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

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

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Will it have legs: An investigation into synthetic food and the implications for NZ agriculture.

Synthetic food (SF) is being touted as a revolution in food production that could replace animal products. While the industry is more bark than bite at the moment, it’s rapidly gaining awareness and attracting significant funding by being portrayed as a solution to many of the global problems associated with conventional agriculture. As the pressure intensifies on humanity to curb climate change, all options are being considered and, with a carbon footprint larger than the global transport sector, agriculture is well and truly in the spotlight. Agriculture has held relative impunity from climate mitigation strategies up until now but SF is bringing that into question by providing a potential alternative method of food production.

The environment is one of the key drivers behind SF but there are others as well. The drivers are being used as a platform to promote SF as the way of the future and leveraging off the growing disconnect between consumers and the farms that currently produce their food. It’s too early to know if SF will actually compete at scale on a cost and quality basis but nevertheless, the messaging around SF is already having a negative impact on the perception of agriculture. Countries like NZ who rely heavily on agricultural exports are at risk of losing market share to SF as well as being tarred with the same ‘industrial agriculture’ brush as other countries and becoming what one journalist has described as the “Detroit of agriculture”.

As with many emerging technologies though, things don’t happen overnight and the devil is often in the detail. The NZ primary sector needs to resist the urge to take a stance against SF based on weak journalism and instead be part of an informed conversation. The first response from people a year ago, when discussing SF, was was ‘yuk, it will never take off because people want natural food’. Thankfully, the conversation is now shifting to ‘what could happen if SF did take off and how do we approach this potentially disruptive technology?’. SF needs to be approached with an open mind and lots of questions rather than building a wall to defend our patch.

NZ Ag needs to get a better handle on how conventional food measures up against SF based on the ruler that tomorrow’s consumer will use. Carbon emissions, soil conservation and animal welfare are some of the attributes that consumers will look for and this needs to become part of our marketing approach in the future.

In reality, conventional agriculture is more of a threat to the SF industry at the moment, not the other way around. SF consists of startup companies with products in the development phase and markets that are built on promises. This isn’t a reason for us to rest on our laurels but instead a window of opportunity to get involved and have a say in how the SF industry evolves. We can choose to be disrupted or help shape the future of food production by understanding the drivers behind SF and being part of the solution, not part of the problem.

 

Keywords for Search:  Richard Fowler

Defining our Kaupapa: New Zealand’s role in the future of global agriculture.

Our economy is founded on excellence in primary production and exporting this produce around the world. Given our isolation and abundance of agricultural production, New Zealand has responded to the challenge of distance between the production base and markets through a focus on operational excellence. Continual improvement in productivity and efficiencies along the supply chain from perfecting a pastoral based farming system has enabled New Zealand to compete internationally regardless of distance.

Historically the United Kingdom and Europe were our main markets, with counter-seasonal demand. Therefore, the main goal was to produce more volume at a cost competitive price. Over the years New Zealand has diversified away from the traditional markets towards more emerging markets of Asia, particularly China. This pivot has been enabled through Free Trade Agreements that have allowed New Zealand product preferential access.

New Zealand will face new challenges as the global trading environment moves on from a period of liberalization. This presents significant challenge for New Zealand and a cause to reconsider how we could overcome the market production dislocation challenge. The New Zealand agriculture sector have strategies associated with greater internationalisation and market orientation, however there is limited evidence of implementation. The paradox between market orientation, greater internationalisation and a continued focus on operational excellence needs to be recognised.

If New Zealand wants to overcome the market production dislocation in a new way, it is useful to draw on the lessons of other small economies. This report investigates the market production dislocation of five other countries, and the ways by which each country has developed an eco-system to overcome this challenge. A framework is presented that sets out the importance of recognising the why, the how and the what of an eco-system to overcome the market production dislocation. Understanding the why, clarity of purpose, or in New Zealand’s case our kaupapa is critically important to establish to overcome the market production dislocation. Kaupapa can be defined as the principles and ideas which act as a base or foundation for action. Each country was found to have a burning platform that either forced change, or presented an opportunity to change. The inherent culture of each country combined with the burning platform challenge led to the purpose, or why, for change. Once the why is understood, the systems and leadership, and nature of value creation and realisation can be developed. These are secondary concepts, and can only be developed once a clear why is expressed.

