The latest crop of primary sector emerging leaders have been revealed with six 2017 Nuffield Scholars announced by Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy at Parliament.
They are Mid-Canterbury rural journalist and artisan food producer Nadine Porter, Manawatu dairy farmer and farming advocate Mat Hocken and Oxford-based Rebecca Hyde, who works for Ballance Agri-Nutrients and has strong skills in environmental management and sustainable farming.
Joining them are Taranaki’s Jason Rolfe, who is an area manager for FMG, farmer and former winner of the Young Farmer of the Year contest David Kidd and South Canterbury dairy farmer Ryan O’Sullivan.
The six new scholars join more than 140 of New Zealand’s emerging agricultural leaders to have been awarded Nuffield Scholarships over more than 60 years.
The scholarships are one of the most respected and prestigious awards available in the primary sector and offer a life-changing opportunity for overseas travel, study of the latest developments in a number of leading agricultural countries and an introduction to leaders and decision-makers not accessible to ordinary travellers.
Nuffield Scholars travel internationally for at least four months in their scholarship year (not necessarily consecutively) and participate in a Contemporary Scholars Conference with 60 Nuffield Scholars from around the world.
They will also attend a six-week Global Focus Programme with an organised itinerary through several countries with other scholars.
Finally, they will have their own individual study programme with a research report due at the end of their travels.
Topics this year are likely to include how we innovate in this country and how we can improve our innovation in the agriculture sector, how improved collaboration between industry and sectors can help achieve better environmental outcomes, improving/stabilising onfarm returns to attract more talent and reduce turnover in the primary industries, exploring how other countries are turning the protection of the environment into a value-added revenue stream and how irrigation schemes can deliver water, not just for agriculture or economic benefit, but for achieving environmental and social outcomes as well.
Nadine Porter
New Nuffield scholar Nadine Porter is a committed primary industry advocate and believes the agriculture sector is at an exciting crossroads. With a long career in agricultural journalism and artisan food ventures, Nadine is now working as communications manager for NZ Young Farmers.
Mathew Hocken
New Nuffield scholar Mathew Hocken is carrying on the family legacy, farming the Manawatu property that has been in his family for over 125 years and acting as an advocate for farmers through his roles with Federated Farmers. He returned to the family property, Grassmere, in 2013 after a successful career studying law and politics and working overseas in consultancy roles covering areas like climate change and energy.
Rebecca Hyde
New Nuffield scholar Rebecca Hyde believes improved collaboration between sectors and industry can help achieve better environmental outcomes and she plans to research this topic further as part of her scholarship. Oxford-based Rebecca’s passion for the environment extends to her work with Ballance Agri-Nutrients, where she is South Island team leader of farm sustainability services.
Jason Rolfe
Improving employment conditions and promoting the primary industries as an attractive career option are key to securing talented young people in the industry, new Nuffield scholar Jason Rolfe believes. Living in New Plymouth with his new wife Christina, Jason is the Taranaki area manager for FMG Insurance, a role he has held for the last year.
David Kidd
Third-generation farmer David Kidd, who won the Young Farmer of the Year contest in 2014 and has a strong background in the finance industry, is one of six new Nuffield scholars for 2017. David manages a 550ha beef finishing property at Shelly Beach, South Kaipara Head Peninsula. He and his wife Janine have spent the past four and a half years developing the property, gradually improving its carrying capacity and productivity. Before becoming a farmer, David spent six years working in the finance industry in New Zealand and Australia.
Ryan O’Sullivan
South Canterbury dairy farmer Ryan O’Sullivan has been named as a Nuffield scholar for 2017. Ryan is married to Tina and the couple have three children, aged from five to nine. The O’Sullivans are equity managers of a large-scale farming operation near Fairlie, South Canterbury, comprising a 1200-cow, irrigated dairy unit run in conjunction with 550ha of dairy support. Previously, Ryan attended Lincoln University then began a 10-year career in rural banking.
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For further information and photographs please contact: Anne Hindson on 027 431 7575
Detailed news releases on each scholar are available on request.
This is an opportunity for potential applicants to learn more about the Nuffield scholarship experience and have an informal face-to-face discussion with some of those who have already undertaken the programme. We are keen to broaden the pipeline of Nuffield scholarship applicants (particularly farmers/growers/producers) and to have a strong pool of candidates from the region. We hope that through this meeting we will provide new applicants with more information about the nature of the programme and the commitment, so they are well prepared to put a strong application in front of our panel. Please RSVP at your earliest convenience, by emailing us at nuffield@nuffield.org.nzalong with your contact information and the names of the people attending. 2018 Scholarship applications close on Sunday, 13 August.
The Global Focus Programme is transformational – not only in personal development but also in the way you come to view New Zealand’s agri-food sector.
USA
For me my Africa GFP began in the United States in Delaware where we were shown what a cataclysmic mistake it has been to devalue food in the way American society has. With only 8 per cent of household income spent on food, and the average citizen eating 50 per cent of their meals in restaurants and takeaway outlets, it has been a frantic scrabbling to the bottom by meat producers.
One large egg farmer we visited had increasingly expanded his operation and was automating as fast as capital access would allow. Why? Because Americans want cheap food. It could almost be part of their constitution. Their pride in ‘producing the cheapest food in the world’ as one farmer put it is evident, not only in the continuing cheapening of products but also in the waistlines and wastage of citizens.
That devaluation of food is spreading through-out the developed world – but may be arrested with the younger consumers coming through – especially with the rapidly developing social conscience among them. But, in the meantime it will lead to a quicker expansion into automation, and increased unemployment – something one Senator shared, he was at a loss to know how to handle the fallout from.
