to equip people with the knowledge and solutions for better health and wellbeing outcomes.

He left simple instructions to future trustees and staff, “…use the WKKF’s money to promote the health, wellbeing and happiness of children.”

Incidentally, Kellogg’s has recently been rebranded ‘Kellanova’ in New Zealand and Australia, while in North America the brand will appear as WK Kellogg and Co. on supermarket shelves.

1075 Kellogg Scholars since 1979.

Eventually, part of the WKKF’s grants were used to establish rural leadership programmes in the US, Australia, and NZ.

One bold individual, John Pryde, CE of Federated Farmers 1964-1975 and Lincoln University Senior Fellow 1975-1991, persistently tried to set up a Rural Leadership Programme, finally succeeding in 1979 with funding from the WKKF for the first five years for a programme.

Since 1979 the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme has helped deepen leadership capability in industries across our sector – and since 2017 it has been delivered by the New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust (Rural Leaders).

Thanks to the additional support of Rural Leaders’ investing partners, New Zealand Food and Fibre has more capable, and purpose driven people. 1075 of these individuals are Kellogg alumni.

Celebrating the Kellogg Programme’s impact.

As the Mackenzie Study has shown, the impact Kellogg alumni have made, and continue to make, cannot be underestimated. In fact, we thought it was something well worth celebrating. And so we did.

About 80 alumni, investing partners and industry leaders came together on Thursday 30 November to celebrate not only the 50^th Kellogg cohort’s graduation, but also the rich history of the Programme and the collective impact of Kellogg alumni.

Kate Scott, NZ Rural Leadership Trust Chair, opened by defining the the two types of future leaders Ta Tipene O’Regan believed we would see, “…

“Future takers who accept the future for what it is, feeling powerless to change what will be, and allowing today’s realities to obscure tomorrow’s potential, ready to respond to change; and future makers who shape the future by reading the signs, determined to create future spaces for people to excel, undaunted by today’s problems, and ready to lead change.”

Kate Scott drew on the powerful demonstration of achievement and impact catalogued by the Mackenzie Study and closed her speech by challenging the graduates gathered to become future leaders, “…ask yourself; how will I unleash the potential in others so that we can grow rural leaders together?”

Dr Patrick Aldwell, who has a long history of involvement with Kellogg spoke passionately of the Programme’s history, especially of William K Kellogg’s desire to ‘help people help themselves’. “May you have the skills, confidence, awareness and networks to take the next step, no matter what that may be. I congratulate you on your Kellogg achievements…”, Dr Aldwell said in closing.

Lisa Rogers, Rural Leaders CEO, gave a note of thanks to partners, the board and industry before leading the awarding of the certificates for the 50th Kellogg cohort.

Pictured below – the alumni list.

Four 2024 Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarships awarded.

Four food and fibre sector leaders have been awarded 2024 Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarships.

The Nuffield Awards Ceremony was hosted by Minister O’Connor and the New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust (Rural Leaders) at the Grand Hall in Parliament, Wellington last night.

Growing interest in the Nuffield Scholarships.

With the number of scholarship applicants rising each year, competition has been strong.

To ensure the 2024 Nuffield Scholars can travel and gain international insights in a climate of rising travel costs, the value of the Scholarships increased in 2023. This has also meant that four scholars were selected this year instead of the maximum five, making competition for scholarships tougher still.

Each scholar brings an impressive track record of performance and a corresponding level of passion. The scholars will now need to apply this experience and passion to finding those insights that will benefit the food and fibre sector.

“The four scholars represent up to eight industries, four separate regions, and over fifty years’ food and fibre experience.

This cohort’s combined knowledge and skill range will enable them to hit the ground running and support each other. The group’s first scholarship component is the Value Chain Innovation Programme – which starts next week.

We are as interested and excited to see each scholar’s impact on community, industry, and the sector, as we are the collective impact of the cohort”, Said Lisa Rogers, CEO, New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust (Rural Leaders).

The 2024 Nuffield Scholars.

The new 2024 Nuffield Scholars were announced by Kate Scott, Chair, NZ Rural Leadership Trust as:

Carlos Bagrie – An Otago based Sheep and Beef/Arable Farmer. Carlos will focus his research on circular farming systems that reduce waste while improving the bottom line.

Rachel Baker
Rachel is a Central Hawke’s Bay based Agri-investments Portfolio Manager, and Dairy Farmer. Rachel’s research will look at the impact of existing and proposed global food strategies on food producers.

Jenna Smith
A Waikato based Māori Agribusiness CEO, and Dairy Farmer. Jenna’s research will focus on climate change related land use changes.

Peter Templeton
A Southland based fifth generation Dairy Farmer. Peter’s research interest is in the future of farming and the role of innovation.

Leadership and change in food and fibre.

Before the Scholar announcements, Kate Scott, Chair, New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust, spoke about a global and national context of relentless change, saying that the challenges our sector faces within this require high-performing leaders for the teams they serve.

To this end the New Zealand Rural leadership Trust was commissioned by Food and Fibre Centre for Vocational Excellence in September 2022, to research and design a leadership development ecosystem for Aotearoa New Zealand’s food and fibre sector. Kate Scott drew on some of the work in the two project reports completed so far.

“Our leaders need to be more adaptive than ever before, creating healthy and diverse, high-performing environments that allow teams to acquire the skills and to build the resilience they need to thrive in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world”, Said Kate Scott.

The first report presents research into the current state of leader development in the food and fibre sector.

The second report, ‘A Principles-centred Leadership Model’, proposes that Leaders who truly lead unleash their potential and that of those around them.

Kate Scott further acknowledged the support of Rural Leaders’ Partners, including that of Strategic Partners, AGMARDT, DairyNZ, Beef+LambNZ, Mackenzie Charitable Foundation, and FMG, and Programme Partners, MPI, Farmlands Co-operative, FAR, Horticulture NZ, Zespri, LIC and Rabobank.

Nuffield Scholar Research.

The 2023 Nuffield Scholars’ research topics will address several of our biggest food and fibre challenges and opportunities. They will bring a valuable global perspective to these with insights gleaned from an intensive travel itinerary of visits, meetings and experiences, designed to lead to a period of transformative personal growth.

The four new Scholars will join the over 180 Nuffield Alumni, awarded scholarships over the last 73 years.

Jessie Chan – Impact Story

Jessie Chan, MNZM – 2012 Kellogg Scholar.

Among her many accolades, Jessie became a member of the NZ Order of Merit for services to dairy and agriculture in 2022. Jessie was the recipient of Canterbury’s Institute of Directors aspiring director award in 2014 and was Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year in 2017.

A respected leader in the dairy industry, Jessie is a director on boards including, NZ Pork, AgResearch, and AgriZero, and has served in the past on boards such as Ngai Tahu Farming, RuralCo and Alpine Energy.

Always interested in science, Jessie’s first role at the age of 17, was in Palmerston North’s Fonterra research lab, where she was exposed to product development.