New Zealand agriculture lacks a clearly defined kaupapa and this makes it impossible to create change within the industry. Without a guiding star, there is no chance to make difficult decisions or trade-offs. The paradox of market orientation and operational efficiency will continue to create conflicts within the agriculture sector and wider economy. Leadership for change needs to come from the creation of a united industry body that represents all sectors of the agriculture industry. The critical mass generated from such an organisation will be powerful when speaking on behalf of all New Zealand growers and farmers.

New Zealand can use this moment in history as a chance to redefine our kaupapa, and come together through collaboration. Success will come when New Zealand speaks with one voice when asked what the agriculture sector stands for. The paradigm of globalisation is shaky, and the opportunities for innovative business models due to global connectivity are higher than ever before. Now is the time for action.

Keywords for Search: Jessica Bensemann, Bensaman

Agribusiness governance: Finding the green zone.

Executive Summary

  1. Corporate governance has grown in prominence in recent decades to the point that it is promoted as a default business practice. This has more recently translated to a belief that all businesses should embrace good governance. In other words, corporate failure is often closely associated with poor governance, resulting in the widespread assumption that good governance is therefore a pre-requisite of corporate success.
  2. Traditional corporate governance represents an ecosystem of rules, tools, influences and activities that collectively operate to direct and control an organisation.
  3. While the re is no single accepted theoretical base for corporate governance, one – Agency Theory – which seeks to address the risks arising from a separation of ownership and management – overwhelmingly dominates practice and education. However, the governance needs of the bulk of our SME agribusinesses are not satisfied by an Agency Theory approach:
    1. Governance as a means of Control : Strike one! SME – Agribusinesses are generally owned and operated by the same people or group, often a family, where Agency theory adds little or no real value, resulting in “management processes on steroids masquerading as governance.”
    2. Governance as a d river of Strategy : Strike two! “Culture eats Strategy for breakfast.”
  4. Green – Zone Governance – the role of Service: An opportunity to re-calibrate the approach to Agri-SME governance based on Resource Theory, which seeks to bolster the capability, networks, outlook and expertise of the business and business owner as a whole.
  5. In a family business, genuinely fair outcomes are realistically few and far between – which is why a commitment to a fair process is so important, and why Service-focussed governance can help.
  6. Green Zone governance assumes you already have control over your own organisation, and that you have the culture you need to win. If you have neither, introducing a formal system of governance is the least of your problems. But project governance might help get you on track.

 Agribusiness Governance: Finding the Green Zone – Tom Skerman

Re-define Communicators as the strategists and thought leaders they are

Nadine Porter, 2017 Nuffield Scholar

Right now, there is an underground subtle global war being waged in the agri-food sector to secure consumers hearts and minds and New Zealand food producers are not immune to becoming one of the many victims.
 
It’s not being fought in research laboratories nor is it being fought in disruptive ag-tech start-up boardrooms. It’s also not being fought on our farms…no – this war is being waged in savvy, futuristic communication and marketing thinking rooms with big budgets and even bigger ideas. 
 
When we think of communications – we traditionally think of PR spin-doctors or journalists charged with making an organisation look good – but the reality is far removed. That old school model is being disrupted and we must adapt or face being left behind. 
 
Communicators should be called what they are in this global context – change makers, and thought of as a crucial part of thought leadership within any business. They hold all the keys – and frankly, we’ve been guilty of leaving them in the door to be snatched at will. 
 
These skilled strategists have their finger on a consumer’s pulse at any given moment in time and cast their eyes ahead to what might make that pulse beat faster or slower. They are adept at altering a narrative mid-course, and banishing it to the trash can. 
 
No longer is it necessary for these people to hold a Communications or Media degree. Put simply, successful global organisations know communicators often have extraordinarily high EQ, and use it to intercept what might be the next trend, fad, or feeling.
 
“They use empathy as a weapon and in this instant, many of our food sectors are the target”.
 
Take the all-powerful organic movement in the United States where Mums are being carefully nurtured and developed to a point of hysteria around pesticides. Rightly or wrongly, they are dropping well-timed ‘studies’ onto media that make great sound-bites. The Pesticide Action Group of North America only have to mention 1/3rd of population have cancer and then claim pesticides are ‘part’  (note – no quantitative data given) of that reason and you understand just how vital the message becomes.  
 