All farmers we spoke to, voted for Trump purely because they were tired of what they termed ‘over regulation’ from Obama’s regime. And there were some ugly conversations had, where many prejudices were displayed by farmers, who seemingly feel his victory gives them license to express them freely – even to our fascinated Nuffield group!
Perhaps most disappointing to me about some of the farmers we visited, was the level of apathy in their businesses. One dairy farm had 100 million consumers living within a 100-mile radius. His operation was not economical or efficient, but because of his customer base, he had willing consumers on his front doorstep. His answer was to make ice cream and within a year had a $1 million US turnover from his diversification. It wasn’t particularly good ice cream and the shop on the farm was not overly enticing. And therein lies the issue…where a density of population can lead to laziness in business strategy. I found myself wishing more than once that New Zealand had access to that kind of consumer base on their doorstep!
The United States also began a consistent theme I was to see repeated over the next eight weeks. The ascent of Australia over and above us is real and is frustrating. In the United States Australia has 44 per cent of sheep meat market while New Zealand has just 15 percent. Their products were clever, well considered and marketed sophisticatedly. Vegetarian fed was one such example of clever messaging!
New Zealand as a brand was not significant, and with Australia also working in that space of branding their country of origin as a safe, clean, environmentally sustainable product, my fears increased for the positioning of NZ Inc in the global market.
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe gave me an insight to regionalism – and how this is going to be an incredibly serious mega-trend that has vast implications to our food sectors. Even in developing countries like the Ukraine we witnessed the consumers desire to shop locally. We learnt not to assume in an under developed country that the consumer isn’t educated on sustainability. In Kenya, even the poorest villagers had a phone. Those devices give every consumer a ticket to the world of food production. And we can never take that for-granted.
So what then is our plan B with 95 per cent of our produce exported? What happens if tomorrow’s consumer outright rejects New Zealand products based on sustainability? How then do we fight that? And are we prepared for it? And during our Czech Republic visit we were told that German supermarket giant, Lidyl, intends to implement regional policies by buying within a local radius only.
Kenya
In Kenya, I was to understand subsistence farming and how those farmers far surpass in terms of numbers the large corporate farms we were to see in the likes of Eastern Europe. This really put the constant message we are hearing globally about the need to feed the world in context.
Simple technical farming advice could significantly increase production and quality of lives for subsistence farmers worldwide. Take that increase in production and the disappointing amount of food wastage in the world and you have an answer to those that cry wolf on needing to increase food production.
I struggled to be comfortable in Kenya with businesses, such as a large Dutch flower operation we visited, that were overseas owned, and making money because they had the advantage of cheap labour and less Government regulation.
Yes, these businesses were clever, but I struggled because the feeling that was imparted to me, particularly after talking to a supermarket buyer in South Africa, was that ethics in business will increasingly be looked at and scrutinized by the new generation of consumers.
South Africa
South Africa gives me great hope for the future of Africa. At present it is corrupt, and difficult to do business in. But the new generation coming through are entrepreneurial, educated and determined to oust their parents’ regimes. It is an innovative disrupters dream and will be a powerhouse in the future.
So, I’ve come back experiencing conflicting emotions about New Zealand’s place in agri-business globally. Our domestic issues seem less relevant than they did to me and I often see them now as being somewhat of a sideshow that distracts us from what must always be our number one focus – our overseas consumer.
As you read this I will be travelling in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Holland and Belgium on the first leg of my personal studies where I’m investigating consumer mega trends, the science of perception and learning about successful long-term messaging.
Before the end of the year I will be heading back to the United States and travelling a little in Canada as well as Mexico before touching base in Asia early next year.
I cannot thank Nuffield International and our wonderful team in Nuffield New Zealand enough for this incredible opportunity. That hunger to learn is a powerful driver and I look forward to meeting up with you in November.
In the meantime, if you are interested in further expanding upon some of the issues I’ve written about please see my blog at farmjourno.wordpress.com.
I was fortunate to be part of a relatively small group of 8 Nuffield scholars, of diverse farming backgrounds and visit 6 countries on the ‘Brazil GFP’. Countries visited were well developed or mostly developed in terms of their economies and agricultural industries and included Brazil, Mexico, US, Ireland, France and NZ. One of the key benefits I believe the GFP offers is the context it gives of the global agri-food business and therefore the perspective around NZ as a producer and marketer. As one large scale US, dairy farmer producer put it ‘NZ is small and cute’ which is pretty hard to argue with.
As many scholars have noted before me, the GFP is also provides a personal challenge in terms of mental stamina, getting some sleep and relationship management among your fellow scholars. This in itself is a valuable exercise personal development and self-awareness, as is driving a rental van in a mega-city full of motorists in a hurry. I am sure the post GPS guidance era of scholars have it so much easier than the ones who went before trying to read road maps.
Common Themes
As one travels through multiple countries and talks to farmers, there are many common issues and themes that begin to emerge. It is a universal thing, whether it is a group of farmers, bakers or candlestick makers, when they get together, the conversation eventually reverts to what are the challenges and issues, and despite different geographies, cultures and enterprises the themes were remarkably similar. Some of them I will pick up on here. Not many primary producers are getting well paid for what they do or earn a respectable return on capital. There are of course exceptions that have a different strategy and they are were the ones well worth listening to. Some examples, but not an exhaustive list of the businesses achieving higher returns included: Farm to consumer businesses, or cutting out the middle men/vertical integration. Requires large local consumer base and appears difficult to scale up. Organic premiums on enterprises where yield drag was not too high, e.g. Soy bean production at 3 times the conventional price with only 25% yield drag compared to conventional. Scale, high volume outputs with good economies of scale achieved on inputs and infrastructure, e.g. Large-scale US containment dairy or arable. Niche production of a product where there are barriers to entry or a unique comparative advantage due to location, climate etc.