University came soon after with study toward an animal science degree – graduating with honours.

After four years study Jessie went to Wellington where she held various primary sector roles, eventually heading a Federated Farmers’ policy team.

Marrying and moving to Canterbury, Jessie, and her then husband, took a share-milking job just south of the Rakaia River. Eventually they took over the lease and grew their herd from 750 to 1700 cows.

Jessie is now an equity partner with friends in her own dairy farm at Springston in Canterbury, an arrangement that works in well with her directorships.

Having held many senior sector leadership roles and understanding well the hard work required on the path to farm ownership, Jessie believes farming must adapt to meet challenges like environmental and climate change.

Jessie believes many of the answers will come from science, and to this end serves on the board of AgResearch and AgriZero. AgriZero support science-based solutions to some of the sector’s, and the world’s, trickiest challenges.

AgriZero is world-first partnership between agribusiness and the government and aims to reduce agricultural emissions 30% by 2030. A recent investment by AgriZero has been to build more methane chambers where a product’s effectiveness in reducing a cows’ methane output can be measured.

Jessie continues to apply science and entrepreneurship to Primary Sector challenges – along with her own enthusiasm, a lead-by-example style, and a long-held passion for science, for her industry and for the sector.

Jessie takes this quote she made in a recent Farmers Weekly article, “Let’s keep combining that science piece with that entrepreneur piece that goes, actually we can take that science and apply it on – farm this way and get a really good outcome’, I think we all want to move forward and do better for the land.”

We look forward to seeing the positive impact Jessie has made continue to influence change in dairy and the food and fibre sector.

Corrigan Sowman – Impact Story

Corrigan Sowman – 2016 Kellogg Scholar, 2019 Nuffield Scholar.

Corrigan is the owner, director, and business manager of the 400ha Uruwhenua Farms in Golden Bay, a family-owned dairy unit where technology is used to manage a large herd in a small herd way – especially in terms of attention to individual animals. He is a graduate of Massey University and has a Bachelor of Applied Science.

Corrigan is both a Nuffield and Kellogg Scholar who completed his Nuffield research on how to better understand the way pressure on farmers impacts decision making.

His Kellogg research looked at the critical success factors of an agriculture non-profit in knowledge creation and dissemination.

Corrigan is LIC Chair, succeeding fellow Nuffield Scholar Murray King, who says of Corrigan’s appointment, “He has a deep understanding of farming, its challenges and what farmers need both now and in the future in order to be more profitable and sustainable.”

He is a member of the Fonterra Sustainability Advisory Panel, a group providing independent advice to the Fonterra Senior Management Team and Board. He has been a former Consulting Officer with DairyNZ and a Farm Consultant with FarmRight, in Canterbury.

In the past Corrigan has been Chair and Independent Director of the South Island Dairy Development Centre (SIDDC), which operates the Lincoln University Dairy Farm. He has also been Deputy Chair of the DairyNZ Dairy Environmental Leaders Forum, an initiative fostering environmental stewardship and community leadership amongst New Zealand dairy farmers.

We look forward to seeing Corrigan continue to support work encouraging farm practices that strengthen the integrity of the food we produce.

Dr Alison Stewart – FAR and the role of arable systems in agriculture.

In this podcast, Dr Alison Stewart, CEO at the Foundation for Arable Research, talks with Farmers Weekly’s Managing Editor, Bryan Gibson, about the role of arable in agriculture, her role at FAR and the delivery of research that benefits growers.

Dr Stewart also discusses her involvement with the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme and the importance of exposure to diversity of thought for leaders in Food and Fibre.

Listen to Alison’s podcast or read the transcript below.

Bryan Gibson – Managing Editor of Farmer’s Weekly.

My name is Bryan Gibson, Managing Editor of Farmers Weekly and this week I am talking to Dr Alison Stewart, CEO at FAR, the Foundation for Arable Research, and a regular speaker on the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme.

Bryan Gibson:
G’day Alison. How’s it going?

Dr Alison Stewart – Chief Executive Officer at the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR).
Yeah, great. Thanks for having me.

BG: Great to have you here. Now, you’re the Chief Executive of Far. What’s been happening in your world lately?

The current arable context.

AS: Well, we’ve just had a referendum. So, every six years, our levy peers vote to decide whether FAR is doing a good job and they want to continue paying their levy. So that happened just last month. I guess for the last year, we have been focused a little bit on the referendum and making sure that the growers know what we’re doing and what value it delivers. And fortunately, yes, we got good support.

Although I have to say getting growers to vote was the biggest challenge. They’ve just got so much happening in their lives at the moment and so much information being thrown at them that they’re almost in a situation where finding the time to vote in a referendum was not a high priority. That actually was the biggest challenge, convincing them to get onto their computer and vote.

BG: And running the organisation, what does your job entail? What do you do in a week?

AS: My job is to make sure that everybody else in the company is doing their job really well. I’m joining all the dots. We’ve got some amazing research staff who are out there doing applied research, trying to find new management systems, new tools, new technologies that will assist our farmers.

We also have a lot of extension people focused on trying to support them with all of the compliance regulations that are coming down the track. And then we also have to deal with the biosecurity incursions. We’re dealing with two at the moment.

Amongst all of that, we’re just trying to promote to the general public, to the other sectors, to the government, the value of arable systems and the value that they bring to New Zealand agriculture. I jump around a lot, getting involved in lots of things, across lots of areas, at different levels of responsibility. It’s never a dull day.

BG: Yeah. Our Food and Fibre Sector is dominated by the big two animal proteins. I guess, as you say, the animal sector is as big and successful of its own accord, but in some ways plays second or third fiddle sometimes?

AS: Oh, very much so. That frustrates me in the sense that we actually underpin the livestock sector because we produce all of the seed and the grass seed that they need to grow their pastures to feed their cows. If we go under, then the livestock sector is going to be substantially worse off.

We also produce a large amount of the animal feed the dairy sector and the beef sector and the poultry sector need. So, I’m not sure that we ever get full recognition for the important role we play, not only in our own right through producing milling wheat and quality seed crops, but also underpinning the livestock sector. I try to remind my colleagues in the dairy and beef and sheep sector that they need us as much as we need them.

World-leading seed production.

BG: I guess a lot of people do just think of fields of maize or barley or wheat, but that seed production part of things is really important, but also quite an opportunity and a success for New Zealand, isn’t it? We’re quite good at it.

AS: Absolutely. It does help that the big global seed companies can see that they can get out of Northern Hemisphere seasons and they can get seed crops being produced in New Zealand. We have really good environmental conditions.

We have good quality certification, verification and accountability systems. We’re seen to be a very important seed producer. That’s really good from the perspective of an arable farmer because it provides a really nice rotation.

We’ve got our foundational cereal crops, but then we’ve got the seed crops in the foundation of the rotation and that gives a nice diversity, but it also introduces the opportunity to capture another revenue source.

