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kellogg

Strategies or creating and implementing sustainable change programmes.

Executive Summary

Water quality issues in New Zealand have become a top political issue, with the public demanding action be taken against the agriculture sector to ensure our rivers and lakes are returned to a “swimmable” state. Numerous policies and plans have been developed throughout the country to address these issues, with many regional councils creating rules which require farmers to operate at “good management practice” (GMP). For GMP to be effective in improving water quality, potentially thousands of farmers will need to make changes to their day to day farming practices over a sustained period of time. Programmes which are created to support the uptake of GMP by farmers need to ensure the changes become a normal part of the daily farming operation in order to improve water quality in the long-term. I have called these types of initiatives “Sustainable Change Programmes”.

This project has investigated the success (or not) of similar sustainable change initiatives introduced either here or overseas in order to identify the key factors which either enhance or hinder the success of these type of programmes. I have applied these key themes to critically assess two New Zealand case studies, which highlight different types of change programmes; the Motueka Integrated Catchment Management project and Synlait’s Lead with Pride programme.

I found no single template will work for all people in all circumstances. Each programme needs to be tailored to address their specific issues or outcomes, the existing capability and knowledge of people involved, the anticipated timeframe to see the change and the resources available.

The most consistent theme I identified in sustainable change programmes was the need to build trust and allow the time to do this successfully. Programme organisers need to ensure farmers could trust the people they worked with, can trust each other and other stakeholders, they need to trust the information they were provided and they need to trust the tools being recommended as a “solution”. Without trust, there will be limited engagement and uptake of the desired changes. Every interaction with a participant is an opportunity to build, or lose, trust. Therefore, supporting multiple positive interactions between participants, implementers and key stakeholders will support the development of trust between all those involved. Investment in high quality people, who know how to deliver the message competently is a critical part of building trust.

The structure of the programme needs to be set up to best address the timeframes and community expectations for delivery. Mandatory or regulatory structures are often most effective for large scale, short term projects, which need a result quickly, but not a change in values. Whereas voluntary programmes tend to have higher rates of engagement, but poor participation and market driven programmes tend to have a balance of both.

Throughout the whole process, project developers and implementers need to constantly refer back to the people who are affected to ensure the project is focussing on the right issues, to collect the right information and to communicate everything in the most effective way.

Preventing pinkeye in young cattle.

Executive Summary

Infectious Bovine Keratoconjunctivitis (IBK) commonly known as Pinkeye in cattle is a long established animal health problem in New Zealand. Pinkeye is a painful and debilitating condition that can severely affect animal productivity. It is a bacterial infection of the eye that causes inflammation and in severe cases temporary or permanent blindness. Most cattle producers will be familiar with pinkeye but may not know how to best treat it and minimise its spread within the herd.

The economic impact of the disease is significant due to it being highly contagious. Pinkeye can affect up to 85% of a mob, the disease is painful because the eye becomes sensitive to UV light. Affected weaner calves losing up to 10% of their body weight. In rare cases when both eyes are affected cattle may die from starvation, thirst and accidents. The cost and time used treating infected cattle adds to the economic losses.

Managing an intensive large scale calf rearing farm in the Waikato, Pinkeye can be a challenge for the farm. Two of the three years the farm has vaccinated against the disease and one year we didn’t vaccinate at all. In the year we didn’t vaccinate against the disease there didn’t appear to be any more infected calves than previous years. I wanted to know why?

Piliguard is the only commercial vaccine available in New Zealand. It covers three strains of Moraxella bovis bacteria. This is where the science community is in debate over the number of Moraxella’s that exist. 38 strains of Moraxella have been identified by restriction endonuclease DNA analysis ‘BRENDA’ (R.B Marshall, P.J. Winter, B.S. Cooper, A.J. Robinson.1985) Other literature states there are only 7 strains that exist in New Zealand. What isn’t in debate is the only vaccine available does not provide full immunity. Most would conclude that at best it covers half of them.

The use of antibiotics to treat infected animals is common practice. With a worldwide shift to reduce antibiotic use in the food chain and antibiotic resistance increasing, trying to find an alternative to injecting antibiotics is important.

It is a widely held belief by Organic American dairy farmers that supplementing kelp into the diet of cattle reduces the susceptibility to pinkeye due to increased Iodine levels in the tears. It was very difficult to find scientific evidence to support this argument. One study that took place last year at the University of Minnesota stated nothing was known about the Iodine concentration in tears and the conclusion was that cattle fed kelp (Ascophyllum nodosum) for 30 days and no effect on Moraxella bovis (M.bovis) bacteria, the main agent that causes pinkeye.