Urbanisation
Urbanisation continues to be a growing trend in all countries visited and results in more disconnect with farming and further diminishes attraction of farming to young people due to shrinkage of rural communities. This disconnect also places more obligation on farmers to produce sustainably and improve environmental and animal welfare performance as the more urbanised a country becomes, the higher the expectation around these issues seems to be.
Succession Issues
Lack of effective farm succession is widespread and this results in older farmers operating businesses that keep getting smaller relative to the ever- increasing size of an economic unit. Lack of scale and fresh energy in the business then leads to underperformance in output, returns and investment.
Labour
Labour and staff was predictably a regular issue that came up for discussion. In many countries, available immigrant labour was more willing, but this is not a popular political solution. Automation solutions are going to help, but not going to change the game in farming in my view.
Having a large domestic consumer population does not translate into higher returns and arguably at present, exporting countries like us are enjoying as high returns as anywhere. The closer farmers get to the supermarkets, (with their inherent business model of lowering prices on the shelf), the tougher it gets. As one producer said, the supermarkets make sure they keep us alive, but only just.
Changing traits
Consumer trends and the way food is retailed is very fluid and changing at an astonishing rate. Producers and retailers of agri-food are presented with multiple consumer desires including conventionally produced/low cost, non-GMO, antibiotic free natural free-range grass fed, certified organic, locally produced and more recently plant based/synthetic. It is difficult to pick an individual trend from the above list that is certain to deliver volume the best and value in the long term. This list of traits was shorter 5 years ago and one wonders what other food traits will emerge in coming years? In addition to this, there is the question of how most food going to be retailed through large stores, small ones, purchased via e-commerce delivered by a drone or eaten out of home. The spend on out of home eating is either now ahead of almost catching up with in-home spend on food depending on country so as farmers we need to think about this.
The rhetoric around the challenge of feeding 9 billion people within the next 2 decades has been a bit overdone as the world has the physical farming resources to feed many more than that right now. It just requires a viable farmgate return for farmers to engage the land into production that is currently sitting idle or undeveloped. While this observation might be defendable now, there are some very large water scarcity, land degradation and climate change issues on the horizon which will have an impact. Focus is also moving to nutrition rather than food. The obesity trend and an aging population, signal massive future healthcare costs to government, so quality nutrition will be the focus either through education or if that doesn’t work, regulation.
Political Climates
Politically, Trump and Brexit have raised genuine concerns from a lot of farmers we met. US farmers are worried about budget cuts to Ag support and immigration clampdowns. Academics are concerned about reduced R&D budgets and the post Brexit landscape is of concern to anyone producing in or exporting to Europe, including NZ and Ireland.
In closing, a highlight of the GFP for me personally was hosting the group through the South Island of NZ. Despite my own familiarity with what we saw, it was great to receive the views and perspectives of the Aussies, Canadian, American and Dutchman in the group. Hearing the group constantly ask where all the well-publicised environmental degradation was, how impressed they were with the knowledge, efficiency and capability of the hosts and the overall experience of friendly people, great food and stunning landscapes. It was a good way to finish an amazing experience and a reminder how blessed we are to live and do what we do in NZ.
Dear Nuffield Scholars,At the recent Nuffield Triennial Conference held in the UK, delegates were given the option of participating in a tour of East Africa in June 2018. We would like to give all Nuffield Scholars the opportunity to register their interest and provide 1-2 brief paragraphs on why they wish to participate and what value they believe they can add to the tour. Details on this tour can be accessed via the link below. Please submit your Expression Of Interest by 5pm GMT on Monday 31st July. Regards Jim Geltch CEO Nuffield International PO Box 586 Moama NSW 2731 Direct Ph: (03) 54800755 Fax: (03) 54800233 Mobile: 0412696076 Email: jimgeltch@nuffield.com.au Skype: geltch1315 Internet: nuffieldinternational.org Document Link: http://www.nuffieldinternational.org/db/attachments/596819970fa60_2018EastAfricanNuffieldTour.pdf
Reg was awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship in 1963. He travelled on his Scholarship during 1964, spending 6 months in the United Kingdom then the United States of America, looking at wheat and meat production. He took the opportunity to go to France looking at fodder radish, and sugar beet production.After his Scholarship, he returned to the farm at Browns, Southland, where he stayed for the next five years.
In 1968, he was appointed as the New Zealand Department of Foreign Affairs Farm Management Expert to the Thailand Land Development Department for a two year term. This was extended in 1970 with working stints following in Sabah, Sarawak, Singapore and West Malaysia.
He and wife Doris set up their own business based in Singapore, as Dalzell & Associates, agriculture consultants. A few of the projects over the next 14 years included; time on an oil palm estate in Kluang, Malaysia, using the waste products of oil palm manufacture to make feed for swamp buffalo; revegetating a bauxite mine in Sungai Rengit on the south tip of Malaysia; and also established a flock of sheep – Coopworths crossed with local sheep.
Reg’s contribution to the Southland community was through Rotary, being a member and official with Cromwell & Invercargill clubs as well as various community associations.
In true Nuffield fashion he & Doris hosted and retained strong links with many internationals, particularly from his Nuffield studies.
Doris died 10 days after Reg a few days short of her 95th birthday.
While the Lions tour has arrived in NZ, I am about to leave again. It is halftime on my Nuffield study tour. For me it has been a pulsating first half full of excitement, education and by the end, exhaustion. It’s time to catch my breath, suck on an orange or two, hear a word from the coaches and reflect on an action-packed first half.
The team and tour
I’ve just completed the Global Focus Program (GFP). It is an intensive six-week tour through five countries with a group of nine other scholars. I was very fortunate to have an excellent group made up of five Australians, an Irishman, a Dutchman, a Welshman and a Brit who lived Belgium. Our GFP tour started in Chile.