Dr Alison Stewart - A CEO’s career path.

BG: Now, how did you get to the position you’re in now? What’s your career been like? What did you do when you left school?

AS: Well, I mean, gosh, I’ve been around the block. I’ve always been interested in plants. Even as a child, I was always out in the garden with my mum planting and looking after plants. I did botany at university, and then I did a PhD in plant pathology, and then I came to New Zealand.

Obviously, I’m Scottish, and I came to New Zealand, got a lecturing job at Auckland University, and it was the old Botany department. That was how I started off my career being an academic, and I had 10 years at Auckland. Then I moved down to Lincoln University because I wanted to be doing more applied research and more closer to the actual farming sector. I was 18 years at Lincoln University as an academic, running a big research centre, looking at sustainable production systems.

Then I decided to challenge myself a little bit more and I went off to California and ran a biotech company. Then I came back to New Zealand and headed up forestry science in Rotorua with Scion. Then I moved from there and came to be the CEO of FAR.

I’m probably relatively unusual in the sense that I’ve been in academia, I’ve been in the CRI system, I’ve been in a commercial company and I’m now working in an industry body. I’ve worked across horticulture, vegetable cropping, herbal cropping, and forestry. So it gives me a nice broad perspective on what’s happening, particularly in the plant-based sectors in New Zealand.

FAR - delivering the arable research that benefits growers.

BG: Well, that’s quite a CV. I’m interested in your interest in applied science and knowledge transfer. That’s something that’s been talked about in our sector as something that works pretty well, but does need work, if you know what I mean. Is that something that you think is moving the dial over the years?

AS: Oh, most certainly. I mean, there isn’t much point in doing research if you’re not going to get the results of the research out, being taken up and used by farmers and growers. FAR in particular, over the last 25 years, has been an exemplar of an organisation that has effectively delivered its research to benefit the growers.

It’s becoming more difficult because the environment is so much more challenging for growers. I won’t say the good old days, because I never think that the old days are actually that good. But in the past, FAR would do research and it would be identifying a new plant growth regulator or a new fungicide or a better fertiliser programme. And you’d go out and you’d say, if you do X, Y and Z, that will deliver a one-ton increase in yield.

That’s a really easy story to tell. The growers will go, that’s a good idea. I’ll do that. The growers get a one-ton increase and they think, Oh, my levy is good value for money for us doing a good job. But we’ve driven yield optimisation pretty close to the optimum.

A challenging arable environment.

Now the challenge is, how do we maintain those optimum yields given all of the constraints that growers now have around input costs and compliance around fresh water and climate change. That’s a much, much harder knowledge exchange programme because you’re potentially, and quite often, telling the growers something that they don’t want to hear. So you’re always trying to find a way in which you can present that information in as positive a way as possible.

At this moment in time in New Zealand, farmers feel as if they’re really under the pump with people throwing compliance regulations at them, their cost of production is going up. So often their headspace is not necessarily that favourably inclined towards hearing some quite difficult messaging. It’s challenging. It’s a really challenging space for the growers, and it’s a really challenging space for the labour organisations.

FAR and the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme.

BG: Very much so. Now, turning to Rural Leaders, you have a bit to do with the Kellogg Programme, is that correct?

AS: Yeah. I mean, they roll me out twice a year where I come and I talk to the new cohort of rural leaders. I’m one of these people that, and it causes me a lot of angst over the years, I tend to just say exactly what I think. That can get me into a lot of trouble!

I really enjoy challenging young people around what they’re thinking, why they’re thinking it, and what they want to achieve in their careers. I love having discussions around what leadership actually means, because leadership means quite different things to different people.

In New Zealand agriculture at this moment in time, with all of the challenges that are coming up, it’s really hard to be a leader because levy organisations, for example, are reliant on doing what their levy peers want them to do, and that sometimes prevents you from being able to take a true leadership position.

I really like talking about some of those challenges, and it’s a good environment because it’s not out in the public arena. You’re not going to get hung out to dry on social media, but you’re able to have some really honest and sometimes quite painful discussions about how New Zealand agriculture needs to move into the future and the changes that need to be made. And that young cohort of Kellogg leaders are up for those kinds of discussions, and I just love it.

BG: I mean, it’s an interesting group because most of them already have a career and then they have a day job, and then Kellogg is back to school. So I guess it’s different from your previous work in academia, where it was 9:00 to 5:00 learning. And that has some upside, I think, of the Kellogg Programme, do you think?

Kellogg exposes leaders to diversity of thought and opinion.

AS: I think it’s a fantastic programme because it provides an opportunity to bring multiple thought processes to the table. Scott Champion, who’s one of the key Facilitators on the Programme; he’s very well connected and he can bring quite disparate views to the discussion.

That’s really important because if you stay in your own industry, in your own space, in your silo, then all that happens is that everybody validates preconceived ideas and it’s really good to be challenged.

I think that’s what the Kellogg Leadership Programme does. It makes you realise that what you thought you knew and what you thought was a valid belief, there may actually be alternative viewpoints. You have to open your mind to different ways of thinking and different people’s perceptions of agriculture and different conclusions that you can draw from the vast amount of research that’s out there.

It’s a fantastic learning opportunity for young people to avoid getting into a siloed mantra of just believing the here and now and what people they tend to engage with think. It’s a bit like when you google something, the algorithm sitting in behind Google can work out what your preconceived ideas are, and therefore they tend to give you links to things that validate those preconceived ideas.

I think we’ve always got to try and make sure that we don’t get into that mentality of thinking that because we believe something now, that means it must be true.

BG: Cross-discipline research or work in real time, isn’t it?

AS: Absolutely, yeah.

BG: So, you’d recommend the Programme to anyone thinking about the big issues facing the sector, and thinking about leadership?

AS: I think you have to be prepared to put time and effort into it. It’s like anything in life that if you don’t commit and put your passion and energy into it, you’re not going to get the same amount of benefit out of it. I think you have to be prepared to come to the table and listen to those diverse views and be prepared to change your opinion about things.

If you come to the Kellogg Programme with a preconceived idea that you’re right and everyone else is wrong, you’re not going to get the benefit out of the Programme.

BG: Thanks for listening to Ideas that Grow, a Rural Leaders podcast in partnership with Massey and Lincoln Universities, AGMARDT and Food HQ. This podcast was presented by Farmers Weekly.

For more information on Rural Leaders, the Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarships, the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, or the Value Chain Innovation Programme, please visit ruralleaders.co.nz

Hamish Murray: Building stronger on-farm teams by getting out of the way.

The New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust (NZ Rural Leaders) is seeking an Independent Trustee to join its board. This is an exciting opportunity for a food and fibre leader with strategic and governance experience, strong industry networks and a passion for leadership development, to build on their governance journey.