Recently a group called Moms Across America tested five top orange juice brands and found glyphosate traces in all of them. The levels were low and considered non-harmful but the damage was done. Perceptions were formed and the true narrative lost, the moment the results were ‘spin’ printed.   
 
Yet we knew this was coming. We’ve been listening to the ongoing glyphosate debate for years but what was/is our strategy to combat it? 
 
‘Clean meat’ is another strategy dreamed up by futuristic storytellers. Used to describe alternative protein burgers such as the Impossible Foods (bleeds and has texture and taste of meat but is made from plant protein) and Beyond Meats offerings, it has captured imaginations worldwide. Never mind that’s it’s not meat – because it captures succinctly in one soundbite the perceived fear Mums carry – that meat might be carcinogenic.  
 
The rise of populist politics – of Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’, and the Brexit slogan ‘340 million pounds extra a week for NHS’ as the clincher for exiting the EU illustrate the power of a few words positioned to the nuance of the moment. 
 
So what do we do? 
 
Why not take a leaf out of Monsanto’s book – where they invest heavily in thought leaders, strategists and the message. They do comprehensive long-term research globally and know that science by itself, such as in the glyphosate debate, does not save the day.  
 
A visit to their St Louis headquarters proved to be inspiring. For the world’s ‘most hated company’ they sure had their finger on the pulse. Monsanto learnt through pain. They accept they got it wrong when it came to selling biotech in Europe. They realized their biggest failure a decade ago was assuming European consumers hold the same values as American consumers.  
 
Their research has told them that as a food industry collectively, our messaging has been inconsistent and more importantly, our terminology is completely wrong. For example, global research has told them consumers don’t understand the terms ‘conventional’ or ‘traditional’ farming. GM, GE and CRISPR is one blurred topic and sustainability is a buzzword to them, yet they recognize and bond with the term environmental sustainability. 
 
Consumers have told them to stop talking about producing more and to concentrate instead on the message of ‘using fewer natural resources’. Don’t use the term revolutionary, Monsanto found – instead use the more positive evolutionary. Moreover, they don’t want us to celebrate our past (which we are won’t to do in New Zealand, especially when talking about becoming subsidy free, and our low cost grass system). They want us to look forward, not back. 
 
And, if you are in any doubt to where New Zealand sits in understanding how to taper a message, look no further than what we call those that grow our food. From farmers, to primary producers to agriculturalists – none of those terms connect. Our new Ministry of Agriculture is a step in the right direction… but if we were really on the pulse, it would have simply been called the Ministry of Food.
 

2015 Nuffield Scholars

Nuffield New Zealand and Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy have announced the scholarships at a function in Wellington.

From West Coast dairy farmer Bede O’Connor.

Woodville dairy farmer Ben Allomes.

Rotorua-based DairyNZ regional leader Sharon Morrell.

Whanganui farmer, entrepreneur and conservationist Dan Steele.

And Fonterra employee Satwant Singh from Morrinsville.

The five new Scholars join more than 145 others who have been awarded Nuffield Scholarships in the past 60 years, which has been a substantial investment in New Zealand agriculture’s past, current and future leaders, says Nuffield NZ chairman Julian Raine.

“Only a handful are awarded each year so a Nuffield Scholarship is one of rural New Zealand’s most valuable and prestigious awards. To be a Scholar is a life-changing experience.”

The Nuffield NZ Scholarship offers the opportunity for overseas travel, study of the latest developments in a number of leading agricultural countries and provides an introduction to leaders and decision makers not accessible to the ordinary traveller.

One of the current 2014 Scholars is Palmerston North potato grower, agricultural contractor and equity dairy farmer Paul Olsen.

“It has been a brilliant experience for me, seeing other countries and a variety of cultures, mind boggling but also eye opening. New Zealand has a huge opening for the future, in terms of things like food proteins and niche products, it’s there for the taking. It’s a massive opportunity for us to take on the challenge.”

Olsen says the Nuffield name opened many doors. “I visited some massive operations – people wouldn’t hold back. It was 100 per cent nuts and bolts business information you wouldn’t get any other way.”