We made our way up to Washington DC, across to Kentucky, then up to Prince Edward Island in Canada, before heading across to the Netherlands and finishing in Italy. We went to 110 meetings or presentations during an eight-week period, including our conference in Brazil prior to the tour.
I will look back on this time as one of the most interesting and extraordinary times of my life due to the people I travelled with and the excellent hosts we had in each country.
We met some great people who gave their time willingly and spoke openly about their farms and businesses. Many of them will provide me with inspiration well beyond my Nuffield tour.
The highlights package
The idea of the GFP is to give a board perspective of international agriculture. In this short report I’ll focus on some of the major themes, or ideas that struck a particular chord with me.
Feeding more with less
We frequently heard we must feed 9 or 10 billion people by 2050, with 60% growth in demand for food. It is clear we are heading toward a world of more people, less farmable land and pressure on resources such as water and the effects of climate change. There will be offsets: farm productivity will continue to increase and food wastage is ripe for tackling; people are growing food in cities, ‘vertical farms’ are springing up and synthetic food may well play a role in the future.
Consumers are changing
In the last 50 years consumers wanted food that tasted good and was low cost. Today consumers want food that tastes good, is nutritious, is produced locally, and in an environmentally and animal friendly way.
This is a strong trend that has been underway for a while. It will gather pace driven by higher incomes, ready access to information on the web, resource allocation pressure, and societal issues like obesity and associated diseases.
Environmental pressure
In many parts of the world there is strong pressure from environmental and animal rights groups. In some places, such as the Netherlands there are programs for farmers to alter production, change infrastructure or processes to achieve specific environmental outcomes.
Where the consumer will not pay more for a product produced in an environmental way, rather than load more cost on to the farmer, society as represented by government, is prepared to pay the costs.
Market volatility
Agricultural markets have been volatile since time immemorial. However, since the 1980s there has been deregulation in NZ and progressively in the 2010s in Europe and the US. There is significant subsidy and safety net programs remaining for farmers in the US and Europe, but our free(r) world market will make for better resource allocation but increased price volatility.
Reasons why these global themes don’t matter
You might ask why should we worry about these global themes? Do our consumers really care about what we do in New Zealand? Don’t consumers in the developing world just want access to cheap food?
The case can be made that we are going to have a big job feeding 10 billion people. Why would we hamstring ourselves worrying about environmental issues?
You could argue very convincingly that farmers don’t have the skills, time or knowledge to worry about the consumer. There’s an opportunity cost of farmer’s time and money. That’s why we have cooperatives and companies selling our products. It’s worked for over a hundred years. Why change?
It would seem to the reasonable person that pandering to the 10% of the population who are “greenies” will increase costs, destroy international competitiveness and drive farmers out of business. When a farmer makes a concession, the NGOs shift the goal posts and want more, and the ultimate end game for the animal rights lobby is for no animals to be farmed.
NZ would become a wildlife park and what would happen to our regional communities and national economic wealth?
Reasons why these global themes do matter
We should not make a moral issue of whether we believe these themes matter, or that the way we react determines whether we are good or bad people.
There is always a broad spectrum of morality and time helps people to understand where they sit on that spectrum. In any case, I believe there are a few points we should consider carefully.
Whether we aim to feed the richest 40 million, or some other market segment, societies and governments will be increasingly focused on how their food is produced and what resources are used.
Consumers may care, but may not pay for what they say they care about; however, society broadly, as distinct from consumers, will demand that resources used to produce food such as land, water and air are being used sustainably. In NZ we produce high quality products. And in my view, we farm, more so than any other place I have seen, in a way that works with our animals, land and people. We have important things we need to get right, however we are starting well ahead of most places.
We also have a tremendous amount of entrepreneurial and innovative capacity within our country. We have the ability and tools to develop a compelling story that resonates with consumers about how we produce our food. That does not mean we need to throw our current systems out, but the actions that we take today will set ourselves up to be successful tomorrow.
We should be aware that simply telling our story is not enough; we must educate ourselves and understand our consumers and how they relate to our products. There are good examples out there. We saw farmers in the US, The Netherlands and Italy telling their story, with transparency and confidence; opening their farms and explaining how they produce food. In NZ this is a matter of absolute urgency. If we don’t tell our story, somebody else will do it for us.
We have got to a bad place if a farmer does not feel proud to say he is a farmer at his local BBQ, or his kids are bullied at school because their Dad is a farmer.
In the age of ‘fake news’ and the inversion of trust, where people trust the Facebook group ahead of the scientist, we must be proactive and meet our detractor’s square on. NGOs are good marketers who use emotion to tell their stories; we must be better marketers. We must be confident in what we do, and be prepared to defend the way we do it.
I have no doubt farmers want to improve their environmental footprint, but there may be substantial cost in doing so. What are the costs of a ‘stick approach’ to regulation or industry agreements? Some would say delay, less than full implementation, and negative impact to our international reputation.
Well-constructed environmental incentives can give farmers the impetus to get the job done, and society the environmental outcomes it seeks.
Culture – quotes and learning
“Right now there are 7 guns around the table.” – Chatting with our hosts over dinner in the USA. In all other respects they were nice and quite normal.
“I calved my cow and the calf was almost dead. I tried to revive the calf and as I did this I explained to the class of children what I was doing and that sometimes calves die while the cow is in labour. The kids were fine as they could see I was doing everything I could and I had explained what was happening.” – Openness and transparency on a Dutch dairy farm.
“Anything you could say about good whisky had already been said about bad whisky…you can’t bore people into buying your product.” Maker’s Mark, Kentucky. – We must beware the trap of thinking we are unique and that we simply need to tell our story better to engage consumers.