Background summary

NZ Rural Leaders is a registered charitable trust. The Trust’s purpose is to: Establish and operate leadership programmes for New Zealand’s food and fibre sector, advance education in agricultural practices, and contribute to the general welfare of New Zealand’s rural population.

In pursuit of this NZ Rural Leaders aim to grow world-class leaders for our country.

Board meetings

The Board meet up to 8 times per year with some meetings coinciding with longer events. 4 “in person” meetings are typically held in Christchurch or Wellington, with video conferencing utilised for the balance.

Meetings are scheduled where possible around Kellogg and Nuffield programme events to enable Board members to be introduced to each cohort of both programmes and contribute as per above role. Meeting dates for the year are set at least 6 months in advance.

Please note, this is an unpaid, voluntary role. Air Travel, accommodation, and meals are covered (where required).

The core competencies sought in all Board members are;

Strategic focus and experience.
Previous governance experience.
Innovative thinking and entrepreneurship.
Professional expertise in one or more of the following areas: food and fibre sector, adult education or training, business skills, marketing.
Passion for and understanding of leadership development.
Strong industry networks and connections.

Applicants with one or more of the following attributes are particularly sought;

Strong financial skills and understanding.
Affinity for leadership in Māori and Pacifica agri-business.
Horticultural, forestry or aquaculture industry knowledge.
Regional capacity building.
Partner engagement including local, regional, and central government.
Global perspective.

You can find more information on the Terms of Reference here.

Applications close on 15 November 2023.

CV and cover letter should be sent to Lisa Rogers, Rural Leaders’ Chief Executive at lisarogers@ruralleaders.co.nz

For any questions, please feel free to contact Chairperson, Kate Scott at kate@landpro.co.nz

The search for 2024’s Nuffielders is nearly over.

The magnitude of the decision to apply, to commit to a year or more of study, travel, and growth is significant. Most applicants are on farms, working in agribusiness – sometimes both. They are busy people, even without a Nuffield Scholarship.

In the search for 2024’s Nuffield Scholars Rural Leaders received approximately 30 applications. Here’s an approximate breakdown of this latest applicant group.

The search for the next Nuffield Scholars: the path to receiving an application.

Here’s a brief summary of what is involved in the search for our Nuffield Scholars.

Our Nuffield alumni critical in helping prospective scholarship applicants get to grips with the process of applying and the Nuffield Programme itself. Alumni are also active in referring those in the sector they feel would benefit personally and professionally from a Scholarship. Rural Leaders follow referrals up with personal emails and phone calls.

Alongside the referral activity, Rural Leaders run a modest, traditional paid media campaign, both paid and unpaid social media, as well as some digital placements. All activity here asks for registrations of interest. This activity is rounded out with help from partners and networks.

The registrations of interest build over time and these are nurtured with a 3-4 month email campaign featuring podcasts, testimonials, links to articles and details on the Scholarship.

It’s a rewarding experience for all involved. To see the first indications of interest develop into an application. Some have applied before, some are not well known to us, and some may have had Nuffield on their minds for many years.

The applicant demographic profiles shift and change over time, while such leadership traits as: pragmatism, passion, courage, and self-awareness remain constant.

In early November we’ll be in a position share who our 2024 Scholars are. For now, we’d like to thank all the incredible, dedicated people who applied. We know it was a decision that likely involved partners, family, work colleagues and friends.

The final submitting of an application is just the start of the story. It’s also the end of this one.

Inspiring value chain change – book your place on 2023’s Value Chain Innovation Programme.

The Value Chain Innovation Programme is ideal for those looking to give their strategic and entrepreneurial mindsets a boost.

Want to start a new business on-farm, lead value chain transformation, or start an entirely new value chain on, say, cherries? Or simply bolstering our value chain and farming and food production systems knowledge, then the Value Chain Programme offers high alignment to those.

Since 2020 Nuffield Scholars have had the opportunity to participate in this unique value chain immersion, whether that was 2021’s ‘World Tour of New Zealand’ pilot programme, or the first Value Chain Innovation Programme, held last year.

Fellow participants will be a mix of mid to senior level leaders, with some looking to develop new businesses.

2022’s cohort found the Programme inspiring and informative. Here are comments from Allan Richardson and Satwant Singh, 2022 Value Chain participants.

The Value Chain Innovation Programme was an action-packed week with highly motivated people from every industry in the sector. We saw the leading adopters of value chain innovation, they told us their pathways to success, often with one-on-one contact.

Just as important has been the new network of industry leaders that I travelled with, and now keep in contact with. Allan Richardson

And from Satwant Singh,

The Programme was a great opportunity to connect and re-energise with likeminded industry leaders and learn more about our own backyard. We can sometimes get narrow minded to our own industry (speaking for myself as dairy).

This programme showcased multiple successful NZ value chains first hand from farmer to market, providing some great insights and learnings.

The greatest value I took from the Programme though, was the people who all still keep in touch regularly.

This one-week immersion tour runs from 12-18 November (Auckland to Napier) and focuses on North Island based dairy, red meat, apple, and kiwifruit value chains.

Facilitators Prof. Hamish Gow and Phil Morrison bring a wealth of knowledge, experience and approachability to the Programme. They enjoy debate, discussion and the exploration of ideas. There’ll be plenty of that on the coach (aka the Think-tanker) in-between panel discussions, operation visits, and in conversations with business leaders and owners.

You can read both facilitators’ bios by clicking below. You’ll also find an application form below – just get it to us before midnight Sunday.

If you are interested in joining mid November’s fast-filling tour, just reach out to Matt Hampton at matthampton@ruralleaders.co.nz

Julian Reti Kaukau – Bridging the connection between our people and the whenua.

In this podcast, Julian Reti Kaukau, 2021 Kellogg Scholar, talks with Farmers Weekly’s Managing Editor, Bryan Gibson, about his Kellogg research and to share insights from his work with MPI Māori Agribusiness.

In reference to his research, Julian reflects on the historic prowess of the Waikato Maniapoto Māori in the agriculture and horticulture sectors and suggests that by harnessing the wisdom of the ancestors who once nurtured the Whenua, today’s Kaitiaki can make profound and impactful economic and sustainable decisions for the Whenua and their futures.

Julian believes that Māori who have been disconnected from their homelands can better reconnect with their Tupuna Whenua, fostering a profound sense of Tūrangawaewae, enhancing the Mana of the Whānau and Hapū, honoring important Tīkanga such as Manaakitanga and be given the ability to uphold the crucial role of Ahi Kaa.

Julian completed his Kellogg research on how can Waikato Maniapoto Māori landowners increase productivity whilst improving the environmental protection of their land?

Listen to Julian’s podcast here or read the transcript below. As always, the transcript has been modified for readability.

Bryan Gibson – Managing Editor of Farmer’s Weekly.

Kia ora, you’ve joined the Ideas That Grow podcast, brought to you by Rural Leaders. In this series, we’ll be drawing on insights from innovative rural leaders to help plant ideas that grow so our regions can flourish. Ideas that Grow is presented in association with Farmers Weekly.