Five key findings are:

  1. Vitamin A. I believe all farmers should supplement young animals with vitamin A from a young age. Very few currently do this. It appears calves not reared by cows are naturally deficient in vitamin A. It is thought that nutritional deficiencies specifically vitamin A, Selenium and Copper may contribute to Pinkeye. If any vitamin or mineral can be singled out and ranked, vitamin A is the most important. Vitamin A is important in the fight against disease it is extremely important in for vision and protection of the eyes. The immune function against viral, bacterial and parasitic infections. Virtually all immune cells are effected by vitamin A. This is sometimes referred to as the anti-infection vitamin. The younger the animal the sooner the vitamin deficiency with express itself. Young calves have lower body stores of vitamin A. Hot weather, disease, parasites and other stressors are believed to decrease the efficiency with which vitamin A is utilised.
  2. Stress and the environment; this is a major contributor to Pinkeye. Dusty yards, heat, flies, thistles, large mobs of animals, lack of shading are all examples of environmental factors that can increase the onset of pinkeye. A good preventative plan should be mindful of these factors. Any stress weakens the immune system. In times of stress animals use up valuable vitamin and mineral reserves which reduce the efficacy of the immune system.
  3. Kelp. The main question which drove this report was whether supplementation of kelp could improve the incidence of Pinkeye in calves. Although this is anecdotal I believe supplementing calves’ diet with kelp which has over 60 vitamins and minerals would assist greatly in helping to replace valuable vitamins and minerals lost in stressful periods. Because kelp is a plant, it is in a highly absorbable and available form for cattle.
  4. There is very little research on Pinkeye in New Zealand. Too little diagnostic testing is done in regards to Pinkeye. Gribbles Veterinary Laboratory who I spoke with said they would get less than ten eye swabs sent to them a year. There are nearly 10 million cattle in NZ, and veterinarians surveyed nationwide said about 10% of cattle develop the disease a year depending on the season. That means approximately that 1 million cattle contract the disease a year and veterinarians are sending in less than ten eye swabs a year. This simply isn’t good enough. Until now differentiating between types of Moraxella has never been possible. This is about to change with a new qPCR machine which will enable the science community to learn exactly what bacteria’s we are dealing with. And hopefully to develop a vaccine to cover all the strains.
  5. Antibiotics. These are the only real tool we have in treating the disease. If the current antibiotics we are using to treat Pinkeye have a reduction in efficacy we will be facing a severe animal health challenge, which could possibly be avoided by further widespread diagnostic testing going forward.

Food trends in the sheep and beef sector.

Executive Summary

With a national sheep flock that has halved in size over the past 25 years, yet maintained output the Sheep and Beef sector is bursting with innovators and top producers, full of passion and enthusiasm to improve profitability. A cornerstone that drives the profitability beyond the farm gate is the consumer’s decisions on what, when, how they want to eat, and the quantity of consumers in these markets. The world population is growing, expected to be at 9.7 billion by 2050, how can we as an exporting nation capture this growth and turn it into revenue. Developing nations continue to grow their consumption, expected to increase 107mmt by 2020, whilst developed countries will grow by 19mmt in the same period. Population growth, urbanization, infrastructure development and shifting incomes could all lead to a genuine livestock revolution. This growth will not come without pressures and expectations on environmental and animal welfare fronts, with one hectare feeding 22 people with potatoes, contrastingly only 1 and 2 people for beef and lamb respectively.

Global sheep flocks have declined by 5.3% from 1990 to 20 13, a hybrid model of “ New Market Orientation ” , “ Shrink-To-Fit ” and “ The Knowledge Industry ” are needed to shape the future of the industry.

The opportunity is to be the farmers market of the world, the world artesian butchery, the corner retailer for the rest of the world. It’s how we pitch our image, our reputation and market it in savvy modern ways which will dictate the success of our future. The market changes and evolves, sheep farming was historically based on wool production, with no one thinking about synthetic carpets. Evolution of meat markets have seen the size of product decrease from a traditional leg roast, to a ready to eat or snackable meal. These measurable changes alongside emotive purchasing decisions, such as environmental sustainability and animal welfare which have had CAG of 72% and 42% respectively. We must pay special consideration to these attributes in our marketing package, but more importantly these have got to be driven from a farm level, and farmers must walk the talk and be proud of what they are improving, rather than see it as a compliance protocol.