He says the contacts made and networks formed will last a lifetime.
“I made some very strong contacts and friendships, especially through the UK, Ireland and Scotland. Many of them are coming to stay here in the next 18 months or so as well, either travelling individually or finishing their own Nuffield Scholarship travels.”

Nuffield Scholars travel internationally for at least four months in their Scholarship year (not necessarily consecutively), participate in a Contemporary Scholars conference with 60 Nuffield Scholars from around the world and attend a six-week Global Focus Programme with an organised itinerary through several countries with other scholars. They also have their own individual study programme with a research report due at the end of their travels.

The 2015 research topics are likely to cover issues such as

  • the internal growth potential of China;
  • recognising and utilising New Zealand’s greatest asset – its people;
  • farming communities’ responses to changes in environmental regulations or other constraints;
  • the potential of “Brand New Zealand” and how having communities involved in conservation will show value in looking after the environment;
  • farmer understanding of their financial and overall business health focusing around budgeting, risk management, stress levels for farmers, suicide levels and farming pressure.

More about the five 2015 Nuffiled Scholars.

Bede O’Connor, West Coast

West Coast dairy farmer Bede O’Connor is milking 340 cows on 170 hectares near Westport and is an elected director of the Westland Dairy Co-op.

O’Connor, 43, has achieved a 25 per cent increase in production over the past three seasons after purchasing his family’s farm in 2011.

He would like to develop a self-sufficient farming system to combat the influences of more frequently occurring climatic events. He is a member of the West Coast TB Free Committee, West Coast Rural Support Trust and the West Coast Focus Farm Trust.

He was a regional judge for the Dairy Industry Awards Trainee of the year and is an active member of West Coast Federated Farmers.


Sharon Morrell, Rotorua

Sharon Morrell is a regional leader with DairyNZ in Rotorua. Her role is a mixture of direct farmer interaction and leading a small team running discussion groups, field days and workshops. She also works alongside strategic partners, including the BOP Dairy Stakeholders Group.

After gaining a Bachelor of Agricultural Science Morrell worked as a MAF farm advisor. With husband Ross she has worked on farm and raised four children.

She did some supervisory and consultancy work before moving to DairyNZ in 2010. She attended the Kellogg Rural Leadership programme in 2011.

Dan Steele, Whanganui

Dan Steele is a farmer and conservationist living and working on Blue Duck Station – a 1460 hectare sheep and beef station and conservation project at Whakahoro, surrounded by Whanganui National Park.

After working with his parents on the neighbouring Retaruke Station for seven years, Steele built Blue Duck Lodge in 2005, started Blue Duck Station in 2006 and founded the Wild Journeys commercial jet boats partnership in 2010.

Steele is involved with the Ruapehu Regional Tourism Organisation (Visit Ruapehu), Ducks Unlimited, NZ Wetland Care and the Whanganui National Park Conservation and Historic Preservation Trust.

Satwant Singh, Morrinsville/Auckland

Satwant Singh works for Fonterra during the week and on the family dairy farm near Morrinsville at the weekends.

Singh, 30 and her husband Sunil Krishna live in Auckland – during the week she is part of the Fonterra Commodity Risk and Trading team as an Originator. One of her achievements is the Guaranteed Milk Price programme for farmers.

She became an area manager for Fonterra in Morrinsville (2008-2012) after working as a Service Specialist for Fonterra (2006-2008).

Singh has a Bachelor of Management Studies with Honours (Majoring in Marketing and Human Resources) and a Graduate Diploma in Accounting from the University of Waikato.

Ben Allomes, Woodville

Dairy farmer Ben Allomes and wife Nicky own a half share in an 850-cow farm at Woodville; are 50/50 sharemilkers on a 400-cow farm at Woodville and a 215-cow property at Ruawhata; and also lease two other properties.

Allomes is a farmer-elected DairyNZ director and on their local school Board of Trustees. He has been heavily involved with NZ Young Farmers, Primary ITO, Dairy Industry Awards, Fonterra Network and DairyNZ.

While president of Young Farmers, 2007-2009, he helped to restructure and reposition the organisation and jointly led the development of the NZYF leadership “Pipeline” programme now adopted by industry “Generate” Steering Committee.