My name is Bryan Gibson, Managing Editor of Farmers Weekly and this week I am talking to Julian Reti Kaukau, a 2021 Kellogg Scholar and currently the Facilitator Programme Lead for Māori Agribusiness at the Ministry for Primary Industries. How’re doing Julian?

Julian Reti Kaukau – 2021 Kellogg Scholar, Facilitator Programme Lead for Māori Agribusiness at MPI.

I’m doing great. Thank you, Bryan.

BG: Cool. Where are you calling in from today?

JR: I’m calling in from Rotorua in the sunny Bay of Plenty.

BG: Now, you were a 2021 Kellogg Scholar. How did you find that experience?

Completing Kellogg and settling on a research topic.

JR: The Programme was geared up to bring out the most in terms of that academic space within myself, that may have been neglected since I left high school. In all reality, having gone into the workforce pretty much as I turned 18, having the opportunity to go into the academic space was quite onerous.

I felt the Kellogg Programme helped guide and shape me. Patrick Aldwell was instrumental in assisting me to basically learn how to write, how to write well, and get my writing out there in the public space so that I could share what was on my heart and mind. In summary, I think that’s what the Kellogg Programme helped to do – is to really get those thoughts out.

I think those thoughts were really great ideas – at least to me – the Programme enabled me to get these out there in a more public domain and allow others to provide some feedback, thoughts and alignments on some of those ideas. I think that’s what Kellogg really did for me.

BG: Now, what did you focus your studies on? What was your report about?

JR: Initially, it was a bit of going around in circles trying to flesh out your topic. I actually started wanting to do a report around Māori Agri-business. But as you get further into the Programme, you realise you might have to go a little bit deeper, more specific and compartmentalise your particular subject because Māori Agri-business is quite broad in general.

I specifically chose to focus on the area that I whakapapa to, or have genealogical ties to, which is the Waikato and Maniapoto area, namely the King Country.

Embracing history for an informed future as Kaitiaki of the whenua.

JR: My topic was around what’s happened over the last 150 years with having a thriving agricultural primary sector within the Waikato, Maniapoto. Then leading into the 1860s period with the land wars and then the following land confiscations of almost 1.2 million acres of land being confiscated between 1860 and 1865, and a further 1 million acres being confiscated through various legislative policies between 1870 and 1970.

I think what really made me want to focus in on my own people, my own backyard, if you want to call it, is that we were once a powerhouse in agriculture. Our people were quite fast and quick to pick up the knowledge around agriculture, and I always felt that the future for our people is within the land.

So in order for us to be good stewards or kaitiaki of the whenua moving forward, we have to know a thing or two about how to look after the land. Whether that be in primary production or in an environmental capacity. That’s why I chose to go deep on around how our people could embrace the history that we once had, take those learnings and knowledge of our elders, right through the pre 1860 period, the post 1860 period up to about 1970, and having 1970 till today.

Then really look at the leadership that we had within our hapu and our iwi and our whana and take learnings out on how we could maintain our mana, maintain our footprint, our foundations of our land. For me, I believe that’s through making the land sustainably economical, whether it be a dairy, sheep and beef, forest, plantation, horticultural enterprise, whatever. But doing it right, doing it properly, pretty much, Bryan.

BG: There seems to be a movement to obviously the sustainability movement in farming is finally, I guess, getting momentum. That links beautifully to some of the things you’ve been talking about in terms of kaitiakiakitanga, and manaaki whenua. Is that something you found in your studies?

Kaitiakitanga and the sustainabilty movement.

JR: I wouldn’t say that I found it in my studies. It’s probably a concept that I’ve always grown up with. I’ve seen it enacted or lived out by my grandmother, my grandfather, out there on their quarter acre with the most beautiful garden, the māra, that you would ever see, feeding the masses.

Then as I got older and went to visit the cousins in the rural areas and seeing them out on the land and seeing how they connect and relate to our whenua, be it partaking in a mahinga kai, which is the collection of watercress, pūha, and eels. Or collecting kai moana, seafood, and just really acknowledging that the sustenance of all human life and animal life comes from Mother Earth.

There’s a reciprocity philosophy that co-joins guardianship of the land where we acknowledge that our life comes from the land. Therefore, we must do what we can to ensure that that life is going to be enjoyed by our children and our grandchildren, but at the same time, they create a life of some type of bountiful sustenance while we’re here on Earth.

In terms of the kaitiakitanga, I know there’s a huge movement towards sustainability that’s probably more in light of the impacts the rapid industrialisation of the primary sector has had. Now we’re now starting to see those impacts visibly, be it with nutrient-dense rivers or waterways or underground aquifers being depleted, and in the erosion of our soils.

It usually just comes hand-in-hand when you’re seeing those types of impacts, whether you’re Māori or non-Māori. You feel a deep sense to try and protect and restore that so that your children and your grandchildren can enjoy the same economic sustainability that you currently or once enjoyed yourself.

So in terms of kaitiakitanga, it’s wrapped around those points I’ve just mentioned Bryan, and more. And when I say more, so for Māori, it comes to whakapapa, which is the connection that you have through your ancestors to particular land and the efforts that your ancestors put into their land to maintain it for the future generations – to have a living of it.

There’s a dual concept of sustainability, but also protecting what was set out by your forefathers and mothers and making sure that’s passed down to the next generation. There’s probably a lot in there.

BG: Yes. And you’re still involved in some projects in that region, aren’t you? You were working for a Haukinga mai ki te whenua. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Reconnecting our people with the whenua.

JR: Yeah, when you work in the Māori space, if you don’t have a proper employment contract, then you’re pretty much a volunteer. I’m volunteering on a number of trusts and boards.

Probably the one that’s the closest to my heart is Hokianga mai ki te whenua, which is a project initiated by my whanau to bring relations brought up in urban settings, in cities, or even overseas, like Australia, and connect them back to their foundational roots.

It gives them a sense of where their ancestors once dwelled and lived, and a sense of their own belonging and where they come from. Basically, just to answer the question, who am I?

Then it’s a journey. We have multiple engagements, which we call wānanga, which can be also called workshops, over a period of years. Then it’s building on each wānanga. One could be around, where do we get this land from? How did we come to be where we are today? Currently, 95% of our people live outside of our land-based areas. How do we bring our people back?

To do that, you need to have some type of economic base. All we have is land. What can we do with the land we have to ensure we can bring at least some of our people back home so that the mana, the mana whenua of our whenua is upheld and our fires, or what we call ahi kā, continue to burn.

BG: Also in your day job, you work in the Māori Agribusiness section of MPI? Is that right? What does that involve?

JR: It involves a number of jobs, mainly listening, first and foremost. Listening to the many pātai and ideas of our people. Being in a special place where we stand as conduits between Crown funds, the Crown support, and the aspirations of our people.

Mahi in Māori Agribusiness.