“Americans are like teenagers. They think they can change the world. They know everything. They are loud. They are quick to pick a fight.” – perspective on the American psyche.
Chilean farmers we met were very focused, export oriented and internationally competitive. They also made a point of making time for family and friends.
The second half
And now it’s time for a deep breath before the second half kicks off. I will be focusing on deeper study on my research topic agri-innovation. I will visit the US and Ecuador. I will be back home for calving and later in the year I will visit
As part of my Global Focus Programme, I was fortunate enough to join scholars from Australia, Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, the Netherlands and Brazil on a six-and-a-half-week tour of Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, Israel, England and the US.
The result of such an intense tour is a greater understanding of the global trends in agriculture and the part that agriculture plays in societies around the world.
Throughout the course of the tour, we were hosted by ‘in-country’ hosts who worked to provide us with a broad and valuable range of experiences. These experiences included but were not limited to visits to the Indonesian Puppet Museum in Batavia, Jakarta, a Buddhist monastery in Japan, Jerusalem in Israel on a Jewish holy holiday, York Minster Cathedral in England, and a series of monuments and buildings in Washington DC.
These visits gave not only a high level of appreciation of the culture and history of the people/places visited, but also assisted in providing an introduction and background to the various business visits completed in each location.
Singapore
Singapore is a melting pot of Eastern and Western culture, reflecting its history of formerly being a British colony in Asia and now a key port for trade between the East and the West.
Singapore has a GDP in-excess of $300bn USD which is impressive given it is only 130sq km in size. It is the 4th largest hub in the world for energy trading and the 2nd largest for metals and agriculture.
It is a finance hub, with over 200 banks financing shipments of vast volumes of agricultural products, some of which will never touch the ground in Singapore. Due to it being regarded highly for low levels of corruption, it is used as a major trading hub for agricultural products into Asia, particularly into China.
Singapore constantly seeks to add value to services and products to generate further returns including processing fresh food into finished product to add value.
Locally, it services a high net-worth population with a trip to a local supermarket showing almost exclusively imported products. All food is labelled by country of origin, with premium produce sold at high margins. It was particularly noticeable that some companies proudly branded which country their product came from and extolled its virtues.
NZ products however were generally not as well marketed or branded. Our products did not appear to ‘leap out’ from the supermarket shelf in the way other countries/companies branding had achieved.
Indonesia
Indonesia provided me with new insights into the politics of agriculture, a theme which continued during our tour in Japan. The agricultural industry is heavily regulated in Indonesia.
Current government policy is targeted towards Indonesia being self-sufficient with food production, although with a growing economy and more money to spend on food, this is unlikely to be achieved. Whilst the government regularly reviews and changes policies and procedures to limit supply or cap market prices where they can, there continues to be a significant amount of imported food products.
For example, the retail price of beef is controlled by the government to assist in ensuring that people can afford to buy meat. Indonesia currently consumes around 730,000t/annum or approximately 2.8kg beef/capita/annum.
A proportion of beef is imported live from Australia under very strict conditions (due to a scandal around the slaughter of animals in the 2011). Due to the price of animals currently rising (alongside relatively high global beef prices), Indonesia has been importing less live beef cattle from Australia, and instead importing buffalo from India.
They are also looking to ship live cattle from Mexico due to this option being slightly more cost effective than equivalent Australian animals.
Government policy also dictates that the Indonesian beef industry must import 20% of the live animals as breeding cattle (in-calf cows), in an attempt to build their own herd.
Japan
Japan was an absolute highlight of this trip. Our group was lucky enough to view a wide and varying range of businesses from the Kobe beef auction to a wagyu beef farm, green tea plantations and processing facilities, a dairy and ice cream business, small horticultural businesses selling high end produce, and even a popcorn farmer selling his own product in microwave popcorn bags!
The Japanese people are very polite with long established business structures and an extremely formal manner in which they conduct business.
Farmers are held in a very high regard as they are perceived as the people responsible for feeding the nation. Consumers will typically pay 20-25% more to purchase Japanese product over similar imported products.
Farms tend to be quite small (average around 2ha) with vast subsidies paid to keep the sector profitable (these subsidies total more than the GDP generated by the sector). In agriculture, most of the farming inputs and outputs are controlled by a business called ‘JA’, a government established, farmer controlled monopoly.
JA has huge control over the sector and is averse to any change in subsidies or reduction in tariffs on imported food. Despite this, the Japanese Government is starting to try and change the sector with a view to loosening the trade barriers and allowing more imported food into Japan, a real opportunity for NZ.
Japan has a major issue with ageing farmers now retiring from farming, with not a lot of young people looking to enter the industry.
The average age of farmers is approximately 67, with some farmers we spoke to being unsure regarding who would farm their land following their retirement.
In order to bolster the sector, a program has been developed to allow some foreign workers (particularly from China) to assist with working the land.
Israel
The Israeli people are incredibly resourceful, innovative and world leading in some of the technology they use to generate agricultural production from what is generally a very harsh environment.
We travelled extensively through Israel, looking at research institutes and farming operations to gain an understanding of some of the technology used to cope with the challenges they face. Due to the climatic conditions, all livestock are housed in sheds and open side barns, with the result being very intensive operations that must be efficient to be profitable.
Water usage is a major concern with most recycled water used to irrigate high value crops with large amounts of desalinated water used due to the lack of fresh water availability.
Of particular note, was the fact that some of the water being used for irrigation of crops contained high levels of dissolved salts, making the salinity of the water higher than would otherwise be expected in a horticultural environment.
Despite this, they are still managing to harvest above average yields, a feat that impressed the horticultural farmers on our tour. Israel is well known for its kibbutz arrangements (groups of families that live and work in a semi-socialist structure where the community rather than individual people own and operate the assets for the benefit of all).
