Renée Walker joins the Rural Leaders team.

The New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust (Rural Leaders) is pleased to announce the appointment of Renée Walker as Kellogg Programme Facilitator. Renée will join Kellogg Programme One 2026.

For Renée Walker, Rural Leaders’ newly appointed Kellogg Programme facilitator, leadership has always been about people – seeing them, understanding them, and helping them unlock their own potential.

A former Chief Operating Officer and senior executive with more than 20 years’ experience leading teams through transformation and culture-building, Renée has built a career defined by involvement, visibility, and genuine connection. She has led through complexity – notably during Canterbury’s post-earthquake recovery -and brings deep experience in strategy, change leadership, and executive-level coaching.

Today, Renée is the director of The Leadership Revolutionist and Thrive For Life, working across New Zealand to equip leaders – from senior executives to Year 13 students – with the confidence, mindset, and capability to lead with heart and courage. She is known for her high-energy facilitation style, practical frameworks, and ability to create space for honest reflection and meaningful change. Her facilitation work spans boardrooms, classrooms, and conference stages, including leadership programmes, culture workshops, and Extended DISC and NLP-based development experiences.

From two large North Otago farming families, Renée’s connection to the rural sector runs deep. “It’s not just the backbone of New Zealand,” Renée reflects. “It is New Zealand. The rural sector is who we are.” With generations of family farming behind her, she understands the culture, values and pressures of rural life – and the pride that goes with it.

That rural pride led to working with Alliance Group – New Zealand’s only 100% farmer-owned red meat cooperative at the time – working in a role supporting and advocating for farmers. “My family have always been Alliance shareholders and suppliers,” Renée explains. “It felt important to be part of something that represents farmers so directly.”

Renée’s leadership journey began with a childhood dream of teaching, inspired by a grandmother who taught in small rural schools. “I thought you could only change lives by being a teacher,” Renée says. “But I realised leadership can do that too, being the person who sees others and helps them grow.”

Her career has spanned marketing, communications, insurance, and government relations, including her role as Deputy Chief Executive at EQC. “I’ve never been defined by a title,” Renée insists. “I don’t claim to be the smartest or the most technical person in the room, but I get people, and that’s been my greatest strength.”

Her work now focuses on culture, capability, and future-ready leadership – areas she believes are essential in a rural sector navigating generational change. “Young people don’t want hierarchy – they want autonomy, influence, and choice. That shift can be confronting… but also incredibly exciting for the sector.”

As the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme Facilitator, Renée hopes to foster “…more diversity of voice…” in the sector. “We need different ways of thinking at the table,” Renée says. “Leadership is about helping people have an informed voice, especially as governments’ views of the rural sector can change.”

Outside work, Renée describes life as “integrated rather than balanced.” She balances time with her 13 year old son, and large extended family with community and board roles. Renée serves on the boards of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and the Riccarton Rotary Youth Trust, is a registered Marriage Celebrant, and an active supporter of several charities.

“I’m not known for relaxing…one of my key values is curiosity – I believe the more curious you are and the more you do, the more interesting and connected you become. That’s how you can really help others.”

Renée joins Kellogg Programme One 2026, which starts 27 January in Lincoln.

2026 Nuffield NZ Farming Scholars announced.

Last night (Tues 4 Nov) at Parliament, in front of Rural Leaders’ investing partners and political and industry leaders, Hon. Minister Todd McClay awarded the 2026 Nuffield Scholarships to four new leaders.

Nuffield Farming Scholarships have been awarded to New Zealand’s Primary Industries leaders for 75 years.

With a global network of more than 2,000 alumni, 197 of these from New Zealand, Nuffield continues to help build rural leadership capability and Food and Fibre NZ’s global profile.

Last night at Parliament, in front of Rural Leaders’ investing partners and political and industry leaders, Hon. Minister Todd McClay awarded the 2026 Nuffield Scholarships to four new leaders.

The 2026 scholars represent three regions and several industries including dairy, aquaculture, and red meat.

The cohort will undertake a Rural Leaders delivered programme that offers a life-changing opportunity for travel, study of the latest agriculture innovations and an introduction to decision-makers around the world.

The new scholars were announced by Minister McClay as: Clare Bradley, a Bay of Plenty Aquaculturalist, Jared Clarke, a Canterbury Farmer, Kelly Heckler, an Otago Farmer, and Tracey Perkins, a Canterbury Farmer. They are the 194^th, 195^th, 196^th and 197^th New Zealand scholars respectively.

“Clare, Jared, Kelly and Tracey have shown they value giving back to community and industry, they display innovative approaches to their work, and they have demonstrated a track record of meeting challenges head on.

Ultimately, they are now tasked with finding those deep insights that will create lasting benefit for New Zealand food and fibre, their industries and their communities,” said Kate Scott, Rural Leaders and Nuffield NZ Chair.

Lisa Rogers, Rural Leaders’ CEO added, “Clare, Jared, Kelly and Tracey have each exhibited the characteristics that embody a Nuffield Scholar and ambassador for NZ Food and Fibre.”

Introducing the 2026 Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholars.

Clare Bradley, CEO AgriSea, Bay of Plenty
Clare Bradley is based in Paeroa with her children and husband AgriSea Chief Innovation Officer, Tane. Clare, CEO, leads a 30-strong team pioneering seaweed-based bio-stimulants, animal health supplements, and high-value hydrogels for agriculture and biotechnology.

Clare is a leading advocate for the sustainable growth of Aotearoa’s seaweed sector. Guided by appreciation & respect for the marine environment, Clare has championed innovation that protects New Zealand’s underwater forests while creating economic, environmental, and cultural value.

As the founding Chair of the Aotearoa New Zealand Seaweed Association, and Rere ki Uta, Rere ki tai, Clare is driving collaboration between Western science and Mātauranga Māori to build a trusted, sustainable sector.

Under her leadership, AgriSea promotes local empowerment, zero-waste production, and circular economy principles. Known for her environmental vision, Clare continues to shape New Zealand’s emerging blue economy, turning the country’s rich marine biodiversity into a model of innovation and guardianship.

Clare’s Nuffield research is likely to explore the economic, environmental, and logistical viability of smaller, decentralised processing hubs and whether they can create local jobs, strengthen value chains, and enhance commercial resilience.

Jared Clarke, Farmer, Canterbury (John Hopkins Scholarship Award Winner)
Jared Clarke is a Canterbury dairy farmer with a strong record of performance, innovation and team development. A Lincoln University B.Ag.Sci (Hons) graduate.

From 2017 to 2022, Jared and his wife Victoria operated Two Rivers Ltd, a 50/50 sharemilking business milking 2,000 cows. In 2022, they formed an equity partnership and purchased Mount Rivers Ltd, a 1,000-cow irrigated dairy farm supplying A2 milk to Synlait. Under their leadership, the business has delivered high returns, sustainability initiatives and strong team retention.

Jared believes that “turning sunlight into food is a noble task.” Known for his ability to ignore constraints, he enjoys helping fellow farmers where he can on performance, people and innovation.

Off-farm, Jared’s governance work includes director of Barrhill Chertsey Ltd, a member of the Canterbury Farm Business Group, and a former member of LIC’s Shareholder Reference Group.

Interested (and passionate) about the potential for a reduced reliance on imported energy, both on-farm and at a national level, Jared’s Nuffield research is likely to be on the generation and storage of energy.

Kelly Heckler, Farmer, Community Leader, Central Otago
Kelly Heckler and her family farm Lauder Creek, a high-country sheep and beef property in the Manuherekia catchment of Central Otago.

Kelly is a values-driven leader and advocate for sustainable food and fibre production, recognised for her commitment to intergenerational resilience in New Zealand’s primary industries.

As chairperson of Otago Water Resource Users Group, Kelly led the organisation through a major transformation, restructuring it into a formal incorporated society to improve accountability and adaptability. “Real impact doesn’t always come with grand gestures … it’s often about steady progress behind the scenes,” says Kelly.

Kelly’s leadership philosophy centres on authenticity and collaboration. Her experience navigating policy reform and community engagement has deepened her understanding of the challenges facing rural New Zealand.