What I have found to date, depending on which groups that I’m working with, is that a lot of our people don’t have a strong understanding on how to seek support to assist them with their land aspirations. Whether this be to potentially take over a long-term lease of their land leased out to the local neighbour for the last 60, 70 years. Yes, I’ve seen a few of those. What do I do with this land now?

A good example here would be to be able to get some expert advice, some sound feedback on what to do with their land. Usually, it requires a person of knowledge and experience on certain areas, such as land use options, which requires a bit of money to pay someone to get that done.

Now, whanau that have been in those situations, where they’ve had no money coming into a land block, have the opportunity to work with Māori Agribusiness, to work with the experts that we currently have employed within our team, and also the networks that we have outside of MPI, to assist them in making sound decisions for the future of their land. That’s just one small aspect.

We cover a number of areas within the directorate of Māori Agribusinesses, but the main overall objective is to assist our people with their economic, sustainable aspirations. That is, producing healthy produce from their whenua that’s going to sustain their people, their whanau, their communities, and ultimately, New Zealand as a whole.

BG: That’s excellent. Māori agribusiness in New Zealand is currently a powerhouse, but as you mentioned, with the history that we share in New Zealand, it’s also in some ways just still getting started. What are your hopes for the future on how Māori agribusiness can thrive?

Future hopes for Māori Agribusiness.

JR: It’s a good question, Bryan. I’ve been involved in Māori agribusiness for most of my working life, almost 22 years. What I’ve seen over this time is probably the lack of capability and capacity within our own people, Māori, to be able to work within their iwi organisations. Especially in relation to the primary sector assets they may hold and to really drive from the front.

That could either be a member in the executive team or governance team, being able to make tupuna or mukapuna decisions, as future decisions that impact on our children.

The reason why I highlight that is because a lot of our organisations, they are currently hiring the best people to run our primary sector assets. The best people may not necessarily be Māori people. I find that some of their thinking that comes from running a multimillion-dollar enterprise is largely economic thinking, not necessarily Māori thinking.

That’s why I have mentioned that the lack of capacity and capability within our people being an area of focus I would like to see be invested in and to continually improve on. This, so we have more of our people, their whakapapa to the whenua, making decisions about the future of their whenua.

BG: That’s great. Just circling back to the Kellogg Programme, is it something you’d recommend for others?

The Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme and digging deeper.

JR: Most definitely. It was a challenge and something that I had a peripheral understanding of. I’ve seen others go through the Programme over the years, but it was something I thought that was maybe a little bit out of my league. That’s mainly because I don’t have a strong academic background.

I pretty much left school 16, 17, and went straight into the labour workforce. That’s where I felt was my place and I really loved it there. But over the years, you come across great mentors and you build great relationships, and you start to realise that you could probably do more than you think you can.

Joining the Kellogg Programme for me was a bit of an out-of-the-box experience, putting myself out there. I’m quite introverted by nature, so having to promote myself amongst others that were also vying to be a part of the Kellogg Programme at the time I joined. It was out of my comfort zone. But then being a part of the process, being part of the cohort, you meet some great people, some awesome people that are up and coming and doing big things in the primary sector today.

You make some great mates; you make some great friends. But also, the Programme is well thought out in terms of the people that are leading it. Scott Champion comes to mind. The way that he facilitated and drove the cohort from start to finish, keeping us all on track, keeping us all to the tasks, that helps you dig deeper and brings out the best in you. If I can encourage anyone that’s thinking about wanting to do the Kellogg Programme, do it if you have the opportunity to do so.

For more information on Rural Leaders, the Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarships, the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, or the Value Chain Innovation Programme, please visit ruralleaders.co.nz

Kate Scott: Front footing the fast-moving regulatory environment.

Hamish Murray: Building stronger on-farm teams by getting out of the way.

In this Alumni in the Spotlight we share a couple of James Allen’s LinkedIn posts of some pre-GFP travel. (#NuffieldNZ). Images below show James’ visits, including the University of Illinois.

We follow this up with a summary of the Global Focus Programme (GFP) travel so far completed, or to be completed soon by Scholars from the last few cohorts.

James Allen, LinkedIn Post 1 – 2 weeks ago.

First part of the Nuffield journey underway. Thanks to all the wonderful people at Purdue, Illinois and Missouri Universities for their willingness to share ideas, as we all consider how technology is changing the way we farm, and the way we use information. Thanks to the Nuffield sponsors for making it possible!

James Allen, LinkedIn Post 2 – 6 days ago.

Finishing up the US leg of my Nuffield journey. Thank you to the wonderful people at Purdue University, University of Illinois, Missouri University, Kansas State University, Bayer, Climate Fieldview, and Grasslands (and many more!) for your hospitality and willingness to share ideas.

My Nuffield study is examining how the role of the agricultural advisor/extension agent will evolve as technology is changing the way we farm and the way we use information.

I have gained good insights about how AI is being used to improve site specific recommendations for farmers that can both improve financial performance and reduce environmental impacts at the same time. I believe AI has the potential to help us manage the ever increasing amount of data farmers are collecting, to make better decisions.

Now heading to the UK to talk to the best and brightest!

Summary of the Global Focus Programme (GFP) travel by recent Scholars.

2023 Scholars

James Allen (2nd from left) – is currently traveling independently (USA mostly) as detailed in the posts above. James will also join a GFP traveling to: Kenya, Norway, UK, Spain, Italy.

Kerry Worsnop (2nd from right) – is currently doing independent travel and will join a GFP traveling to: Argentina, Ireland, France, Poland.

Kylie Leonard (Left) – March/April 2023 did the Nuffield Triennial, then went to Brazil, USA, UK, Belgium. Kylie also went on independent travel as well.

Matt Iremonger (Right) – March/April 2023 did the Nuffield Triennial, then went to Brazil, USA, UK, Belgium. Like Kylie, Matt also undertook independent travel.

2022 Scholars

Anthony Taueki (Centre) – March/April 2023 did the Nuffield Triennial tour, then went to Brazil, USA, UK, Belgium.

Parmindar Singh (Left) – October/November 2023, will be in Argentina, Ireland, France, Poland.

Lucie Douma (Right) – May/June 2023 was in Singapore, Qatar, Germany, USA.

2021 Scholars

Lynsey Stratford (Left) – August 2022 was in Japan, Belgium, Ireland, USA.

Dan Eb (Centre) – May/June 2023 was in Singapore, Japan, Israel, Netherlands, USA.

David Eade (2nd from right) – May/June 2023 was in Singapore, Japan, Israel, Netherlands, USA.

Ben Anderson (2nd from left) – March/April 2023 was in Brazil, USA, UK, Belgium.

John Foley (Right) – August 2022 was in Japan, Belgium, Ireland, USA.

Dan Eb – Moving to citizen-connected food and farming.

Dan Eb, 2021 Nuffield Scholar, is based in Auckland. Dan runs Dirt Road Comms, established to support those building a more just food system. He is also the founder of Open Farms.