However, they are not averse to the change in society, with many kibbutz members now becoming older and a number beginning to struggle with succession issues.
Agriculture is not viewed with the priority it once was and large numbers of young people are focussing on entering technology industries, with less choosing to work within agriculture. However, we did see some interesting technology being used within agriculture from milk meters in a dairy shed (that split high value milk from low value milk at the cluster) to Bio Bee (a business where bumble bees are grown in boxes to develop colonies which can then be sold to horticultural businesses for pollination of crops).
England – The Triennial
The Triennial was an amazing opportunity to catch-up with not only the other groups who were also travelling on their GFPs, but also to meet and interact with a range of scholars from all countries and years.
They provided a fascinating insight into the Nuffield Scholarship and the opportunities and discussions that have resulted following completion of their scholarship programmes.
Although several impressive businesses were viewed, many of which were using new technology to improve their profitability, sustainability and environmental impact, discussion was very much influenced by the upcoming BREXIT and what this will potentially mean for these businesses.
Some appear to be embracing the opportunity, while others were quite apprehensive about the challenge of competing against lower cost or more efficient operators from other parts of the world (NZ very much included).
There was considerable discussion regarding the potential for subsidies in farming to be reduced or removed, and NZ was discussed at length as a model as to how this could work. Many of the businesses that we were shown relied heavily upon manual labour which invariably came from Eastern Europe, a challenge that the UK government will face as they work through discussions with the EU.
Some of the businesses that we were fortunate enough to visit really focused on two key points of interest, the first being the provenance of the food they were selling and ensuring the quality of that produce.
Consumers are becoming increasingly focussed on the ‘story’ of their food. They want to know how it has been made, where it comes from and what makes it unique.
We cannot underestimate the importance of this, however any ‘story’ must be supported by a strong and secure supply chain that backs the integrity of claims on the packaging.
I was also struck by the high importance of consistent quality and the impact of this quality on the price that is received. At Hall Hunter Partnership, the managing director Harry Hall was only interested in supplying berries of ‘A’ quality. Berries that did not meet ‘A’ quality standards were discarded regardless of any income that could be received from them.
Together with his level of supply, this meant he had the ability to engage in meaningful discussions with his in-market partners (Waitrose and Marks & Spencer) when it came to Marketing his products and achieving the highest possible price (and therefore the best return on his assets).
USA: Washington D.C and Wisconsin
The chance to visit Washington, D.C. was an absolute highlight. The number of historic events that have occurred in this city and the influence that it continues to have on world affairs is immense.
The impact of decisions made here can have a significant impact on NZ agriculture (for example, the withdrawal from TPP by President Trump).
However, with the slow process of appointing his Secretary for Agriculture and the fact that the rest of the agriculture cabinet is yet to be appointed, it swiftly became apparent that President Trump does not have a major focus on the agriculture sector.
Despite this, agriculture remains well supported in the US with a vast network of universities across the country being primarily set up to support agricultural research.
Wisconsin is typically known as a ‘dairy state’ (due to the large number of dairy farms in the area) although they differ significantly from NZ in that they are largely indoor based systems with high volumes of crops grown to feed the stock.
There were a range of automated and traditional parlour based systems, however with access to labour becoming a significant issue there is likely a trend towards automated parlours to reduce labour requirements.
There is a focus on environmental impacts, with strict controls on the spreading of animal waste and some quite innovative farmers who are trialling different grazing systems with the aim of reducing their impact on the environment.
Key trends and how they relate to NZ
A few key trends and insights I observed/developed during the course of the GFP have been summarised below:
Provenance is of major interest to consumers The most successful businesses and farmers that we engaged with on our travels make it a priority to constantly talk to their consumers about what is happening within their business, and the impact that this will have on production and when consumers will be able to purchase their products.
An example was a high-end vegetable producer in Japan who sold all his produce on-line and had a huge twitter following. He was consistently updating consumers with information about what was fresh and new, when products would be available, and keeping them updated with photos of his products. The more we interact, the better the consumer understands our business and the ‘story’ behind our produce.
Quality and traceability is incredibly important Consumers are becoming more and more interested in understanding the production story and exactly what that story entails. People understand the “organic” story and are prepared to pay for it.
If we are to maximise the value of our product, we need to also demonstrate that we are being incredibly efficient with what we use to produce it and why it is necessary.
It is also incredibly important to ensure that the quality of product is maintained at a high level, and that we are consistent in our interactions.
Constant innovation is key The product created and sold today will not necessarily be what the consumer desires tomorrow.
The horticultural businesses visited were constantly exploring new varieties and innovations to present to the consumer. The technology implemented in Israel to reduce cost by separating milk at the cluster rather than at the factory will also assist in improving returns to the farmer in the long term.
Succession in agriculture is a global issue Every country visited was experiencing difficulties with succession planning and encouraging young people to enter the agricultural industry.
Attracting and retaining talent in the industry is a key issue, with land in some countries no longer being farmed due to nobody being interested in taking on the responsibility of such a venture.
Increasing the interaction between urban people and rural businesses will not only improve the understanding of the issues that we face in this area, but also maximise the potential future ‘talent pool’ of people available and willing to enter the industry in the longer term.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank the NZ Nuffield Trust and all the sponsors including AGMARDT, Beef and Lamb NZ, Dairy NZ and FMG for the opportunity to engage in this incredible journey.
I set off from Christchurch on the May 8th, 2017 to embark on a trip that would open my mind and change my views of how I perceived global agriculture and how we feed the world.
I selected the India Global Focus Programme (GFP) as I’d travelled there 10 years earlier. It was a place I didn’t particularly enjoy at the time but a place that has always stuck in my mind. I wanted to know more about what made this chaotic place function. The India GFP also included Qatar.