Kelly aims to build a resilient, intergenerational farming business and advance innovative farm-planning solutions that support people and environment. She sees the future of agriculture as one built on integrity, communication, and shared purpose. “When we bring people together behind a common vision, we can shape a thriving, sustainable future for generations to come,” added Kelly.

Kelly is exploring research in Freshwater Management with specific focus on water allocation in overallocated catchments.

Tracey Perkins – Farmer, Sustainable Land and Water Management Advisor, Founder of AgriThrive

Tracey Perkins is a Canterbury-based dairy farmer, facilitator, and sustainable land and water management advisor who combines hands-on agricultural experience with a deep commitment to helping rural communities thrive.

Living in Darfield on a 1050-cow dairy farm with her partner Jonny and their three children, Tracey balances family life with leadership in sustainable land use and rural development.

Of Ngā Puhi and Raukawa descent, Tracey brings both cultural grounding and practical expertise to her work.

As the Founder and Lead Facilitator of AgriThrive, she is the only agricultural facilitator in New Zealand using a trauma-informed, farmer-to-farmer approach. A graduate of the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, she has over a decade of professional experience in biosecurity and environmental sustainability.

Tracey’s achievements include forming and guiding numerous Canterbury catchment and community groups, leading successful teams, and recently serving as Campaign Manager for Selwyn Mayor Lydia Gliddon.

She is passionate about empowering people to build resilient, solutions-focused communities. Whether through AgriThrive, local schools, or industry leadership, she champions collaboration, sustainability, and the belief that lasting change starts with people.

Tracey intends to explore “The Third Model,” an approach integrating Indigenous stewardship principles with the operational and economic realities of intensive agriculture to create a sustainable foundation for New Zealand’s future.

Congratulations to the four 2026 Nuffield scholars.

For more information about the Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarships,
go to https://ruralleaders.co.nz/nuffield

Fresh from their award night, our Nuffield Scholars featured in a RNZ interview, listen here:

Richard Green – time to think differently about our food and fibre value chains.

In this episode of Ideas That Grow, Bryan Gibson, Farmers Weekly Managing Editor, talks to Richard Green, farmer, director and 2025 Value Chain Innovation Programme alum.

Richard discusses his background and his Value Chain Innovation Programme experience.

Richard offers keen insight into why understanding value chains and value chain models is so important for anyone wanting to take advantage of the opportunities New Zealand Inc. and farming have to integrate our value chains and think globally.

Listen to this episode of Ideas that Grow, or click on one of the platform icons below to listen on your favourite player:

Episode Transcript

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’ve probably heard of the Nuffield and the Kellogg Programmes, but Rural Leaders has some other programmes it administers as well. One of those is the Value Chain Innovation Programme, which is open for applications until 23 November. The programme runs in early February (2026).

With me to talk about the programme today is Richard Green, who did it earlier this year. Richard, how’s it going?

Richard Green, 2025 Value Chain Innovation Programme.
Cool, thanks, Bryan.

BG: Tell me a little bit about yourself. What do you do for a crust? Where do you live?

A diverse background in and out of food and fibre.

RG: I live just out of Christchurch, actually, in a little place called Ladbrooks, which is just on the edge of the town boundary on a few acres. But I’ve had a really interesting career to date Bryan. I’ve done lots of things, but I spent the first 10 years of my career as a farm consultant, working in the farm gate, helping businesses achieve their objectives and family farming businesses, generally.

Then the next 10 years of my career was pretty much involved beyond the farm gate, and I was involved quite deeply in the seed industry. We owned a company called Agricom, a couple of us, and we ended up selling that into PGG Wrightson Seeds. Then I ran the international business for PGG Wrightson Seeds for about five years.

Then the next The next 10 years, a bit longer actually, if I’m honest, perhaps the next 15 years, I’ve stepped out of day to day, been involved in businesses, and ended up doing a lot of governance and working across a large number of businesses. Those mainly in the agri and food sector, but a few not-for-profits and a few outside agriculture.

We’ve been deeply involved in retirement villages and commercial property and honey businesses as well, my wife and I.

BG: Yeah, so quite a diverse background. One of those governance roles you had was with Rural Leaders.

RG: Yeah, correct. When I left PGG Wrightson Seeds to stay connected with a lot of networks, I actually applied for a role. Nuffield at the time were advertising for a CE, and I applied for that role for a day a week. I did that for three years and then was involved with the trustees and pulling Kellogg into the Rural Leaders’ framework and setting up Rural Leaders. And then I was on the board for a few years after that with Rural Leaders.

I was also involved in AGMARDT and in FAR, as trustee in AGMARDT and then director on FAR, Foundation Arable Research. And both those are quite involved in Kellogg, particularly. And to speak with a lot of Kelloggers doing their projects, I think it’s absolutely fascinating, they have such good insights they get as to how the industry operates and where the opportunities are for them to add value to.

BG: The Value Chain Programme, a lot of people might not know a lot about it. That obviously offers in-depth insights into how our food and fibre sector operates, doesn’t it?

Why do the Value Chain Innovation Programme?

RG: Yes, and probably, Bryan, the more time I spend in the industry, the more I realise that we can do so much within the farmgate, and I still believe there’s lots of opportunities to improve there with technology. But a lot of the growth and the value that we can create will actually be beyond the farm gate.

The way we set an industry up to succeed, and then the way we get market signals back and align behind behaviour through the whole industry. For me, that’s why the Value Chain course, I decided this time last year, I guess, that it was something I wanted it to do.

I chair the joint venture between Headwaters and Alliance Meats, which forms the Lumina Land Programme. I’m deeply involved in that value chain. I was really looking for insights as to how do other industries operate, what’s best in class look like, even those industries that we are going really well, what would they like to change if they could wave a magic wand? I wanted to learn from everyone else that was going on the same journey as me, and so that’s why I applied.

BG: What’s actually involved when you signed up to the course? What actually happens?

What happens on the Value Chain Innovation Programme?

RG: Well, it was actually even signing up was quite an interesting process, and I assume it’s still the same, but you had to explain yourself, talk about yourself, and what you wanted to achieve out of doing the course. I probably should go back and read that again.

The process started, for us it was slightly earlier, I think this programme’s in February ’26, whereas ours was late January ’25. It involved a week of immersion in businesses and visiting businesses. I think the programme’s basically the same. We met in Hawke’s Bay on a Sunday morning, and we spent the Sunday with Professor Hamish Gow, facilitating a process talking about almost the academic view on value chains and also grounding that with his experience globally.

Those frameworks, and particularly one called the value discipline framework, that has been so helpful for me in the 10 months since then. I’ve used it so frequently as a way of thinking about value chains. Then during the week, we referred back to those models we talked about on that Sunday all the way through.

I think there’s circa 12 or 14 people on the course, all from different parts of New Zealand, all from different industries, all different ages and stages. So, actually learning their story is always a big key part of that.

And then we spent a full-on day looking in Hawke’s Bay at three different Apple businesses operating within the Apple industry, all operating slightly differently. One being TNG Global, one being Rockit, and one being Mr. Apple.

Then we drove all the way through to Rotorua that night on the bus, plus had a diversion or had an accident on the Napier Taupo Road, so we had to sit there for a couple of hours, so, we had plenty of time to talk on the bus. That’s where you really unpick the day and get everyone’s different views.

Then we spent a day and a half looking at the whole kiwifruit industry, right from R&D and new varieties, right on farm, right through the industry issues, biosecurity issues, and then deep into Zespri, or sorry, pack houses before Zespri, and then Zespri as to where their growth opportunities are, where their challenges are, and actually looking at this hugely successful industry, looking at understanding where it came from. It was a deregulated industry in the ’80s, and it was failing.

And then we went over the hill to Waikato, looked at the dairy industry, a deep-dive, the same way we did with kiwifruit, right from R&D, the milk testing station, on-farm, factories, and then where Fonterra is going. It was the Fonterra value chain we studied.

Then we also looked at the meat industry with Greenlea (Premier) Meats, and that was fascinating insight. Then we also talked about technology and how technology could disrupt value chains going forward. Then we had some case study learnings at the end of it. By the time we left on the Saturday, we were inspired, had new ways of thinking, but we were also pretty buggered!