With one foot on a Kaipara farm and one in the city, Dan is well placed to talk about the importance of re-connecting urban kiwis with our land, food and farmers.

Awarded a Nuffield Scholarship in 2021, Dan completed his research on
The Home Paddock: A strategy for values-led redesign of the domestic food system.

Listen to Dan’s podcast or read the transcript below.

Bryan Gibson – Managing Editor of Farmer’s Weekly.

My name is Bryan Gibson. I’m the Managing Editor of Farmers Weekly and this week we are checking in with a recent Nuffield Scholar, Daniel Eb. How’s it going?

Daniel Eb – 2021 Nuffield Scholar, founder of Open Farms and marketing specialist.
Kia Ora. Very well, thanks.

BG: And where are you calling from?

DE: I’m calling from Auckland, but half the time you’ll find me at the family farm up in Kaipara.

BG: And is that where you grew up, in Kaipara?

Work fuelled by rural and urban perspectives.

DE: I mostly grew up in the city. I was very lucky to have a foot in both camps. We bought a farm when I was a teenager, and I would normally spend the weeks in the city. Then, either most weekends or every second weekend up at the farm. The older I’ve got, the more time I’ve been able to spend up there.

BG: I know a little bit about your work over the last few years. I mean, you’ve married those two aspects of your upbringing into a career, haven’t you?

DE: That’s exactly it. My mother’s been in public relations for a long time and my father’s a farmer. So I thought, you know what, let’s do agri-comms.

BG: You run Dirt Road Communications. Tell me a little bit about that.

DE: Dirt Road Communications is a purpose marketing agency. I’m selective of the people I work with. They need to be driving towards a shared mission of mine, which is a just and regenerative food system in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

I have the privilege of working with people like AgriWomen’s Development Trust, who are really focused on building capability amongst farmers. I work with local food system advocates as well. We’re looking more at systemic issues and big changes in food and farming. I support these people with digital marketing and brand positioning, helping them understand their value proposition, building big projects, that sort of thing.

Forging stronger connections to food and our farming system.

BG: That is in the same wheelhouse as your Nuffield Scholar Report, isn’t it?

DE: The report was an opportunity to slow down and look at the big picture as to the change these organisations are driving for. It was about articulating, well, what the future looks like when we achieve a food and farming system in New Zealand that benefits producers and every kiwi, because food is really important and it doesn’t just drive our economy, it drives our families, it drives our culture, and it drives our health.

The report was an opportunity to step back and paint a picture of what success could look like when we change that system.

BG: Yeah. It’s a criticism or a challenge often talked about in terms of our food production sector that it’s so good at certain things, but that it’s lost the connection to its own community, if you know what I mean? Because we export 95 % of all the food we produce. Therefore, all our food prices are driven by international market forces, like the price of cheese, which gets on everyone’s nerves. Is that something that you were looking to address?

DE: I think you’ve explained it really well. I like to tell stories to explain these big concepts. The thing I think about is, if you’re a kiwi mum living in, I don’t know, Auckland, Wellington, or Christchurch, 84 % of us live urban lives now, so you’re one of that big majority. You’re aware that in the background food and farming is important to New Zealand as an economic driver. But, the thing that you’re most worried about is, what are you feeding your child for dinner? Is it healthy? Is it nutritious? Has it been grown as sustainably as possible? Is it affordable?

As growers and producers, we’re really good at the production side of things, but that relationship is really important. That Kiwi mum’s kids are going to be the people that we want to recruit into food and farming later on. If they’ve got a broken relationship with food and farming, it’s going to be really difficult to encourage them into food and farming careers. That Kiwi mum’s a voter. She might end up voting for parties that want to be more restrictive on food production.

We’re seeing that now with all the regulation that’s coming through. There’s a missed opportunity that she’s not going to jump on social media or when she’s overseas, badmouth food and farming in New Zealand. There’s a missed opportunity to turn her into an advocate for what we’re doing because she has a broken relationship with food and farming or with farming.

How do we strengthen the connection to food and food production?

We can’t think about farming without thinking about its role in society, and this is now an urbanised society. Until we start building things to rebuild that connection and start taking that relationship seriously, we’re going to continue to see bad results. I think those three big areas; recruitment, social license, and the ability to tell a cool, authentic, proven story overseas.

BG: So how do you go about unpacking this, or solving this, or moving the dial on this problem in a Nuffield Scholar Report? Where did you start? How do you go about it?

DE: Slowly and painfully is probably the best description. The first place I went to was to take a really zoomed-out view, and think, how do we often think about food and farming, and how should we think about food and farming? We often think about it as a business and as an industry, but I feel that food and farming doesn’t necessarily belong just there. I think it should be thought about more as a public good.

Food and farming as a public good.

An example for public good is health care and education. These are sectors within our society that have a high degree of touch with everyday New Zealanders. There’s a whole lot of trust, like social license is almost unquestioned. No one questions whether we need education. It’s just there.

I’ve had the privilege of having a lot of time on farm, so I know that the farm can be a place of healing, it can be a place of learning, it could be a place of inspiration, it could be a place of health. In my eyes, farming has the ability to transcend just a mere industry: shoes, iPhones, socks, handbags, and actually sit in a public good space.

I think that reframe is really important because it opens up a lot of potential. Now you can start saying, well, how would we make farming more like education? Why is education such a trusted sector? It opens up more opportunities for things like funding, because now you can say, can we go to the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Social Development, and the MPI together and do system change. Because it’s really good for society. So, you’re suddenly in a different ball game just from that mindset shift. So that was the first bit.

BG: And you’re not talking about, for example, if we look at education, a lot of the schools are run centrally. You’re talking more about a partnership in a way of looking at things. So farming businesses go, my bottom lines are met by making a profit on these animals that I raise, but also taking these things off in a social or environmental sense. Is that the idea?

DE: Yeah, that’s the starting place. Then you start to think about what concrete solutions would look like. Education might not be the best example in this instance. Healthcare is probably a better example. To me, healthcare is quite interesting because you effectively have two models that sit side by side. You’ve got a private health care model where people pay for service, and then you’ve got a public health care model. Interestingly, doctors flip between the two. You can have public doctors that operate privately and vice-versa.

Regardless of which system you play in, every doctor gets paid well. It’s a very respected role in society. To me, they’re solutions that mindset will prompt you into.

A relatively concrete solution that I could see is if there was an organisation set up to encourage farmers who are farming close to cities to transition to local food economies and local food business models. Whether that’s community supported agriculture or technology driven food distribution, like Happy Cow Milk, which is the Fonterra factory-in-a-box model. That has some government support because it would be required to reduce the amount that some consumers are paying for food and it could operate on something like a postcode system where, depending on your postcode, you pay a different amount for your food.