We must be engaged in extracting the value of products we are selling through engaging with consumers. Ian Proudfoot quotes that industry exports worth $37 billion, are worth $.25 trillion at the consumer’s level. For every dollar collected here in New Zealand, there are six or seven dollars added by the time it reaches the consumer. The selling market will change, and be segregated by the big industrial players (e.g. JBS) and the niche high value operators, we can’t afford to be lost in the middle.

We must be prepared for a livestock revolution, have data and information on our stock to be able to use that data, to create a quantum shift in quality of products sold. We are on the verge of a quantum shift in livestock consumption and production. Our prerequisite is to embrace the opportunity to tell the story of our production cycle, where it’s from and what it is. We have a great story, we must be happy, upbeat and proud of what we are doing, sharing with New Zealand what we do, so a sales team of 4.5 million New Zealanders can sell to the world. The red meat sector needs to get savvy and upmarket, exit the dinosaurs currently employed and employ a fresh team of city born, innovative young millennials to drive this message. They are the face of what our future consumers, let them sell it to their peers. It’s imperative to learn from the past to prepare for the future, it’s a new way of doing business, don’t be frightened by change, but be excited by the challenge.

Learning from other organisations: What can DairyNZ do better.

Executive Summary

This project aims to assess what DairyNZ can do to improve the way it learns from other organisations.

Thirteen interviews were carried out, seven with people from DairyNZ and six from organisations related to the kiwifruit industry (HortNZ, KVH, NZKGI, Zespri). The interviews were transcribed and then analysed. The key findings below are supported by the literature.

All those interviewed believe there are gains to be had through improving the way their organisation learns from others. The key benefit would be better and smarter solutions with lower risk and cost.

Five factors are outlined as having significant impacts on an organisation’s ability to learn better from other organisations. These are leadership, organisational culture, empowerment of personnel, process, and reward. These were needed in all organisations regardless of size; however in the smaller organisations some of these factors may be addressed in a less formal manner.

Currently there are many barriers that restrict learning from other organisations. To address these requires a change in the learning culture within the organisation, personnel empowerment through delegated authority and time, and leadership to bring about these changes. Other factors including establishing a clear and transparent process and rewards were also noted as barriers but were not as significant as the previous three. Addressing these barriers requires concerted focus and willpower from the leadership of the organisation. It is acknowledged that all five aspects are interlinked and as one changes this will impact the others, so an integrated approach is needed for the change to occur.
For DairyNZ to achieve better and smarter results for farmers, they need to learn more effectively from other organisations. This can be said for any organisation that wishes for the same outcomes. The results of this project are not limited to DairyNZ, being relevant to any organisation wishing to achieve better and smarter results.

Cultivation ideas, valuing the chain leveraging the investment.

Executive Summary

The future of the New Zealand Primary industries will rely on its ability to remain agile in the face of ever increasing change.

Equally for success to be realised there is a call for the industry to know; where its current position is (and launch from this); how it lifts the level of innovation; increases ambidexterity across the value network, and insures the right level of investment is happening to enable long term gains.
 
The question this proposal sets out to answer is: How could the New Zealand Primary industries become more adaptive to disruptive change through Investing in Innovation?
 
Through a series of case studies (Sanford, Synlait, Mr. Apple and Comvita), and interviews with ‘key players’ that have connections to investment in innovation, it is clear to see that the traditional ‘no.8 wire’ approach will not be enough to leverage the sort of innovation needed.
 
Using technology to gain zero distance to our customers will enable the creation of more mindful products that will come as a result of having more compelled consumers. Our value network will have to foster integration across both axes (vertical and horizontal) to enable the experience and benefits impactful alignment will bring. Underpinning this will be some fundamental shifts in the way I3 is backed, be it private internally/externally or publicly sourced finance.
 
Eight key recommendations across four key areas have been derived as a result of the findings of this proposal, with the aim trying to determine what an I3 life cycle could involve.

Farming in the family with positive succession planning and governance

Executive summary

The fundamental drive behind completing this research is to identify various key procedures and initiatives that successful New Zealand family businesses instrument to ensure their achievements and wealth are passed down through the generations successfully. I was also concerned in clearly recognizing some of the common issues which arise in family succession strategies and methods in which these matters may be avoided.

