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

Hamish Murray podcast - Building stronger on-farm teams

From Bluff Station to Cambridge University and back.

This transcript of the podcast was edited for clarity.

Bryan Gibson – Editor of Farmer’s Weekly.
I’m Bryan Gibson, editor of the Farmer’s Weekly. And this morning I’m talking to Hamish Murray. How’s it going?

Hamish Murray – 2019 Nuffield Scholar, Bluff Station, Marlborough.
Good. Thanks, Bryan. And you?

BG: You’re in Marlborough, is that right?

HM: We are an hour south of Blenheim, 45 minutes north of Kaikoura on the east coast, inland at Kekerengu.

We’re a high-country sheep and beef farm that stretches into the Clarence Valley. The Homestead is about five minutes from the coast and goes all the way into the base of Tapuae-o-Uenuku. It’s about 35 km’s to the back boundary. We run Merino sheep, Hereford Angus cattle, and we have about 800 beehives.

BG: How have things been going this year for you?

HM: We’ve had a great season with 300mm of rain through late January, early February. It’s meant our autumn has been incredible, and stock are in good condition. We’re through the bulk of our work now. It’s starting to quiet down for the next five weeks before we look at shearing ewes at the start of August.

BG: I noticed from your bio you went to Cambridge University?

HM: Yeah. I suppose like many farmers at one point, you were told to get out and go and do something other than agriculture. And so, I spent a lot of my former years trying to give myself an opportunity to do anything other than be a farmer.

I was sitting on a train on the way to a job interview in London, after graduating from Cambridge. It was then that I realised I really wanted to be back in New Zealand chasing stock around and being part of the farming community. I wanted to give our children the opportunity to grow up with the same experiences as we had.

BG: How was that time in the UK at university for you? Must have been quite eye opening.

HM: I was fortunate to get the opportunity to study there. I played a good level of sport playing in the varsity match on a couple of occasions while studying economics.

It was an incredible experience. It pushed me mentally as far as I could have been pushed. The expectation to perform and to be part of that was a great challenge. I thoroughly enjoyed it and look back on it fondly.

Pushing your limits and personal growth.

BG: And in 2019 you went through the Nuffield Scholarship Programme.

HM: Again, fortunate to be given the opportunity to do some travel. I felt that when I was in the UK, I was on a student budget. So, I didn’t really get the opportunity to do the travel that I would’ve liked while I was there.

The Nuffield Farming Scholarship gave me the opportunity to look at agriculture in different parts of the world with a whole lot of like-minded people.

My topic was to look at teams and what made certain businesses successful or workplaces more enjoyable and engaging for staff.

I had a real challenge about five years after coming home from overseas. We had a significant drought here in Marlborough and North Canterbury, and it pushed me to an emotional breaking point. I’d played top level sport so I knew, physically, how far I could push myself.

Studying at Cambridge I’d reached that mental breaking point also. My limits had been challenged there. But I’d never had an emotional breaking point like this drought caused. I’m not unique in that. Everybody has these challenges. At that time, I exhausted myself trying to keep our team, our staff, and our family going.

That was a significant point for me. I became focused on how to better lead myself first. That grew over the next couple of years as we recovered and then grew into how to better lead our teams.

Nuffield study and building better teams.

My focus at the time of the Nuffield was around productive, efficient, and effective teams. What makes some places more engaging and motivating for staff to work in.

Then with Nuffield I was lucky enough to look at businesses all around the world that were held up on those pillars. What made them different, what made them tick, and what might that mean for the future of work in New Zealand – in the ag space, especially.

BG: So can you talk a little bit about who you looked at and what some of the keys to building a successful team might be?

HM: With my Nuffield travel I got to see businesses in the Netherlands healthcare industry that had developed these self-managing teams called Buurtzorg. I spent time in Silicon Valley too, looking at a lot of tech companies.

Everywhere I went, I was looking at teams and what made them successful. And then coming home, I spent time with the Crusaders looking at what made them different. How have they been able to win multiple championships, seemingly pulling from the same talent pool as the rest of New Zealand.

BG: And were there some takeaways from that can be applied to the agriculture situation? What sort of changes did you end up making, say, in your own business to overcome the sort of challenges you had with the drought?

Building self-awareness and self-aware teams.

HM: A lot of what I learned was building on those challenges we had been working through. Self-awareness was a huge one. Building self-awareness together as a team was significant for all these businesses. They found their own individual ways to work together on the soft skills that make teams work well together.

People don’t leave a job necessarily because they don’t like it. They leave the job because they don’t like the boss or their workmates.

“So much of what we focus on is the technical stuff in doing the job, rather than working on working together.”

How do we best understand the individual attributes that people bring to a team? Little things as simple as how do people like to learn? How do they like to communicate? For example, what do I look like on a good day? What do I look like on a bad day? And how to come up with strategies as a team to overcome those things.

BG: You mentioned the Crusaders and Scott Robertson’s approach to coaching and team culture. He seems to find out, as you say, the best way to do knowledge transfer, depending on that person’s mental makeup. And that’s part of the success, isn’t it?

HM: Absolutely. One example for me was the way every business or every super rugby franchise has their values in big print somewhere in their changing room so that everyone sees them. It’s kind of the way that people do it.