Understanding value chains.

BG: You mentioned it earlier, as you say, lots of farmers or people in food and fibre know a lot about how to produce food on farm, how to grow grass or how to grow kiwifruit or apples, that sort of thing. But once someone comes and picks it up, a lot happens. And understanding how that works and the challenges that those who are processing and marketing our produce face, that’s really good to have a good understanding of that across the It’s a small sector, isn’t it?

RG: Yeah, and I actually now understand better also, Bryan, as a farmer sitting within the farmgate, you also need to understand who you partner with. Because how your partner is setting themselves up to win, and I use this word sitting in yourself up to win quite often because you’ve actually got to work out where your niche is right through the value chain and how you can leverage that niche to be successful. Because the profits can’t flow back to the farm unless your partner in the value chain is successful. There’s different ways of being successful. There’s no one way.

The thing we learned is some are successful because they innovate around products, and Zespri is one of them, and they have unique products, controlled by IP and they’re champions at bringing on new products to solve customer problems.

Some innovate around customers and work back from customers to solve their problems. It might be through consistency of a product or timing of delivery or something. They work back the whole value chain to solve customers’ challenges. Some, which is historically what we’ve been really good at in New Zealand, has been the lowest cost producers and providing value with a certain quality standard for the customer.

And so they are the only three areas you can win in. And the insight was you can be successful in two, but never in three. And so as a farmer, you have to know what’s your partner in the value chain, how they’re aligned themselves to win, and whether that meets what you see as you want to do, because you have to be aligned to a similar value discipline as them. So we don’t do a lot of discussion about that and talking about that because we only look at our part of the value chain.

So I think that’s what I found invaluable, and everyone on the course found invaluable, just that ability to look up and down the whole value chain and actually think about how does everyone win and how could we win far greater together if we actually work together different or better.

BG: It is so important to have that alignment of ideology, I guess. Everyone needs to know where you’re going and what your goals are. Otherwise, if you don’t get that aligned, then the chain breaks.

RG: We find that very much within our Lumina Land Programme. We’re a customer-intimacy type value chain – I worked out. I didn’t actually know that beforehand, but I probably did, but then you have a model to wrap it around. So transparency and alignment around everyone’s goals and financial incentives to align everyone around, that’s pretty important, too.

So I got considerable value and as a side note, Bryan, I always believe, and I absolutely believe, I’ve done a lot of personal development over my career, and I always tell people that there’s a 10 times return on investment. So whatever I invest, I can get 10X on that, I believe, within the next two or three years. I absolutely believe they are this Value Chain (Innovation) Programme.

I got so inspired by it I’ve committed to doing one this next January at Harvard, actually, which is a lot more expensive than the Value Chain programme, but it just has made me realise that the opportunities we’ve got as New Zealand Inc. and farming to actually integrate our value chains better and think a lot more globally.

BG: I actually never thought myself about those three ways to win, but you know it subconsciously. Giving it names and putting models and theory around it is something else again.

Think differently. Get inspired.

RG: The interesting thing is, Bryan, that all our training, my training through Lincoln, and I assume still now, and all our teachings, actually, we’re taught how to perform and operate in the operational excellence space. But it’s actually jumping that chasm and actually working back from customers and thinking of it quite differently, about marketing, about branding and around IP. We lack skills in those areas, and we lack ways to finance some of that, too. So that’s been a limitation to growing some of those business models.

I think we actually need to think a lot more like that and actually work out how we build skills in each of these. To me, there’s no right or wrong value discipline. It’s just whatever you do, you’ve got to do exceptionally well, and you’ve got to be able to carve out a niche and a point of difference from all your competitors by doing it well.

BG: In terms In terms of value chains, we quite often, in our thinking, focus on the food producer and the marketer or last seller at the end of the chain. But those things like processing the packhouses, the packaging, the transport, all that stuff, it’s not very sexy, I guess, but it’s so important.

RG: It’s absolutely critical. I can talk from experience around our Lumina Lamb, which is a partnership between the farmers with their genetics and their farming system, which is a codified farming system and the unique feed we put. Then the processor, which is Alliance Meats, and they’re processing and timely processing, where it’s all forecasted.

Also their ability to process the cuts that were required, to collect the offal when we’re trying to add value on offal and pelts, and then the transportation issues, which are huge on a global basis to get, whether it’s a container or a carton in the market. Then right through to how you partner with, in our case, chefs in food service, and how you get access to that. And yet in a big long chain, one breakdown can absolutely kill the whole chain. And so everyone’s just as important as each other, or it doesn’t work.

BG: It sounds like this programme would suit anyone in food and fibre. Everyone works in their own little space in the chain. But if you want to know about the rest of the links, then this is the course for you, I guess.

RG: What would make it really excellent, cost a lot more. But if you could get offshore and follow right back from the customer, that’s the only missing bit in that. But that’s just another level in terms of cost and time. But I think for everyone producing food, it ends up in a value chain.

Anyone who’s considering how their value chain could be optimised and having the ability to think and talk at those levels with directors, whether it’s co-ops or the companies they supply.

But even comparing and contrasting across industries. I mean, why do we see the kiwifruit industry as being successful and potentially the dairy industry versus sheep and beef? Versus the apples industry? What could we learn out of that?

Why is Rockit? What’s their target market in their niche versus Mr. Apple? How are they carving out different business models? If Anyone interested in business is really valuable. Anyone interested in sitting there saying, How do I develop skills to work out who I partner with in the future from my farm business? I think it’s very valuable.

BG: Yeah, and it has that in the field, practical, Here’s what we’re doing as a business aspect to it, but also, Hamish gives you the theory to look at it critically.

RG: Yeah, and the majority of the people in the course, when I did it last year, were practical farmers. All of us came from within the farm gate way of thinking, and we were trying to stretch ourselves beyond. That was the beauty. We’re actually all very similar from our backgrounds, although we’re from all different industries.

BG: Excellent. As I said earlier, the next value chain programme, applications are open until the 23rd of November, and the programme runs from the 8th to the 14th of February next year.

Thanks for listening to Ideas That Grow, a Rural Leaders podcast presented in Association with Farmers Weekly. For more information on Rural Leaders, the Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarship, the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, and 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.

The New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust (Rural Leaders) is pleased to announce the renewal of their Strategic Partnership agreement with FMG.

Rural Leaders and Strategic Partner FMG, have renewed their partnership agreement, reinforcing a shared commitment to lifting leadership capability and to building stronger rural communities.

The new agreement formalises the continued alignment of values and support for Rural Leaders’ mission to develop capable industry leaders who, in turn, strengthen the communities they represent.

As a Mutual, FMG takes a long-term view – building long-term connections with rural New Zealand and reinvesting to help build strong and prosperous rural communities. FMG sponsors over 700 local events each year, from smaller lamb and calf days right up to National Field Days, and the FMG Young Farmer of the Year contest.

The renewal of the FMG-Rural Leaders partnership, alongside a long-standing relationship with Rural Leaders’ Programme Partner Farmlands, exemplifies this focus.

”FMG has been supporting farmers and growers for over 120 years now, and we’re committed to supporting the generations to come. It is a privilege to partner with Rural Leaders and support the future of farming in New Zealand Aotearoa. No doubt, our rural leaders will continue to challenge the status quo, team up to pool resources, share knowledge and capability as they have throughout our country’s history,” said Pete Frizzell, Chief Marketing Officer, FMG.

With FMG’s support, Rural Leaders’ programmes will continue to develop confident, skilled leaders equipped to tackle the challenges and opportunities facing their communities, industries, and the Food and Fibre sector.

“The partnership’s impact is evident in the transformative growth of our programme alumni, who consistently demonstrate enhanced leadership ability, show great resilience, and are better equipped to drive change”, said Lisa Rogers, CEO, Rural Leaders.

FMG also fosters leadership development internally, with employees regularly attending the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme.

FMG has been a Strategic Partner of Rural Leaders since the Trust’s formation in 2017.

(Pictured – Pete Frizzell, Chief Marketing Officer at FMG, and Lisa Rogers, CEO Rural Leaders).