Why being true to brand New Zealand is the best option for New Zealand agriculture.

Executive Summary

We have inherited a brand. New Zealand was the last major land mass on earth to be colonised by humans, it is distant from most of the world’s population and has beautiful scenery and biodiversity. This brand is about a safe, unspoiled last paradise, or to quote a Rudyard Kipling poem: the “last, loneliest, loveliest, exquisite apart — ”. Brand New Zealand has been used for many years to sell our products and services around the world and in recent times Tourism New Zealand has built a marketing strategy around it, 100% Pure.

This study has come about because of a genuine belief that New Zealand is the greatest country to live in on earth. We are however regressing in some critical ways. The author believes we can stop the regression and build a robust and resilient economy without significant environmental loss. People are realising more and more the interconnectivity of all things on earth, human health with environmental health, our actions on environmental health and at the same time becoming globally connected within an instant by modern media. We are still perceived as clean and green by most of the world, and compared to many countries we are. Because of our position in the world, our brand and our demonstrated conservation leadership, we have a huge opportunity to leverage our economy into a higher value sustainable space that could be the envy of the rest of the world.

A Nuffield Scholarship has enabled the author to investigate this vision – including two international research tours, a study of international visitors and a survey of business and environmental leaders. It has helped him to learn, grow and gain a perspective, and now he can share what he has learnt This report studies the reasons why being true to Brand New Zealand is the best option for New Zealand agriculture. The aim of this study is to show that New Zealand, and particularly our farmers, need to be ahead of the game, stay relevant and have products in high demand in order to survive in a rapidly changing and sophisticated global marketplace. This report looks at the advantages as well as possible pitfalls this approach could entail.

The author was raised in backcountry New Zealand, travelled the world as a young man and learnt how lucky we are to live in this country. He built an eco-tourism farm in the backcountry and realised that we need to unite to look after New Zealand. Individual conservation efforts will never achieve as much as a combined and collaborative strategy will. From the world study and surveys conducted we know that New Zealand’s environment is hugely important to everyone; it is in fact the backbone of our economy.

Based on all that has been learnt or gleaned from the scholarship study, the following recommendations are made to help kiwis build a healthier, wealthier, more sustainable future:

  1. New Zealand should develop a positive and engaging environmental vision that consolidates the aspirations of multiple key industries and the public in protecting what makes us famous.
  2. New Zealand’s 100% pure image is our competitive advantage . As a nation we must strongly question any thing that is counter – productive to our brand.
  3. The world is not short of food but healthy, quality products are in demand. New Zealand must align with what the world wants.
  4. We can adopt and adapt best practices from other parts of the world. A more formal study should be completed of nations that are managing their environments well and strengthening their brands.
  5. We need strong industry leadership to build some collaborative goals between agriculture and tourism. For example Federated Farmers and Tourism Industry Association could build a co m bined strategy that is mutually beneficial to the New Zealand story.
  6. An economic shift towards value – add food and beverage production and visitor experi ences should be developed.
  7. As international tourism to New Zealand continues to grow, we need to ensure that these visitors become customers of our produce and then go onto become ambassadors telling our story on our behalf .
  8. Agriculture needs an education plan showing farmers what the affluent of the world are demanding: traceable, higher quality products with a story.
  9. Educate New Zealand to realise that complacency is the biggest threat to t he future health and prosperity of our nation. Every farm needs a conservation strategy that is being put into action.
  10. As a nation, we need to find innovative ways to increase our environmental spend by exploring more diverse sources of revenue for conserv ation.
  11. New Zealand should implement visionary conservation programmes such as Predator Free New Zealand that will demonstrate our commitment to safeguarding our natural assets and engage people from all walks of life.

In summary we have a huge opportunity to lead the world in clean green living and to leverage serious economic benefit from this. The author believes these recommendations would strengthen our brand and start steering us in the right direction to supplying affluent consumers healthy products and experiences. The world is waiting for leadership around global issues such as climate change, resource use and safety. New Zealand can do it, let’s pull our socks up!

 Why being true to brand New Zealand is the best option for New Zealand Agriculture – Dan Steele

Accepting Price Volatility or Managing for Price Stability is a choice.