This project will benefit the rural community to hopefully provide an insight into farming families to think about the big picture and long-term viability of their business. I want the project to benefit farming families and professional advisors by also providing some context around governance and effective structures which have been planned. I hope the rural industry will relate to this report and understand that all families are different and not one plan will work for everyone. I want this report to provide guidance around communication and when and how to remove the elephant in the room, leading to successful conversations and positive outcome for all parties involved.

Succession planning is the progress of a strategy that ensures transition of the family farm, from one generation to another with minimal disruption. Succession planning can often be a living document to safeguard all family relationships and future ownership of assets, aspirations and involvement in the farm. Rushed or poorly planned and implemented succession strategies can have major impacts on family relationships along with extreme financial implications on the business.

What I relished most about putting this research paper together and gathering the required data was the chance to spend time with farming families who had extremely successful industry knowledge; and sit around the kitchen table with them and speak openly about their own businesses and experiences. They each happily shared with me the issues and barriers they had challenged along the way, and what they had learnt along the way from any mistakes. These people have been there and done it and could share their real stories with passion; their experiences and knowledge in my opinion, is considerably more valued than any other material source obtainable. I enjoyed this part of my research to be extremely exciting, and it reiterated to me how much I enjoy the Agriculture industry and what a joy it is to be involved in.
From gathering my data for this literature report I have made three recommendations for effective and successful farm succession of the family farm.

  1. Start early with conversations to avoid any assumptions or expectations which members of the family may have. These discussions should start at an early age, as young people’s interests do change, along with abilities and skill set. A poorly executed plan and approach can often be put together at short notice with damaging effects to family relationships.
  2. Open communication to stimulate a range of sophisticated thinking throughout the farm succession process will help to get an enhanced understanding of all family members’ idea and vision for the family farm. In my opinion both farming and non-farming family and spouses should be involved in this communication. It is also essential to seek independent advice from a succession facilitator, and have other trusted advisors involved including Bank Manager, Accountant, Lawyer, and Farm consultant.
  3. Document everything with a completed business plan which is handed to all family members. Consider including minutes from meetings, farm succession strategy including time frames, roles and responsibilities, goals, and updated wills.

Toxicology and the New Zealand Farmer.

Executive summary

This work is designed as a short introduction to common poisons found around New Zealand farms. It has been prepared to fulfill, in part, the requirement of the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme. 

Toxicology is the study of poisons. You may have heard the old saying “the dose makes the poison”. This means that actually, everything is toxic at some level which makes the study of toxicology relevant to a number of areas including human health, the environment, public policy, drug development and human safety.

This booklet covers some of the chemicals found around the common New Zealand farming environment. The information on what to include has been based on analysis of statistics from the New Zealand National Poisons Center.

Belinda Cridge

Comparing and contrasting adoption of technologies used overseas to New Zealand for managing variability on farm.

Executive summary

The growing trend in precision farming (PF) comprises technologies that combine sensors, information systems, enhanced machinery, and informed management to optimise production by accounting for variability and uncertainties within agricultural systems. Adapting production inputs site-specifically within paddocks and individually for each animal enabling better use of resources to maintain and improve the quality of the environment while improving the sustainability of food supply and security.

Precision farming is now providing a means to monitor the food production chain and manage both the quality and quantity of agricultural produce. A key area of growth in terms of scientific development and validation is in the area of sensors and precision application to manage the increased level of information. Although the benefits from PF appear to be endless, in New Zealand there is a lack of understanding and insight into adoption of precision farming technologies. 

The purpose of this report is to provide insight into extension strategies for PF technology adoption to improve New Zealand’s ability to aid the adoption process through a more considered extension approach including details of:

  1. Trends in precision farming overseas and in New Zealand
  2. Diffusion and adoption overview
  3. Currently recognised rural extension strategies
  4. Overview of two PF technologies available overseas and in New Zealand.

Data accessible online and through Ballance Agri-Nutrients network identified two technologies, the N-Sensor® and global position systems (GPS) as case studies. The information available on these technologies was used to identify how they have been adopted overseas compared to New Zealand, and if any extension approaches were developed to aid their adoption. The extension approaches for each of the technologies have been compared and contrasted to industry recognised extension approaches, to provide improvements for future PF technologies released to the rural sector.