MyLead – Supporting stronger leadership in Food and Fibre.

MyLead: Supporting stronger Leadership in Food and Fibre.

A closer look at MyLead’s leadership stage outcomes and the industry stories that bring these to life.

MyLead.co.nz helps individuals at all stages of their leadership journey identify tailored development pathways to support their personal and professional growth.

MyLead marks a step toward a more coordinated and impactful approach to developing our sector’s most important asset – our people.

Research commissioned by Food and Fibre Centre of Vocational Excellence and led by Rural Leaders provides a leadership framework. The site brings this framework to life with an ecosystem of leadership programmes along with leadership outcomes by stage, supported by real industry stories.

The outcomes and stories vary depending on both the stage and industry selections users make on the site, making it a personalised experience.

What follows is an opportunity to review all of the leadership outcomes from the framework and their supporting stories.

These have been categorised, as they would be on MyLead, under the three leadership stages: leading self, leading others, leading strategy.

Leading self (team member/team leader)

Those at the Leading Self stage are focused on planning and executing tasks to achieve organisational or team objectives.

Leaders build trust

Relationships are founded on trust. It is also the oxygen that leadership breathes. How leaders behave builds or destroys trust. Without trust, suspicion, misunderstandings, failing relationships, and toxic workplaces quickly follow.

Story from the Sector

Leaders have empathy

To learn and understand others, we must demonstrate empathy. This is the ability to see and understand someone else’s perspective without judging it, or them… Demonstrating a genuine care and empathy for the team was frequently cited as a core attribute of what kaimahi (workers) in the sector wanted from their leaders.

Story from the Sector

Leaders are resilient

As a concept, resilience refers to the ability to endure and absorb the shocks of the world and recover from adversity… The good news is it is a learnable skill. For example, leaders can practice focusing on what they can control, taking charge of their thoughts, and adopting helpful habits.

Story from the Sector

Leaders are curious

Curiosity is a hunger to learn and grow further… The best leaders are not just curious about those things that directly relate to them, but they are also curious about what is happening beyond their immediate environment and how they might be able to adapt ideas from elsewhere.

Story from the Sector

Leaders understand their reputation

As leaders, we need to understand our reputation. Asking for 360-degree feedback can be very useful here (and potentially very confronting). How do other people see us? And does this reflect who we believe we are?

Story from the Sector

Leaders are in tune with their feelings

We lead people when we move them emotionally. So as leaders, we need to understand how emotions work, how they impact our thinking, affect our physical bodies, and how they spread between people.

Story from the Sector

Leaders understand their own drivers and values

As the leader, we are our first team member. So, leading ourselves is our first leadership responsibility. Knowing ourselves is a big ask, because it means exploring what it is that makes us tick—to differentiate between things that give us strength and those that cause grief.

Story from the Sector

Leading others (manager/general manager)

Those at the Leading Others stage bridge strategy and action by organising and systemising for success.

Leaders hold people to account

Leadership involves taking accountability for the behaviours and performance of the team while having the courage to share responsibility and authority with them.

Story from the Sector

Leaders delegate authority

As the leader, we are accountable for the results and wellness of our team. A leader’s accountability cannot be divided or delegated, but our authority and responsibilities can and should be… It takes courage to let go and let others act for us, knowing they may do it differently to us.

Story from the Sector

Leaders make effective decisions

Effective leadership is not a popularity contest. Leadership comes with scars. This is because a leader’s calling is to change-up (or adapt) the game rather than optimise the current game. To change with the times, the sector needs leaders with the courage of their convictions.

Story from the Sector

Leaders invest in people’s growth

As leaders we grow people, and our people grow the Food and Fibre our nation relies on. When we invest in our people, we invest in our business, not least because our people make decisions every day that have a material impact on the purpose or profit of our organisation.

Story from the Sector

Leaders deal with status and power

Leadership roles typically come with status and power which, to the unprepared, can be intoxicating. Leaders who put their own interests first, or who start thinking their elevated position equates to importance, set a rot in action that will ultimately undermine themselves and the results they seek to create.

Story from the Sector

Leaders serve something greater than themselves

Truly leading well is an act of service. Our role as the leader, is to serve the collective, not ourselves… An ethos of service works by unlocking one of leadership’s paradoxes (to lead we must serve). Leaders who serve, harness the reciprocal energy of the collective group or team.

Story from the Sector

Leaders make one-to-one connections

Leaders build a bridge between themselves and other people. To do this, leaders build trust, get alongside their people, and do more than just communicate— they connect. At its best, connecting is akin to creating a sense of family, this is the Māori value of whakawhanaungatanga.

Story from the Sector

Leaders know and understand others

As leaders, in addition to knowing ourselves we need to know others. To know others, we must seek to understand them. The things we seek to learn about ourselves (personality, thinking style, emotions, and resilience) are the same things we need to be curious about in seeking to know others.

Story from the Sector

Leading strategy (executive/director)

Those at the Leading Strategy stage focus on articulating the vision, generating value and creating competitive advantage.

Leaders energise the team

Energy is the wellspring of true leadership. When we are truly leading, the alignment of our whole self with meaningful purpose energises us and others are drawn to it. Finding what energises us and what feels true, is leadership’s X-factor. This is when the magic happens.

Story from the Sector

Leaders connect the team to an organisational purpose

People need to know that what they do matters. Leaders ensure their people understand how their task is important to the bigger picture. People simply want to know why they’re doing a task; this is what makes it meaningful.

Story from the Sector

Leaders create an environment where team members have autonomy over their timing and place of work

Flexible working practices should, as the name says, be flexible. It is unrealistic to think we can apply flexible working practices universally across an organisation. The goal is to apply them where possible. Organisations that embrace flexibility will maximise the pool of talent they can recruit from.

Story from the Sector

Leaders create an environment where team members have the autonomy to determine how best to conduct their tasks

People don’t want to be micromanaged. To give our people more autonomy, we need to focus more on the outputs we want them to achieve, and less on their inputs (methods, hours, and location required to deliver those outputs). In the end, it is as simple as giving people choice.

Story from the Sector

Leaders role model belonging

As leaders, we must create an environment where all our people feel they truly belong. This includes us. If we are brave enough to be authentic, we show our team members that it is safe for them to be authentic too.

Story from the Sector

Leaders create an environment where all team members feel safe to be their full and authentic selves

Leaders create an environment where everyone in their team can bring their whole, authentic, unique self to work and feel truly valued and included.

Story from the Sector

Generate your own leadership development pathway

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Shannon Harnett – Making AI work for you

Shannon is a 2020 Nuffield Scholar, Director and Co-Owner of Rural Accountants and has investments in agriculture, horticulture and aquaculture businesses. In this article Shannon shares her insights into how to make AI work well for you.

Making AI Work for You
The first time I saw ChatGPT in action was in the summer of 2023, at a friend’s house. We asked it to write a poem about accountants. It was hilarious — but underneath the humour, I realised the potential.

Very quickly, AI became my assistant. At first, it fixed grammar and spelling in emails and reports. My writing became sharper, more concise, and easier to read with far less grammar and spelling mistakes! Mark Twain once said, “If I had more time, I would have written less.” With AI, that constraint no longer applies.

The real turning point, though, was when I used AI to turn something messy into something structured and useful. Not “robots taking over the world.” Just getting the AI to ask me questions, one by one, about a project I was working on, then pulling my answers into a clean, usable format.

That’s when it clicked: AI isn’t just a word-smithing assistant. It’s a strategic tool. Used well, it takes work off your plate, sharpens your thinking, and creates scale without the hours of refining.

It Starts with the Question
The biggest lesson? It’s not about having the right answer. It’s about asking the right question.

I now frame prompts like I’m briefing a new hire: clear role, clear context, clear task. For example, as a CEO, I don’t just type, “Help me with strategy.” That’s far too broad. Instead, I say:

“You are my Scaling Up Strategy Assistant. Ask me one question at a time. Start with People, then Strategy, then Execution, then Cash, then Risks & Opportunities. Only show me the full summary once we’ve covered all five areas.”