There were ten Nuffielders in our group which included scholars from Australia, UK, Ireland, Holland, Brazil and New Zealand. The group travelled through Singapore, India, Qatar, Denmark, UK and America.
Having done the post Contemporary Scholars Conference (CSC) tour, I was looking forward to the dynamics of group travel and the added value the diversity of the group would bring. The diversity of the group was great during our daily debrief, it was something we all looked forward to as it was an opportunity to harvest others thoughts and ideas and help develop our own thinking.
Singapore
We started our GFP in Singapore. It was great to catch up with friends I had met at the CSC but wouldn’t be travelling with. The foundation was set with some very good meetings in Singapore which showed the role that Singapore plays in global trade and how it is a hub for multi-national companies to be based from. It left me feeling that Singapore is the puppeteer of global trading logistics, especially for China.
India
The colours, smells and sounds of India hit you as soon as you arrive. Our time there, took us from the south to the north visiting vegetable growers, dairy farms, coffee plantations, vegetable processing plants and universities. Going forward India faces some huge issues with water supply. Water table levels in the north are reducing by three feet a year in some places and the south has seen once large rivers not flowing for the last three years. With a growing population expected to surpass China, I think they are being unrealistic about their ability to feed themselves which is a goal of the government. This is a great opportunity for New Zealand with a rising middle class who love to eat. A belly is a sign of prosperity.
Qatar
Qatar is well named as ‘The Sandpit’. The phrase ‘more money than sense’ came to mind a number of times. In a country where 99% of the food consumed is imported they are at the mercy of world trade. There has been hundreds of millions spent on farms that are inefficient to say the least. There are opportunities here for New Zealanders in consulting. For New Zealand, I think it’s a good entry to the Middle East. There is a very strong Australian presence, the same can’t be said for us.
Denmark
We were the first group to have Denmark included as part of the GFP. The key things that stick in my mind are orderly, efficient, high standards and high debt in family farms due to succession laws. The Danes are very patriotic and consumers will buy Danish products whereever possible, price is not the main driver. The same cannot be said about New Zealand. Do NZ consumers know our story well enough? I don’t think so.
United Kingdom
The UK had the 3 GFP groups meeting up again and join the moving Triennial conference. It was great to meet with Nuffield alumni from around the world. The topic of conference day was “Farming Fit for Food”. We need to remember we are producing food. I see an opportunity for New Zealand farmers and industry to link the environmental message in with the health benefits of the food we produce. Emotion will win over fact every time. The question needs to be asked ‘How much are we prepared to pay for a healthy family?’
USA
It was great to get behind the scenes in Washington DC and try to understand the complexity of American politics. It became very clear that agriculture is not a priority for the current administration. I was surprised to hear that 80% of the Farm Bill budget is spent on food stamps and nutrition, leaving 20% for farm related spending. Our time in Iowa was a highlight. The birthplace of global brands such DuPont Pioneer, John Deere and Noble Peace Prize winner Norman E Borlaug.
The farmers there just seemed to be getting on with what they do best which is farming and they do it well. It was refreshing to see a side of America that was humble and took pride in what they do. Bill Northey, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, needs a special mention. He popped up everywhere we went, he was so proud to be showing off his state and he knew about farming and farmers. He was appreciative of our group spending time in his home state. This was all during a time he was meeting with Secretary Perdue and President Trump to be part of the administration. We were hopeful of getting to meet the President but it wasn’t to be!
As always, I was proud to be travelling as a Kiwi. We are well respected but we are better known for our scenery then our great quality produce. A number of presentations we had didn’t even include New Zealand on the world map. We need to be shouting from the roof tops what we have because grass fed, GMO and antibiotic free food is on an upward trend. We need to spell out what we do in a simple message that plays on the emotions. If we don’t fill this space, someone else will.
The China Global Focus Programme (GFP) group was one of the more diverse groups this year, with our group comprising of representatives from Australia, Ireland, Wales, Netherlands, England, South Africa, and myself from New Zealand. The GFP tour was a once in a lifetime experience made better by the diversity of our group, which created great internal discussion and debate following all our visits each day. I would like to thank Nuffield New Zealand (NZ) once again for this opportunity.
Our group was lucky enough to travel to seven different countries on our journey, which included: Singapore, Philippines, Hong Kong, China, Germany, United Kingdom (UK), and the United States of America (USA).
During our travels each country brought different themes to mind which I have highlighted in the title of each country overview. The overall theme I observed for NZ was that the rest of the world thought very highly of NZ as a beautiful country and a great food producer. However, this has led us to becoming complacent in many markets.
A key improvement for NZ in the international market could be to remain active in our export markets and continue to sell ourselves and our products. Just because we are selling a product in a market now doesn’t mean someone else won’t be tomorrow.
Singapore – “Emotional Branding”
Visiting a large supermarket in Singapore, it was great to see so much NZ product in the stores, however, this was met with disappointment that our products were some of the lowest priced items in the supermarket.
Our friends from Australia, Switzerland and the USA, were consistently gaining a premium across most primary products including red meat and milk. The biggest difference following a quick survey of some consumers in the store was the branding difference between NZ and our competitors.
NZ products were branded functionally with minimal fuss over labelling and a small ‘NZ made’ triangle on the packet. This was in contrast to other international products that used pictures and stories to advertise and brand their products. This played on the consumer’s emotions and they were more likely to pay for a dairy product with a picture of a happy family in front of a cow and a link to a farmer’s story.
New Zealanders are historically humble when it comes to ‘talking ourselves up’, however, in order to obtain premium we need to be ‘louder’ or more strategic in our branding to be noticed by the consumer.