Executive Summary

NZ dairy farmers are directly exposed to uncertainty and fluctuations in commodity pricing. Over the past ten years external factors have had a significant impact on dairy farming businesses, leading to increased financial pressure, delayed investment plans and solvency issues.

New Zealand (NZ) dairy farmers have been left behind. Sophisticated and diverse price risk management (PRM) tools are a vailable to our competitor farmers in the USA and Europe. This will impact NZ’s industries competitive advantage on the global market in the years to come. Farmers need to be prepared with a plan and strategies to manage price risk.

PRM tools are well advanced and diverse for farmers in parts of Europe and USA compared to tools available to NZ farmers. These tools vary from simple forward fixed prices in Europe to a variety of flexible hedging tools in USA. Processors, milk marketing companies, cooperatives, and/or financial brokers provide ease of accessibility to the tools and in depth information to help farmers utilise the tools, thus providing key competitive countries with an advantage.

These PRM solutions enable farmers to transfer the price risk to someone else via a processor or a futures exchange and experience the benefits of a stable profit margin. The choice to have stable or volatile profit margins has provided some farmers with different advantages. These include enabling new farmers to enter the industry with confidence, helping some farmers to grow their businesses with certainty and others to have the ability to manage debt and achieve their goals.

The introduction of PRM tools is relatively new to the NZ dairy scene and options are not readily available. PRM is a developing area and the availability and flexibility of the tools will depend on farmers understanding of the tools, demand for the tools and adoption of PRM. Further support by the industry is essential. Areas of support include more PRM tools, risk management decision making tools, margin calculators and or information that will help farmers understand their price risk and make an informed PRM plan suitable for their individual situation.

 Accepting Price Volatility or Managing for Price Stability is a choice – Satwant Singh

Navigating constraints: Primary producers coping in changing contexts.

Executive Summary

This report investigates the wide variety of ways that producers (farmers and fishers) have coped with constraints. These constraints include industry restructure, market pressures and environmental restrictions. How environmental limits have been navigated, and even utilised, is a major focus of the report since this is a current issue for New Zealand (NZ) farmers. In looking at the overseas stories and in ‘bringing it home’ to the experience of farmers in the Lake Rotorua catchment, the report explores what producers have done, how they have thought and what may be useful to them in the future.

Farming is an interaction between the individual farmer (often with family), the physical features of the farm and the wider environment it operates in. Because of the complex and adaptive nature of this farming system, a useful way of framing this report has been to use ‘resilience thinking’. Resilience is defined as a system’s capacity to respond effectively to change. Resilience thinking assumes that change is normal not unusual, and considers the adaptive capacity of the people involved with the farm system. It has also provided a useful model of responses to change–strategies of Exploit, Absorb, Adjust or Transform (EAAT) (Darnhofer et al. ,2010b). Resilience thinking allows us to view farming as a dynamic system that is shaped and re-shaped by changing contexts.

Overseas producers that have successfully coped with constraints seem to accept this inevitability of change, and are anticipating what that might mean for them as far as they can. Two major strategies for coping with a gradual ‘expected’ change pressure, such as environmental limits, are Exploit or Adjust. The first strategy is Exploit where the farm takes advantages of successful existing activities to compensate for the stress in other aspects, – adaptation is thus marginal. Farmers that successfully respond with Exploit often drive efficiency in their operation and/or increase scale; they have a clear understanding of what their resources are and how best to use them. The second strategy is Adjust. Here the disturbance requires more adaptation of farming – maybe new production methods, new products, on-farm processing, etc. Both Exploit and Adjust farming strategies employ excellent business management, have a range of networks from which to glean new ideas and consciously adapt farming practices to reduce impact on the environment (and often to otherwise respect what non-farming people consider important). Farmers who have successfully made more adaptations in their farming business have experimented or diversified – both to test options and to provide a ‘broader base’ to their business. These farmers also recognise the importance of their own relational skills. Final aspects of successful adaptation using an Adjust strategy involve farmers choosing actions that mesh well with their values and that in some way satisfy their identity as a farmer. This report includes many quotes and two farmer case studies that showcase these elements. Strategies for sudden change are Absorb and Transform – these parallel Expoit and Adjust, with Absorb coping with the crisis out of the farm system’s capacity to buffer shocks (eg using equity) and Transform responding to the shock with major changes to the farm activities. They are not considered in depth as they do not relate so well to environmental limits. Rotorua farmers have been working with regulatory limits to achieve water quality outcomes for over 10 years. However now they face a ‘step change ’ from staying within a nutrient cap to making significant nutrient loss reductions. While they have so far generally been able to respond with the marginal changes of Exploit, these farmers may soon need to adapt further and Adjust. A survey of Rotorua farmers shows that there is significant scope to support how New Zealand farmers cope with environmental limits.