The result is an interactive interview where AI does the admin while I do the thinking. That’s the power of a good prompt: it forces clarity, and the output is miles better than a vague question ever delivers. And, in truth, learning to prompt AI has made me a better leader — clearer, more structured, and more intentional in what I ask of others.

Small Steps, Big Wins
You don’t need to overhaul your whole business to start. Try it on something small, try it on something creative.

Don’t know what to have for dinner? Take a photo of what’s in the fridge, upload it to AI, and it’ll generate recipes with step-by-step instructions.

It sounds trivial, but it proves the point: AI can sift through messy inputs, structure them, and give you something useful in seconds. In business, the same applies — pulling data from multiple reports, tidying client communications, or drafting meeting notes. These aren’t tasks we can’t do. They’re tasks that chew through time — and AI gives that time back.

The Power of Projects
The real magic happens when you start treating AI as a project partner. I’ve been experimenting with GPT-powered projects that run like structured workflows — guiding me step by step, capturing the right inputs, and producing a clear, consistent output.

Here’s what that looks like:

A marketing project where AI builds a content calendar in my brand voice.
A reporting project where AI pulls numbers from my files and formats them into a tidy monthly pack.
A strategy project where AI interviews me (or my team) and distils the answers into a one-page plan.

You define the outcome, give AI the right resources (files, data, context), set simple rules, and let it guide the process. The result is structure, quality, and momentum — without false starts or bottlenecks.

And once a project is set up, anyone in the team can run it. That means clarity and consistency, whether I’m leading it or handing it over.

AI in the Tools You Already Use
AI isn’t just in chat windows. It’s already creeping into the software you use every day.

Take Microsoft Copilot. It can scan emails and Teams chats, spot an approval request (“Can I go ahead with this?”), and track it. If three days go by without a reply, it nudges the approver and updates the requester.

That alone kills the “lost in the inbox” problem that slows teams down. But it also shines at surfacing related documents inside Microsoft 365 — I’ve saved hours finding what I need.

A New Way of Leading
Here’s the mindset shift: AI isn’t just tactical. It’s strategic.

The sticky note on my desk simply says: “How can AI help me do this?”

Whether I’m writing a report, mapping a process, or planning strategy, I pause and ask where AI could take the load. Most of the time, it’s not about replacing me. It’s about clearing space so I can show up where it really matters — with clients, with strategy, with people.

How to Start Today
If you’re ready to dip your toe in, here’s a simple path:

Pick one task you repeat often (emails, stakeholder lists, client notes).
Write a clear prompt that sets role, context, and task.
Let AI break it into questions and interview you.
Use the output, tweak it, and save the prompt for next time.

Once you’ve got one win, build a small “AI toolkit” for yourself and your team — a set of prompts or projects that anyone can use.

Final Thought
AI won’t magically run your business or your life. But it will tidy the messy bits, speed up the slow bits, and track the bits you’d usually forget.

And when you start treating AI less like a novelty and more like a colleague — one that never gets tired of chasing approvals or formatting tables — you’ll see what I’ve seen: the power to do more, without burning yourself or your team out.

I completed the Spark-funded AI Mini MBA course, and it was one of the best investments of time I’ve made. If you get the opportunity, take it.

Shannon’s 2020 Nuffield report on Kiwifruit PVR’s ‘Getting Plant Varieties Right’ can be viewed here.

A Kellogg Scholar’s insight into arable’s future in Canterbury

In this episode of Ideas That Grow, Bryan Gibson, Farmers Weekly Managing Editor, talks to Thomas Holmes, arable farmer and a 2024 Kellogg Scholar.

Thomas discusses his family farm’s evolution, overseas experience, his Kellogg research report and his Kellogg experience.

Thomas unpacks his report’s ‘what next’ view of arable farming in Canterbury.

He discusses profitability challenges, diversification, and integration with other sectors. Thomas advocates collaboration, mindset change, and leadership from younger farmers to adapt to climate, market, and technological shifts.

Listen to this episode of Ideas that Grow, or click on one of the platform icons below to listen on your favourite player:

Episode Transcript

Bryan Gibson, Managing Editor of Farmers Weekly:
You’re with Ideas That Grow, the Rural Leaders podcast. I’m Bryan Gibson, the Managing Editor of Farmers Weekly, your host, as always. With me on the show this week, we’ve got a very recent Kellogg scholar, Thomas Holmes, arable farmer from Canterbury. G’day, Thomas. How’s it going?

Thomas Holmes, Arable Farmer, 2024 Kellogg Scholar:
Good, thank you. How are you doing?

BG: Pretty good. You did the Kellogg programme just last year?

TH: Yes, I was in cohort one in 2024, #52 was our cohort. It’s still fairly fresh in the mind.

BG: Have you recovered?

TH: I think the brain has. It’s a lot. It’s a full-on programme. You can’t really mentally prepare for it. It’s one thing going in there with all these perceived ideas, but it’s another just sitting there and listening. It’s very eye-opening. It takes a lot of time.

Family Farm Background and Evolution

BG: You’re obviously an arable farmer. Tell me a little bit about your journey there. Did you grow up on a farm?

TH: Yes. I’m a fifth-generation mixed-growing farmer in Methven. My family has been there for coming up 150 years, one of the founding families of the local township. The farm has decreased over the generations. It started off at around 6000 acres. We’re now down to about 550. It’s the journey of succession and having a farm for a long time. It gets smaller and has changed a lot.

I guess when I was on the farm full-time, we were doing mixed arable, so just doing many crops, about 300 hectares of crops, 650 bull beef. So, finishing to 600kg plus and 2000 lambs. But recently, in the last year, we’ve downscaled. Just the family farm’s left, so it’s about 220 hectares. It’s a never-ending change, really. What’s next? There’s a lot going on in the industry, and it’s working out what, individually, you can do.

Career Path and International Experience

BG: Did you always know or want to carry on the family farm?

TH: I did the typical Lincoln Uni, Ag-Sci. I went farming straight out of uni. I did various jobs overseas and here, everything from large-scale arable farming in the UK, in Canada, and a big beef finishing farm in Scotland. I’ve dabbled in robotic milking, did a little bit of organic cropping, and then worked on a large-scale farm in Dore, which gets all the processed vegetables, and then the family farm.

I’ve always wanted to be a farmer, and I think it’s a fantastic career. Obviously, at the moment, the arable industry is at a lull. I think it’s still a fantastic industry. Growing crops, growing animals, I think it’s probably the best job in the world, but it just doesn’t pay that well at the moment, so you have to do everything that you can to make it work.

Kellogg Research Focus: The Future of Arable Farming

BG: Touching on your Kellogg report, you look to see some ways for the success of arable farming in Canterbury in the future. Obviously, as you mentioned, times are pretty tough for arable farmers right now. But what brought you to that topic?

TH: I wanted to really dive into the sector. It wasn’t necessarily the dynamics. It was more about ‘what next for the sector’ because the profitability side of things has not improved for a long time. It’s been hidden with growers increasing yield to basically beat inflation, and inflation has caught up. We’re in a situation where we can’t really out-compete inflation. There needs to be more options available to growers, whether it’s different crops or different opportunities that aren’t necessarily arable.

I guess it got me thinking, ‘where do growers see themselves in the next 25-50 years?’ I was looking at my career, lifetime and beyond. It’s really easy to look a year ahead or two years ahead. But I thought, well, why don’t we just push it to 25-50, because people don’t think like that, necessarily. And this industry is very much on the point where they are at a crossroads. They need to make some real dramatic changes to actually improve the profitability for the growers to enable them to still do what they love to do, and that’s grow crops. They’re mixed, so they have animals, but predominantly, their passions are machinery and growing crops for the end users.

I think that’s what really drove me to look at ‘what next for the industry’, where are we going and where are the opportunities as a sector as growers. To work together was my thing, being involved in a few discussion groups. With FAR Growers Leading Change groups, it’s really important to have those connections and talk to growers of similar ages and stages, and some of them are of similar sizes and bigger, but they’re all in that same boat of ‘what does the arable sector look like’, because you can’t just keep on doing what we’re doing.

Farmer Perspectives: Looking 25-50 Years Ahead

BG: You mentioned that we’re not very good at thinking further out, and you were looking 25 to 50 years. What was the range of views you got when you talked to arable farmers?