Although a comparison was made between countries, regarding adoption of the case study technologies there was little insight gained due to the lack of data available for a robust comparison. Further to this, the relevance of a country when reviewing extension approaches was found to have little to no influence on the adoption rate. Beyond this exception, there were some similarities and differences between how the case study technologies were released to market and aided or in the instance of the case studies, were unsupported by deliberated extension approaches, but the major consistencies were:

  1. Lack of deliberate extension strategy.
  2. Improvised linear ‘top-down’ transfer of technology.
  3. Dependant on highly technologically perceptive farmers.
  4. Technology developed by researches or in another field, which “found” a solution in the agricultural sector.
  5. Hugely dependant on external drivers to get adoption over the ‘chasm’ – greater than 15% adoption in the market place.
  6. Lack of consolidated data to assess rates of adoption and impacts of extension approaches.

As the adoption of PF technologies in New Zealand is perceived to accelerate with the expectation that the majority of innovations for PF will become industry standard. This report recommends that through utilising current and future case studies and leveraging the knowledge and skills of extension process and practices greater adoption of PF innovations can be achieved by:

  1. Greater attention and emphasis should be placed on developing extension approaches through the development of an innovation.
  2. Identifying target markets and involving the potential adopters through the development of the innovation is reported to have a great improve on rate and success of adoption.
  3. Data of technology adoption should be captured on a national level to provide insight into rates of adoption and technology transfer within the agricultural industry.
  4. Identified through the literature review, the lack of knowledge around the level of education attained by New Zealand farmers was revealed. This should be reviewed as it may influence their ability to critically analyse the farm system and be able to identify issues and work through solutions.
  5. As this is a review with case studies applied to a theoretical construct, further research should be conducted into understanding the potential of planned extension strategies with precision farming innovations.

Precision farming presents a great opportunity in managing variability on farm to an every declining scale. There are currently innovations that are well down the track of the innovation categories while others have yet to become commercially available. Although precision farming has been around for a number of decades, it is still in its infancy here is New Zealand but this will be overcome by time. With a greater focus on extension practices and processes in the rural sector, the impact of PF on the wider industry and society as a whole will be realised.

Oliver Knowles

Maximising your asset.

Executive summary

50/50 Sharemilking as a path to farm ownership is a tried and true journey in the NZ Dairy Industry. Often, sharemilkers have to grow their herds quickly over a short period of time. For example, moving from a 270 cow farm up to a 500 cow farm. A sharemilker’s herd is their biggest and most valuable asset. My Kellogg Rural Leadership Project explores strategies and attempts to quantify several strategies for sustainable herd growth. 

Herd value in New Zealand is usually determined by a few factors. Breeding Worth, Production and Cow Age. Herd growth must fall within these boundaries and be cost effective and sustainable.

This case study focused on a 77ha 270 cow dairy farm in the Matamata/Piako district. Several scenarios were analysed that were applicable to this herd and interviews and a survey conducted which explored other farmers herd growth stories and strategies, with special focus on people who had undertaken these strategies themselves and their experiences.

After comparing several scenarios, it was decided that to “maximise” the herd owner’s asset; herd growth will have to come from within. This will be achieved by breeding the herd to high BW proven bulls, attempting to increase 6 week in calf rate and breeding the bottom 10-15% of animals to easy calving beef sires.

Increased value from cull cows will be achieved by preventing udder damage.

Advice was also sought from farm consultants, one herd growth expert and one reproductive expert.

Sophia Clark

Once Upon a Time Down on the Farm…

Executive summary

Dairy farmers are being encouraged to tell their story by leaders in the New Zealand dairy industry. This study surveyed opinions from fifteen New Zealand dairy industry and media leaders and discovered a need to share good stories with other farmers to improve uptake of on farm practice, with the general public to improve the social licence to operate and with international markets to create value for dairy products. The science as to why storytelling as a communication tool is so effective in these circumstances points towards creating an emotional connection with the target audience that fuels a hormone induced bond and aids in persuading the audience towards a specific idea or outcome. 

Building a story to create that connection is an art. International experts talk of the story structure, plot, characters, conflict and resolution but the surveyed leaders indicate sharing small snapshots of the farmers’ story is adequate in building the larger New Zealand farming story. Leaders and experts agree storytelling requires the careful consideration of who the target audience is, the formation of a clear, simple message, selective use of emotive language and a creative form of delivery to have the desired effect. In the context of farmers telling their story, it is suggested that farmers use online multimedia through social networks to tell the story that they care about their farm, their families, their animals and their environment.

Cam Henderson, Cameron