Philippines – “East meets West”
The Philippines was a great example of where western culture particularly the USA was having an influence on the traditional eastern diets of the Filipinos. A large number of branded western products were sold in smaller packets to be affordable and the locals preferred these products as they showcased wealth.
The highlight of the trip was being hosted by the International Rice Research Institute, where we got to experience first-hand the different techniques employed by farmers to grow rice. We also had an update on GMO rice varieties and the scientific evidence that these new varieties could feed 13-14 billion people (if approved) with no impact on food safety.
Some of the debate centred around who was responsible to feed the world and it was agreed that New Zealand’s strength to this battle was our knowledge and farming skills that we could share rather than our produce, given our size and land limitations.
Hong Kong – “Changing the purchasing experience”
Hong Kong was a very interesting city with a large number of global businesses who do business in China basing their headquarters in the city.
Traditionally Hong Kong has been a port hub for China, but recently due to the creation of greater shipping lanes in and around China, this is now changing. Rather than dwell on this Hong Kong is embracing change and focussing on the service industries such as finance.
While in Hong Kong we were lucky enough to be hosted by the Hong Kong Jockey Club and witnessed first-hand how a business had combatted the threat of online sales and changed the purchasing experience to increase ticket sales and income.
It was certainly a model that the New Zealand Racing industry as well as the New Zealand Rugby Union should investigate further.
China – “NZ complacency and guaranteed food source”
China was a real eye opener for me personally given the population base, it really did take some getting used to.
Three key themes that came out of our visit was the importance of ‘country of origin’ in China, how complacent NZ was in the market, and reasons why the Chinese were buying up land around the globe.
Everywhere we went it became very clear that the Chinese people did not trust Chinese food, and preferred imported product. NZ had managed with our free trade deal to get into china early, however, from what I witnessed in two examples we have rested on our laurels a fair bit.
First example was at the at the SIAL expo in Shanghai (which is China’s largest food expo) where I saw only two NZ companies in attendance in the Honey and Seafood sectors, and no show from the beef or dairy sectors.
This was in contrast to all other export focussed countries that had large stands at the show promoting both their countries and their products. The second example was in the local supermarkets where NZ infant formula was the lowest priced out of all imported formula.
The third major learning was around Chinese investment offshore in places like New Zealand. The acquisitions of land were all about guaranteeing future food for their growing population. Interestingly, the comment most Chinese businessmen made was that they would actually prefer to lease farmland in our countries on long term agreements of 20-30 years than take the risk of purchasing the property.
Germany – “Great hospitality and renewable energy”
The highlight of Germany was the people and the landscape, which was not dissimilar to NZ. We were lucky enough to be hosted by Stefan and Liz Teepker, mixed farmers from Western Germany, who went above and beyond to organise some great farm visits, and to ensure we enjoyed our time in Germany.
The key theme from the German farms was renewable energy; with most of the farms we visited having some form of wind, sun or bio generated power as the main income source for the property.
While the building of the turbines or bio digesters was largely government supported, the on-going cash flow from these power generators had allowed these farmers to invest in their original businesses.
Many of these original farm production systems were now just hobbies and this had meant many had lost efficiencies in cost of production compared to the likes of New Zealand.
United Kingdom – “Attitude towards Agriculture and Subsidies”
In the UK, we were lucky enough to attend the Nuffield Triennial Conference, where we got to mix and mingle with many previous Nuffield scholars from around the world.
This was a valuable opportunity to make some contacts for further travel and research later in the year. The common topic of the conference was around ‘Brexit’ and what the future looked like for British Agriculture as they transitioned out of the European Union (EU).
The debate naturally centred around farm subsidies currently received by farmers and whether these would continue and for what. Interesting for me was the large amount of Farmers, including UK Nuffielders, whose attitude was that they would not survive without subsidies and were very resistant to change.
Delegates at the conference were in agreement that due to Agricultures relatively small contribution to GDP that subsidies were going to be greatly reduced if not removed.
This potentially would create opportunities for the younger generation if older farmers chose to exit the industry. It was clear that the process of leaving the EU was going to be very long and drawn out. Due to this and the inward focus it brings, they may miss global market access opportunities.
United States of America – “Trump, Migrant labour and Water”
In the US we were fortunate to visit two areas; Washington DC and California. Washington was a great opportunity to meet a number of government officials including a Senator, as well as learning how the US political worked.
It became very clear early on that President Trump was not prioritising Agriculture at all with the Senator for Agriculture the last one to be selected in his team.
This was further reinforced once we arrived in California, where the majority of the rural labour force is migrant labour, mainly from Mexico, which was something Mr Trump very publically wanted to clamp down on.
In California the farmers were coming off a five year drought and water was the main topic of conversation. With ground water levels dropping 2.5 feet per year during the drought, many restrictions were in place and only the rich farmers were likely to be able to afford to farm moving forward.
More storage of surface water was the obvious solution; however, most farmers had their ‘heads in the sand’ over the issue and were content to flood their paddocks with excess water this year in an attempt to re-charge the ground water. When questioned they could not offer any scientific evidence to support this practice.
The idea of the GFP is to give a board perspective of international agriculture. In this short report I’ll focus on some of the major themes, or ideas that struck a particular chord with me.
The colours, smells and sounds of India hit you as soon as you arrive. Our time there, took us from the south to the north visiting vegetable growers, dairy farms, coffee plantations, vegetable processing plants and universities. Going forward India faces some huge issues with water supply. Water table levels in the north are reducing by three feet a year in some places and the south has seen once large rivers not flowing for the last three years. With a growing population expected to surpass China, I think they are being unrealistic about their ability to feed themselves which is a goal of the government. This is a great opportunity for New Zealand with a rising middle class who love to eat. A belly is a sign of prosperity.