TH: For a lot of them, they were taken back by that view, because at that current time, last year, we had one of the wettest harvests in history, and people were pretty, dare I say, depressed and a little bit in a slump. It wasn’t the best timing to do a Kellogg, but I knew it was going to be a challenge to talk to them. Because from my opinion, when you’re in the lowest point, you usually make some very strategic decisions because you need to. You can’t carry on doing what you’re doing, so you’ve got to get out of the hole and change. A lot of them were like, ‘we’re looking at diversification. We’re looking at off-farm income in some way, shape, or form’.

And then there was guys that were looking at doing berry fruits or apples. They looked at the analysis. At the moment, it doesn’t work for them, but they’re looking beyond arable, a lot of them. And some of the guys that I interviewed are already at that stage, they’re doing processed vegetables, they’re doing onions, potatoes, carrots, and their specialty seeds as well. But they’re looking beyond arable because the margins just don’t stack up. But they’re important to be part of any rotation. You need your cereals, you need your grass, you need clover in your crop rotation to keep the system going, but it wasn’t necessarily their money maker. It’s a harsh reality of things and I think growers understand that. There’s a lot that do deer grazing or beef animals, a lot do lamb finishing when it stacks up financially.

So they’re always doing something different to enable them to do what they love. And I think that’s the key point. And maybe that takes away the value of ‘I’m an arable farmer’, but the reality is, you’re still an arable farmer, you’re just going to be a very diverse arable farmer – more integrated with multi-different revenues coming off farm. And Arable might not bring a lot to the table. But at the core, I think that’s where people get a bit frustrated, because it’s what they love, and it’s a hard thing to watch. But you’ve got to make the right choices.

Key Recommendations: Integration and Collaboration

BG: Obviously, there was diversity of opinion amongst the people you talked to. You wrapped it all up in your report and came up with a set of recommendations?

Integration with Other Agricultural Sectors

TH: My recommendations for the industry was looking at when you become more integrated as a sector, and we’re already well-integrated into dairy with providing your specialty seeds, so your grass, your clovers, your straw. A lot do grazing. So you’re already there. There’s opportunities to be more integrated into your chicken and pig operations. I think there’s a real opportunity for the likes of your trading of straw for nutrients. The one thing that crop farmers need is nutrients to grow crops, and it might not be the usual thing, but it’s a common practise overseas to spread cattle muck and pig muck and chicken muck. And it’s not really a common practise here in the arable sense. I think it’s that trading of nutrients. It’s looking at how we can integrate into their supply chains and be part of that because, individually, Arables is not going to do it, and we need to be smart about that.

Breaking Down Competitive Barriers

TH: Another one was probably looking at collaboration. I think the big thing with the industry being so small, we’re very competitive, we’re very individualistic. We compete for contracts. It gets pretty cutthroat at points, especially when there’s not a lot of contracts around. Some clover markets, especially, are very tightly held, very contestable, and at the moment, still in a slump overseas with oversupply from Europe and America. We’re looking at another year or so of actual tough times.

I think that’s where, in the industry, groups need to actually form to collaborate, whether that’s through sharing machinery, going together to buy input costs, to go bulk, to get a little bit cheaper deals, share chemistry. That mindset, I think, really needs to change because we’re so focused on doing our own stuff, growing our own crops. When the reality is, I’m in a group of ten people, different farms within ten kilometres of Methven, and we’re all pretty similar sizes, similar operations. There’s a little bit of difference, obviously, but there’s no reason why we can’t actually work together.

You could buy a bigger machine, cultivator, and go cultivate all these guys’ crops. We’ll do the ground prep and all that stuff. You could just do that. Builders don’t just do our own thing. It’s just very set. It comes down to control, but also it’s your farm, you do what you want to do. But that’s the mindset that I think needs to change of where we can actually work in together, help each other out, actually spread the costs over a large area. And contractors do that. That’s why they’re so successful in terms of their scale, because they’ve got so much land they’re actually covering, doing various jobs with people that don’t have time.

Overcoming Traditional Barriers

TH: Farmers just don’t do that. They don’t seem to do it. I think it becomes too hard because if you own a piece of machinery with somebody and someone breaks it, then it gets into a bit of a fight on who’s paying for what. Maybe there needs to be systems in place that you can just split the costs. That’s why a number of growers are involved in it. It’s just this simple mindset change that I just don’t think is there, but it needs to be.

The Challenge of Farm Independence Culture

BG: It comes up a lot, and it’s often a hurdle that’s hard to clear in the food and fibre sector. It goes back to that traditional feeling of whatever’s inside the boundary of these fences is mine, and I am the sovereign of what happens here. People have trouble taking advice from people that maybe they don’t trust or having the government tell them how to do things. That’s a pretty hard barrier to break through.

TH: Yes, I think so. But if you go back 100 years or so, you had 50 men and women on your farm doing your work for you. Why is that any different? It’s just in a modern context. But I feel it’s just the community has changed. Over time, obviously, you’ve got different people coming in and out. Farm communities are very tight, but they’re not tight in the respect that they’re actually working together. There’s obviously aspects of it across the country, and there’s communities that are doing really well, and they do work together, but I don’t see it enough, especially in the arable sector.

I question a lot, and it’s more what can you do about it to make some of these things actually improve the bottom line? Because ultimately, it is about the bottom line for arable. I think that was the main challenge: profitability. A lot of these opportunities are about helping to solve profitability, not necessarily entirely solve the profitability issue. It’s not going to be one thing. It’s going to have to be a magnitude of things to actually make any real change.

Personal Leadership Development Through Kellogg

BG: Now, as well as the scholar report, obviously, the Kellogg programme is focused on leadership development. How has that changed you? How do you approach life and work now you’ve got these tools in the toolkit?

TH: For me, I just take any opportunity I can to do projects. For work, to use the knowledge that I’ve got, but also to just put my hand up for things. Locally, I’m involved with my local catchment group. It’s in the farm, it goes through the farm. We’ve got a bit of a potential flooding issue with the creek. It’s just actively getting involved in the community a bit more. Also just keeping involved in those Grower Leading Change groups is really important to keep a bit more stabilisation on what’s going on on the ground. For me, long term, it’s looking at opportunities in leadership. I think there needs to be more people, dare I say, my age on those boards because we are the future.

The reality is people my age and younger than me are the ones that are going to be farming in the next 35 to 40 years, 50 years. It’s actually getting their opinions across, and I think that’s probably something that I’m very passionate about, actually getting our seat at the table and getting our opinions heard because we haven’t got 30 or 40 years life experience or business experience. You’ve got to start somewhere and I think that’s really about putting your hand up and not being afraid to actually just try things. Well, this podcast. I think it’s good to be able to get your opinion across. It’s a different way of messaging, really.

The Need for Disruption and Adaptation

BG: Like you say, your studies discovered that there needed to be some change or some new thinking in the arable sector. It takes people to usher that in or help get that message across and get the wheels turning for that to happen.

Adapting to Climate and Market Changes

TH: I think so. You’ve got to disrupt the system. It’s not necessarily about criticising what the system is. It’s about actually looking at, well, ‘are we fit for purpose? Do we actually need to change?’ And the reality is we do. And I think that’s been pretty apparent in the last decade with the likes of trade, the likes of volatility we’ve had with the weather, the way harvests have been. We need to change how we do things because we’re not getting the same climatic conditions that we had in the early 1980s and 1990s. The Nor’westers aren’t as prominent. We’re not actually getting the great harvest of those days. It’s certainly not as hot where I am in summer as it used to be.

We need to change how we farm with all that technology and what’s coming for us. I think there’s plenty of other opportunities for arable to be part of that story, whether it’s plant proteins or these new food trends that are coming forward. We need to be part of that story instead of just the guys that grow grain and seed, because we are more from that. I think that’s where we need to actually put a hand up and try. I think that’s probably really taking us off the farm a bit more than we’re comfortable with, because the reality is we need to go beyond what we’re doing. It is changing your mindset and it’s not an easy thing to do.