Outside influences are most helpful with actions taken alongside their farm businesses (e.g. learning about the environmental issue, or increasing their involvement with community or industry groups). Both ‘thinking’ (e.g. considering different future possibilities for their farm) and actions within the farm business (e.g. experimenting with farm management strategies) also have significant influence by an outside person/experience. Rotorua farmer responses to open ended survey questions pointed strongly to: their need for confidence in the wider change process; a desire for multidisciplinary solutions; the deep value of interaction with others; an d the contribution of personal resilience factors to how they think about change.

The main findings of this project come from aligning overseas experiences with the responses from Rotorua farmers, which reveals several areas that require action in order to better support farmers to live with and shape change. These are listed below.

Social/situation enabling

  • Develop a strategy for understanding and fulfilling farming’s social licence to operate.
  • Support farmer confidence in the processes of achieving environmental outcomes.
  • Initiate reflection to reexamine farming beliefs and re-form meaning and identity.

Mind-set enabling

  • Train rural professionals to lead the way with the skills and language of adaptation, and to focus on the process of making choices in their work with farmers.
  • Widely explore what diversity may mean in NZ agriculture settings.
  • Develop a self-evaluation process for farmers to identify strengths and opportunities in their farming ‘change-ability’.

Relational enabling

  • Facilitate farmers entering into a multidimensional web of networks, which may have to utilise a range of means.
  • Creatively work relational skill development into more than human resource (HR) activities.

Functional enabling

  • Continue to build business, technology and systems understanding to provide a robust base for adaptation and a ‘library of innovation options’.
  • Work with the technology sectors that provide tools that will support NZ agribusinesses’ ability to retain their social licence to operate and remain profitable.

Industry transformation

  • Integrate the above and lead industry adaptation that answers society’s desires and thus protects future competitiveness.

Readers of this report will thus gain insight into the wide variety of ways that producers have coped with constraints and the experience and desires of NZ farmers now coping with environmental limits. Overall, this report signposts current opportunities to support adaptive and resilient farming in a changing New Zealand context.

 Navigating Constraints: Primary producers coping in changing contexts – Sharon Morrell

How can self-awareness and self-reflection ignite a farmer’s motivation to engage in leadership.

Executive Summary

Changing economic and social pressures in the rural sector mean farmers need to change the way they act and react to challenges if they want to survive and thrive. Strengthening rural leadership has been identified as a key opportunity to help famers to respond and adapt to their changing environment both on-farm and with in their wider sector. From the findings of my research, self-awareness and self-reflection are two recognised traits that show strongly in farmers who are performing well in leadership positions. The link between self-awareness and leadership is strong (Musselwhite, 2007), but the understanding of this link by farmers is limited.

By understanding their past, their experiences and actions, and connecting that with their personality type and leadership style, farmers will be more empowered and prepared to step into the leadership roles that are required to ensure the agriculture sector remains vibrant and adaptable in the future. When a farmer makes time to learn about and reflect on their past experiences, it creates a lightbulb moment.

This lightbulb moment creates an ignition of thought which stimulates them to seek what they need to learn about their leadership style and where they are best suited to contribute their leadership skills. Everyone has the potential to be a leader, whether in their own personal business or the wider sector. To understand this and make a conscious decision to place themselves in an area that is best suited to them, farmers then ensure their effort will provide the biggest benefit to themselves and those around them.

How can self-awareness and self-reflection ignite a farmer’s motivation to engage in Leadership – Ben Allomes

New Zealand must embrace long term relationships with Asia

New Zealand agriculture must embrace long term relationships with our Asian customers, in particular China, says 2011 Nuffield Scholar David Campbell of Canterbury. “Too many New Zealanders misunderstand China and its potential. It troubles me that so many of us have such a narrow view on China given they are our number one market for the next century,” he says.