But alternatively, a farmer who’s further away from town would probably participate in the more status quo export model running through your processor and then selling our kai overseas. There’s no reason why those two things can’t sit well blended together. But by having that, some farmers incentivised to operate in that local system, you’re solving all these other big issues like social license, like recruitment, like people understanding where their food comes from, and also creating this really fertile ground to tell a really compelling international story about food security and how important kai is to New Zealanders, and this is how we treat it. You’re creating content and you’re building this overseas provenance story as well.

So, a lot of it really does sit within that reframe that, you know what, smart investment from industry and government into these public good food system models, particularly local, can net some massive results in the long-run.

Opening farms for a win-win.

BG: I guess we should mention, since you’re the bright spark behind Open Farms, that programme was run on a lot of farms and most of them were relatively close to urban centres. That showed that there was appetite from both farmers and from the general public to come together and engage on this food journey.

DE: Exactly, and I think if we could build local food models that by design connect urban kiwis with the sources of at least some of their food production, then there’s an economic rationale to a farmer to host open days. Now there’s an economic rationale for a farmer to connect with a local school, and maybe there’s some financial incentives that go along with that. Suddenly, you’re breaking that barrier, that 60-minute barrier between city limits and where farming starts.

You start blurring that line and I think the blurring that line is really important if we’re going to solve some of these entrenched issues that urbanism has created over the last 50, 60 years. But we need new models to do that. We can’t just hope a couple of open farm days are going to do it. We actually have to do relatively large system change to design the outcomes that we want.

BG: What else did you find in your report that you think could help in this values driven food transition?

DE: I think it’s important to believe this change is already happening. This isn’t something we have to manufacture. This idea of citizen connected businesses or new business models; this stuff’s already happening organically. It’s about latching on to that. Instead of seeing that as a threat to the export talk, dominated, centralised system of food, we see that as a really supportive ancillary model that the two can gel well together. I do just want to reiterate that these two models aren’t in competition at all. Quite the opposite. I know when we talk about public good, it starts getting into the realm of politics and words like socialism get thrown around and stuff like that, I think that’s a side track.

At the end of the day, we’ve got to focus on the outcomes we actually want and be a bit ideologically agnostic. This is 2023, and we need every tool we’ve got on the table to fix some of these deeply entrenched problems. In terms of other stuff, I think there’s a whole lot of smart tactical plays that we can do to get us there as well.

The Nuffield Global Focus Programme and public good overseas.

These are things like social diversifications that we can layer on to farms. I’ve just come back from my Nuffield GFP travel, and one of the things that really stood out was a bunch of people in the Netherlands who are using their farms in partnership with local health care providers or local schools. These are financial business transactions and having kids come onto the farm regularly as a partnership with local schools. It’s becoming an education platform.

There was one farmer who had partnered with a local healthcare provider to bring kids with learning disabilities onto the farm. It was a collaboration between a healthcare provider, a learning disability specialist, and the farmer. They were all co-collaborating to create this programme for those kids. Now, the funder is the Ministry of either education or health care in that instance. But that diversification costs the farmer to build a hut to make sure they don’t get rained on and some time to build the system. But at the end of the day, that’s a revenue generating diversification that he’s layered onto his farm. That costs him very little and it’s returning him a good profit.

We’re desperate for these ways to eke out some more margin off our landscapes. I just think that these community connection diversifications are an unearthed gem. They cost very little to do. Yes, there’s some soft skills that are required, and there’d be some upskilling, and you’d have to get relatively comfortable with new people coming onto the farm too. But it’s a lot cheaper than putting in kiwifruit for example. Then you’re also running the risk of a bad harvest and all that stuff. There’s very little risk here.

I think in a time when traditional food production on our farms is becoming harder; pick a reason: government regulation, higher import costs, climate change, poor returns on global markets, this social diversification is just gold. I just don’t feel that enough farmers, particularly in those peri-urban areas, are seeing that. That’s what a large part of my work is, building projects that make it easy to move into this new citizen-connected farming model, which I think is going to be really valuable for farmers who are cash-strapped.

BG: Now, you mentioned your travels. That’s obviously a big part of the Nuffield. Any other highlights from your trips you abroad?

DE: Heaps. I’m trying to write up a bit of a reflections document now. It’s hard because I keep trying to add stuff in instead of taking stuff out. We had a great group. We went to Japan, then Israel, then the Netherlands, then Washington DC, and the Central Valley in California. To me, a highlight was seeing what the driving force behind agriculture in these different contexts was. We’d go to Israel where water infrastructure was at the scale and of the excellent standard that it is, not because of government policies or anything like that, but it was all done for security reasons. Security is the number one driver in Israel. So, agriculture is almost a by-product of security. That’s what happens when you fight three existential wars in the last 70 odd years.

Interestingly, the big driver in a place like Japan was tradition. They’ve actually inadvertently figured out through trial and error and population growth in a relatively restricted coastal plain, that they have to fuse agriculture and urban life together. Outside of downtown Tokyo, the landscape is a mix of residential business, rice paddies, vegetable gardens.

They don’t have a social license problem because their geography represents that breaking of the barriers and fusion of urban and rural and food production and the lifestyles that I’ve been talking about. The geography has pushed them into a space. It’s interesting to look at those places and think, Well, what’s our driving force? If we’re honest with ourselves, right now, it’s agribusiness. It’s an economic powerhouse. There’s nothing right or wrong with that. But to me, that feels very limited. I think there’s a lot we can explore and experiment on top of it as just an economic powerhouse.

I think food and farming can be a public good. Interestingly, I think our geography, this idea that we’re basically restricted as Kiwis to our urban centres, and there’s a whole lot of farmland in between, that’s a huge barrier. We’ve got to build little strings and break little gaps in that wall, particularly in our peri-urban areas, to get where we want to go. That being a society where people are really proud of food and farming, are healthy, and see food and farming not just as a viable career, but as a mission and a purpose for something that they want to do for the rest of their life.

I think that’s entirely achievable. We just got to build things to do it.

The Nuffield Scholarship experience.

BG: How have you found the Nuffield experience overall?

DE: Awesome. Honestly, I can’t recommend it highly enough. I think everyone’s experience is a little bit different. I think it can give you what you’re looking for, even if you don’t really know what that is. For me, it was time. It was a forced requirement to sit down and write out my manifesto, almost. These thoughts are running through my head. How are they all working together? What am I aiming for? And that was really valuable for me. It’s enabled me to articulate some of these things, which are pretty hard ideas to describe. And so Nuffield gave me time, whereas I can say that for a lot of my fellow scholars, Nuffield gave them experience, or some learning about themselves that they wouldn’t otherwise have got. For me, it was time.

BG: Thanks for listening to Ideas that Grow, a Rural Leaders podcast in partnership with Massey and Lincoln Universities, AGMARDT and Food HQ. This podcast was presented by Farmers Weekly.

For more information on Rural Leaders, the Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarships, the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, or the Value Chain Innovation Programme, please visit ruralleaders.co.nz

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