The Value of Being Challenged

TH: For me, Kellogg has definitely changed my mindset because you become so siloed and rigid in your own thoughts because you just get so set in what you do and how you think, and you think you’re right, and you get challenged. I think it’s fantastic to get challenged because there’s so many people with different opinions from various backgrounds, it just really gives you an open mind. Because no one’s right. It’s just actually just listening to someone else’s opinion. Regardless whether you disagree with it or not, I think it’s actually just it gives you that understanding of where they’re coming from and why they think like that.

I don’t think it’s a bad thing to be challenged. I think that in the Ag sector in New Zealand, they need to be challenged because I don’t think they’re necessarily adapting to what is happening out there. I think it is pretty hard to change at the speed that things are going, especially with the tech and the way supply chains are working and the market’s always changing. It is hard, but we need to be a bit more nimble instead of reactive, I think.

Recommendation for the Kellogg Programme

BG: Having more colleagues with that mindset, AKA, going through the Kellogg programme, would be good, so, something you’d recommend to others?

TH: Yes, 100%. I think the Kellogg programme is a fantastic programme. It not only challenges you on your thoughts and your views, but it just gives you an eye into what the food and fibre sector is beyond your sector. You’re in it with like-minded people. It’s a really enjoyable process. I think the big part of it is actually just the networking, the talking to industry leaders in the Chatham House rules sense, where you can get some real open discussions, where you don’t get that in the real world. I think that’s one of the beauties of Kellogg. It opens a lot of doors. I got a lot of interviews just based on that I was doing Kellogg, obviously, being an average farmer helped.

But I think people just love the programme. They think it’s a really great programme. It’s a good thing to do if you want to push yourself to try something different and find a project. If you got a project that you really want to find something about, just do it. I think it’s a great thing to do. Don’t be afraid to change your mind on it either because I think you get challenged, you get on it, and it’s a good learning process.

BG: Thanks for listening to Ideas That Grow, a Rural Leaders podcast presented in Association with Farmers Weekly.

Find out more about Ideas That Grow.

Hamish Gow – Inside the Value Chain Innovation Programme

In this episode of The CountryWide Podcast, Sarah Perriam-Lampp talks with Lincoln University’s Professor Hamish Gow about the Value Chain Innovation Programme, delivered by Rural Leaders.

Hamish explains how the programme takes participants inside New Zealand’s dairy, kiwifruit, apple and red meat sectors to understand how value is created, captured and shared, and why the real learning happens on the bus as farmers, entrepreneurs and industry leaders connect and challenge their thinking.

Listen to the episode below, or click on one of the platform icons below to listen on your favourite player:

CountryWide Podcast Transcript

Sarah Perriam-Lampp, CEO and Editor-in-Chief, CountryWide:
Welcome to another episode of the CountryWide podcast, and catching up with one of my favourite people, Hamish Gow from Lincoln University. Today we’re going to talk about the Value Chain Innovation Programme, something that I absolutely loved doing a few years ago. I’m sure it’s evolved a little bit from the first one?

But I’m really keen to hear about what everyone gets up to on the programme because the deadline to submit your application for 2026 is coming up soon. So, Hamish, can you tell us a little bit about the programme and how it’s evolved?

Hamish Gow, Professor, Lincoln University:
Well, it hasn’t really evolved a lot, right? Because it’s designed to give the participants a model or framework to be able to understand and evaluate value chains and how we create value in those value chains. Then we walk through the four major value chains in New Zealand, two in the livestock sector and two in horticulture.

The Four Value Chains

HG: We walk through the dairy value chain and analyse and evaluate how Fonterra creates economic value for farmers and how that comes back to them. We then walk through the Zespri value chain and look at how that brings value back to both the orchard owners as well as into the other members of it, which are the packhouses, and understand that model. We then look at the apple industry and how that creates value for the growers.

Then finally, we look at the red meat sector and understand how value comes back to farmers and producers in the red meat sector. And around the edges of that, we look at government support, regulation, and legislation, and how that’s enabled some of them and caused constraints on them, and then technology, and how that’s supporting it as well.

It hasn’t changed a lot from when you went on, the only difference is, we’ve gone in reverse. We used to start in Hamilton with the dairy sector and work to the Hawke’s Bay and end with apples. Now we’re starting in the Hawke’s Bay with apples and working our way through to Hamilton and ending with the dairy sector.

Target Participants

SPL: For those who are unfamiliar with it, this is a programme run as part of the Rural Leaders organisation (they look after Kellogg and Nuffield). It is really for quite a wide range of people, getting farmers and growers to look beyond the farm gate, isn’t it? As well as those who work in the sector to fully understand the vertical integration of a value chain.

HG: Yes, it’s aimed at both people who are directors and senior leaders within the industry. So it could be farmers, it could be people inside the processing facilities, it could be marketers who are trying to understand it, it could be entrepreneurs, as well as the government players who are supporting as well as the input providers, bankers, insurance providers, fertilisers, etc.

Core Learning Framework

HG: It really gives you this end-to-end understanding all the way from the basic inputs all the way through to understanding the market and how we really create economic value for our customer in the market. It’s also, what’s the mechanisms that we use to be able to capture that value and then share that across everyone in the value chain? And that’s the key piece is really understanding not just that this is how it all operates, but then this is the mechanisms that are used to be able to create value, capture that value, and then share that value and how that gets shared back to everyone.

And what makes some channels work in one way versus other channels work in a different manner or form. We look at three basic models of value chains.

Intellectual Property Insights

SPL: It really does open your eyes, particularly if you are quite industry-centric in your day-to-day – If you’re really in the dairy industry or sheep and beef and don’t really understand as much about horticulture. I took away so much, and there’s lots of little gems, Hamish, but one of them was I’d never appreciated plant licencing and breeding and how that IP is controlled and how that flows through the value chain.

HG: Absolutely. In the horticulture industry, that’s the key way that they capture value, because it stops people trying to copy them. We’ve got two different models. We’ve got a model that operates within the kiwifruit industry, which is everyone combined within Zespri. And then Zespri owns the IP. Zespri doesn’t own a lot of things, but it owns all the IP around the plant variety rights for the gold kiwifruit, for the Sungold. And then it also operates in a slightly different model in the apple industry. And that’s the real two key pieces. It’s those plant variety rights which give them protection for an extended period of time and allow them to build a value chain that creates economic value, allows them to capture it and then return it back to the owners of their IP. But also they have a sharing mechanism which allows them to share it across the growers and the other players along that channel.

Rethinking Value Creation

SPL: The other major thing I realised, which is really interesting timing with the sale of Fonterra’s consumer brands, is how a lot of these supply chains are built to not actually have value, because it’s more around operational efficiency and that is the value.

HG: Yes, lots of people are only now coming to the grips with this. In New Zealand government, we’ve had this whole idea about value add, but we don’t actually understand it. Our naïve perspective of value add, is just put a brand on things and sell it to a customer. But there’s a whole lot of value to be created by being the provider of the highest quality ingredients. Therefore, that allows your customers, the processor/food manufacturer, to be able to run their systems a lot more efficiently and deliver a lot more consistent product to their customer.

It’s very expensive to go and work with a final consumer, but stepping back from that and delivering the best quality inputs to them, which are really, really consistent, allows them to operate way more efficiently. There’s huge value opportunities there, which is what Fonterra does. Fonterra is this amazing producer of high-quality specialty ingredients that the top food companies absolutely require from us. And that’s always one of the ‘a-ha moments’ that comes out of it. People realise we don’t actually need all of these brands. We actually spend a lot of money on them.

Global Market Reality

HG: It’s easy to do branding when you’re selling to your own domestic consumers. But New Zealand is the only developed country in the world for which their primary market is not a domestic consumer. Therefore, there’s 180 countries in the world that we sell to. And there’s thousands, well, actually tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of different markets across all those countries that we sell to. It’s very difficult from a branding standpoint to really understand who that customer is and what we need to do with them.

They’re in a different country, different culture, different language, different institutional structures. Often, it’s an ingredient space that actually creates us the greatest value. That’s where we’re creating most of our economic wealth in New Zealand, without us knowing that.