Mr Campbell has just completed his Nuffield Scholarship study report detailing two Asian markets, China and India, and outlining key market advantages, challenges and high level solutions to help create sustainable and profitable future markets for NZ agriculture.

In the last decade New Zealand agricultural exports to Asia have increased 71% to NZ$6 billion with China now the largest of these Asian markets. Growth is set to continue as the Asian economies continue to outpace those of the US or Europe.

“An increasing proportion of Asia’s large population will develop internationally competitive purchasing power and consumers will be more able to afford the safe, high quality and innovative foods that NZ agriculture is capable of producing,” he says.

Mr Campbell spent March through August 2011 overseas as part of his Nuffield Scholarship. He said being so far away from normal life and work (Synlait in Canterbury) was a great part of the challenge and the experience. First on the schedule was a global focus tour with a group of Australian Nuffield scholars.

“We basically went around the world – Brazil, Mexico, the US, Canada, Scotland – looking at all aspects of agriculture. We looked at farms and farm systems, visited processors, research institutions, wholesalers, retailers, trade officials and government departments – even the US Congress. An important part of the whole Nuffield experience is to give a well-rounded look at agriculture globally.”

David met up with his wife Sue in Italy before heading off on his own three month study tour of India, China and Japan to form the basis of his just-released report.

“China is described as New Zealand agriculture’s number one market for the next century due to its on-going economic strength, population dynamics and Government policy direction. The New Zealand/China Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and our reputation for high standards of food safety represent key market advantages for us.”

But he says New Zealand also faces challenges in understanding and engaging with Chinese customers, including language and cultural barriers, low purchasing power parity, New Zealand’s lack of capital and scale and Chinese Government processes.

The release of Mr Campbell’s report is timely given the recent interest and comment on the Chinese purchase of the Crafar farms. He doesn’t want to specifically enter the debate but says it illustrates some of the key findings of his study.

“It’s had a pretty thorough thrashing already. I personally believe the OIO made the right decision, and that it appears that Landcorp is doing a good job of engaging with the Chinese buyer for a win-win outcome.”

“My four key solutions for China are; get closer to the customer, build relationships, extend the value chain with a ‘One World’ approach, and get clear on strategy so we focus our attentions on what the customer wants and how we can add value for them. China is setting up long term strategic partnerships and supply chains around the globe. They’re demonstrating they want to engage with the world. NZ has natural advantages and a great reputation in agriculture so it makes sense for China to look for agricultural investments and relationships here,” he says.

He says one of New Zealand agriculture’s key advantages over its competitors at the moment is the country’s status as the first OECD nation to sign a free trade agreement with China.

“But we’re missing out on some of the benefits that the FTA has created because of an apparent fear of Chinese investment. We’re really short of capital, and China has lots to invest. So we have to marry the two together – take the capital and the pathway to market, concentrate on what we do really well or where we have unique advantages, and commit to mutually-beneficial relationships. If we’re too narrow-minded in our view on China, they will look elsewhere and we will miss out forever.”

“If people take the time to visit China they will see there’s a significant amount of pollution, large tracts of land in China are desert and there is huge pressure on natural resources to sustain their population. They just don’t have the agricultural production they need to feed themselves. And they often don’t trust the safety of the food that they do produce. This provides a great opportunity for New Zealand agriculture to capitalise on,” he says.

India represents a significant potential market for NZ agriculture worthy of development and investment; however it is currently a much smaller market than China. One of the advantages for New Zealand agriculture is an existing “brand NZ” presence through international cricket, while market challenges include significant agricultural tariffs, diverse culture and taste preferences, low beef consumption, lack of significant cold chain and modern retail infrastructure and bureaucracy.

For India, one of Mr Campbell’s four key solutions is to encourage the signing of a NZ/India bilateral FTA.

“I had never been to Asia before but that was part of the challenge for me – it was quite foreign – but I had a strong belief I needed to know more about it because it’s so important to the future of agriculture in New Zealand.”

He will be presenting his report to the Allflex Platinum Primary Producers Conference in March, as well as the Nuffield Conference in April and is happy to discuss his findings with others in the industry interested in greater engagement with Asia.

David’s Nuffield report can be downloaded here.