Preparation for International Engagement

SPL: For those who have been fortunate to go in market overseas, what I’ve taken away from it, is how you’ve structured it so that the Nuffielders do the Value Chain tour before they do go overseas, which means that you actually understand your own backyard. So, you’re informed on a value chain before you go in market overseas. Many of us don’t actually understand that piece, do we?

HG: Yes, we often know our little wee piece of the value chain, but we don’t actually understand how a whole value chain operates or works. We know how to make money in our piece, but we don’t actually understand how all the pieces of the puzzle all connect together and collectively how they create value. Then, because we don’t understand that, we don’t actually understand our adjacent value chains, how they operate and how they make money.

Mental Models for Analysis

HG: And so we make assertions about them, which are really assumptions, and they’re actually incorrect. And so it’s only when you walk and understand those different models that they have, that you’ve got this ability to be able to engage and learn and understand how you make money in your value chain. But then you can start looking at other value chains that are operating out there in the world, both in New Zealand, but also overseas. Because effectively, we simplify it down to basically three different models that run.

And that’s the key thing. Once you get it down to that level, you can look at almost any value chain and go, ‘that’s this type of value chain. How’s that different from the ones we’ve looked at? It’s different in this way.’ Suddenly, you’ve got this mental model that you can use and make sense of.

Programme Success Stories

SPL: What have been some of the highlights for you on the programme? It’s been three times you’ve run it? If you think about the people that have been through the programme, that you’ve seen real ‘a-ha moments’ or anything that’s come from it that’s been impressive?

HG: We’ve had a couple of key players who came through, were both chairmen of the boards of a startup on this last programme with a range of farmer suppliers coming into it. They had a massive answer to a-has, and you watched them as their mind changed with the way that they could articulate what they were doing and how they could share that to all of their constituent farmer suppliers.

But also how they could communicate what they were doing to their key industry partners who were processing for them to help them understand how they were doing stuff and the way they were running their business model and value chain and how that differentiated from their market partners, so they weren’t actually in competition with each other.

Organisational Alignment

HG: So that was a really important a-ha, and they suddenly had the power to be able to have a conversation with all those different stakeholders and help them understand how they were different and what that meant for them strategically. And what that meant for them as far as investment goes, how they could communicate with everyone. I’ve watched that happen since the last programme.

They came through… it was this a-ha moment. Now you just watch how their communication and the alignment and getting everyone to… it’s like a rowing eight. They’ve got everyone rowing together in the same direction at the same stroke rate, and they’re just pulling ahead as a result of that. It’s fantastic. It’s got everyone throughout the organisation, all the way from the board through management, to all of their strategic partners, all the way back to the farmers.

They are now all lifting together as they row that eight forward all in the same direction. Before, they were actually going against each other and they were crabbing at times. Now, it’s a smooth drive forward.

Learning Environment

SPL: Lovely analogy. The power is in the visits, but the magic happens on the bus, isn’t it?

HG: Yes, the experience where you look at things is on the visits, but the power and the real engagement and magic is on the bus and the group of people on the bus. The bus becomes our learning environment, it’s our safe haven. What I act as is the ‘honest broker’ to be able to facilitate the discussion and the debate as we go on the bus and we unpack what we’ve seen. But we also help set up what we’re expecting to see. Then people go in there and they look at it and they go, ‘actually, that’s not what I expected’.

Then we unpack where that conflict occurs. That’s really powerful. It’s those discussions and debates as you go along on the bus, that’s where all the power is. That’s where everyone has that real aha moment as they make sense of that. And not only make sense of what they’ve seen, but it’s this application of ‘how does that apply to my business that I run and my value chain that I’m operating in’ and asking hard questions about how you do things and how they need to operate.

Programme Details and Networking

SPL: And you make some fantastic friends. I ended up going to one of their weddings because he married my friend. So that was really nice. But really great networking as well of different people across the city that you probably wouldn’t meet otherwise. For those who are interested, it will run between the 8-14 of February, 2026. Applications will close on the 23rd of November 2025. We’ll put a link in the description below so that you can get all of the information.

It is a five-day tour, and as Hamish said, starting in the Hawke’s Bay and ending in Hamilton. You’re with your group the entire time, staying at various places, and then on the bus, as he was saying there. Thank you very much for your time, Hamish. I look forward to following who ends up on the programme next year. There’s lots of familiar faces, and just Hearing from them firsthand afterwards is pretty inspiring, and just around how much their mind has been blown.

To apply for the 2026 Value Chain Innovation Programme (runs 8-14 February) head to the Rural Leaders site.

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

Supported by our investing partners, the New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust is privileged to help grow many of our sector’s capable and purpose-driven leaders.

A key aspect of the Kellogg Programme (and the Nuffield Scholarship) is research based learning. The clarity of thought and confidence the research component of Kellogg promotes can be hugely transformative.

The Kellogg Rural Scholars Series booklets are distillations of this research – each focussing on a selection of reports covering one industry or topic.

Currently, there are five booklets in the series, with this latest issue being ‘Leadership Insights’.

Leadership Insights contains twelve reports spanning the last 7 years.

The reports in ‘Leadership Insights’ cover such topics as: Leadership During a Crisis, Emotional Intelligence, the Qualities and Characteristics of Good Leadership, and the Effect of Good Leadership on Staff Engagement and Retention.

These reports were written by scholars: Jack Dwyer, Jordi Hoult, Cheyenne Wilson, Louis Batley, Brian Henderson, Melisssa King, Henry MacIntosh, Jason Halford, Sophie Malone, Joanna Greaves, Hayden Dunne, Nick de Ridder.

You can view Leadership Insights here.

If you would like to grow as a leader; exploring research into a food and fibre topic of your choosing, apply for 2026 Kellogg Programme One by 19 October.

To learn more head here.

The Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme has been developing leaders for the rural and agri-food sector since 1979.

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The Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarship is one of the most valued awards in New Zealand’s primary sector.

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Innovating for our fast-changing value chains.

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Fast-track your food and fibre skills, knowledge, and confidence.

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Develop horticulture-specific leadership knowledge and skills.

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The New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust (Rural Leaders) is pleased to announce the appointment of Renée Walker as Kellogg Programme Facilitator. Renée will join Kellogg Programme One 2026.

Episode Transcript

A diverse background in and out of food and fibre.

Why do the Value Chain Innovation Programme?

What happens on the Value Chain Innovation Programme?

Understanding value chains.

Think differently. Get inspired.

The New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust (Rural Leaders) is pleased to announce the renewal of their Strategic Partnership agreement with FMG.

MyLead: Supporting stronger Leadership in Food and Fibre.

Leading self (team member/team leader)

Leaders build trust

Story from the Sector

Leaders have empathy

Story from the Sector

Leaders are resilient

Story from the Sector

Leaders are curious

Story from the Sector

Leaders understand their reputation

Story from the Sector

Leaders are in tune with their feelings

Story from the Sector

Leaders understand their own drivers and values

Story from the Sector

Leading others (manager/general manager)

Leaders hold people to account

Story from the Sector

Leaders delegate authority

Story from the Sector

Leaders make effective decisions

Story from the Sector

Leaders invest in people’s growth

Story from the Sector

Leaders deal with status and power

Story from the Sector

Leaders serve something greater than themselves

Story from the Sector

Leaders make one-to-one connections

Story from the Sector

Leaders know and understand others

Story from the Sector

Leading strategy (executive/director)

Leaders energise the team

Story from the Sector

Leaders connect the team to an organisational purpose

Story from the Sector

Leaders create an environment where team members have autonomy over their timing and place of work

Story from the Sector

Leaders create an environment where team members have the autonomy to determine how best to conduct their tasks

Story from the Sector

Leaders role model belonging

Story from the Sector

Leaders create an environment where all team members feel safe to be their full and authentic selves

Story from the Sector

Shannon Harnett, 2020 Nuffield Scholar

Tracy Brown, 2020 Nuffield Scholar, 1997 Kellogg Scholar

Phil Weir, 2020 Nuffield Scholar, 2016 Kellogg Scholar

Steve Sterne, 2007 Nuffield Scholar

Simon Cook, 2018 Nuffield Scholar

Episode Transcript

Family Farm Background and Evolution