The real gold comes from when you spend time to work out with people what those values look, sound, and feel like.

Until you dig deeper with your individuals. As the people in your team change, how does that look, sound, and feel for those particular people at that time? That makes these things come alive and become more of an ingrained part of your culture.

BG: It seems that the world we live in now seems to be more challenging for both individuals and workplaces. So, this kind of approach and strategy, if you are running a team, is only going to become more important.

The Nuffield Scholarship and creating the space to grow.

HM: Wellbeing is important but being able to bring your whole self to work is even more so. As you get away from the hierarchy of things, people want to be able to turn up. They don’t want to be a different person at work than at home.

To truly understand people, we’ve got to listen and ask better questions, and get to the bottom of truly understanding them. Then we can build a safety network of people around them, allowing them to flourish in our workplaces.

BG: So you obviously enjoyed the experience of going through the Nuffield Programme?

HM: I couldn’t recommend it enough. One of the greatest challenges for me, and one of the biggest learnings, was being able to set our business up with our team to create the opportunity for staff to step into that space. Then I could be away for nearly five months.

They really grew into that opportunity, by me getting out of their way, yet still giving them enough support.

I think that’s been one of the greatest growth opportunities for me – is create the space for our team to step into. They’ve thrived in that opportunity.

We haven’t gone back to where we were before. That has been significant and enjoyable for me. And when I look back on the opportunity, the travel, the study, and the chance to look around and gain many ideas from many businesses around the world – it was fantastic.

“When I think back on what the greatest significance has been, it would be the growth in our team and in our business, simply because of being able to get my own ego out of the way.”

BG: Among all of what we’ve been speaking about, there was the earthquake down your way, too. That must have been a massive challenge.

HM: It was, yes. We had four of six houses rebuilt. I was away, so my wife and three kids were living in a cottage while our house was being rebuilt. Jess managed the rebuild, looked after three kids who were just five, three, and one – while I was traveling around the world with Nuffield.

Yes, there were lots of challenges in that – but lots of growth for all of us too.

BG: Teamwork with a capital ‘T’ there. Good grief.

HM: Yeah. Very lucky, very grateful. And it’s nice to be able to repay some of the faith that people have put in me.

BG: Thanks for listening to Ideas That Grow, a Rural Leaders podcast. This podcast was presented by Farmers Weekly.

For more information on Rural Leaders, the Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarships, please visit ruralleaders.co.nz/nuffield.

Connect with Hamish on LinkedIn.

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

Ideas That Grow: Kate Scott, 2018 Nuffield Scholar.

The interview with Kate Scott took place in May 2022 and the version below was edited for clarity. Listen to the podcast above for the original conversation.

Bryan Gibson – Editor of Farmer’s Weekly.

I’m Bryan Gibson, editor of the Farmer’s Weekly. And today we are talking to Kate Scott who is calling from central Otago. Is that right Kate?

Kate Scott – 2018 Nuffield Scholar and Landpro Executive Director.
Yes, it is. I’m based in, what is typically, sunny Central Otago. So, a little place called Bannockburn is where I call home, which is just out of Cromwell for those listeners who aren’t familiar with the area.

Bryan: Good stuff. And what took you to Bannockburn?

From dairy farming in Taranaki to environmental consulting in Otago.

Kate: A little bit of a strange story. So, some people will know that I hail from Taranaki originally. I grew up on a dairy farm in Taranaki and some 16 years ago, my husband and I packed up our life to go and milk cows in central Otago. So probably not the most usual journey to dairy farming – was shifting from dairy farming central to Central Otago. But that’s how we ended up in the South Island.

Bryan: And enjoying the journey down there?

Kate: Yeah, look, it’s been an amazing journey for us. So, my husband, who coincidentally, his first name is Scott – it confuses a lot of people when I refer to him. But Scott and I shifted down and we were on farm, milking cows for about seven or eight years all up. Then we took the opportunity to pursue some other avenues at that point, after a year of working together on farm. We moved off-farm and started Landpro, which is a consultancy business that’s been growing since 2007, now to a team of about
80 people.

We’re an environmental consultancy business and probably 60 to 70% of our work would be in the primary sector, working with farmers and growers to help them to navigate what are not insignificant hurdles and challenges in the environmental space. And now we also happen to call a small vineyard home too. I can’t say I know a heck of a lot about vineyards, but it’s been a pretty quick learning curve and something that we are really enjoying. Being able to have a little bit of space in such a beautiful part of the country.

Bryan: Wow. So, you are making wine now!

Kate: Yeah. To be fair. I don’t really make it, the only thing I’m probably good at is the drinking bit, but we do have some wonderful winemakers that work with us to make the wine from the grapes we are growing on our land.

Bryan: Well, that is um, a terribly important skill to have.

Kate: It is.

The Nuffield Scholarship and gaining new perspectives.

Bryan: And amongst all that, I think it was 2018 when you did your Nuffield Scholarship, is that correct?

Kate: That’s right. So, I was a 2018 Nuffield Scholar. That was an amazing journey, you know, having that opportunity to travel the world and to not only undertake, a research project, which I’ll tell you about in a little bit, but also that opportunity for personal growth and reflection and understanding. And I think as much as anything, to understand how the world works.

For me, probably one of the standouts was learning about the role of geopolitics within food and within agriculture. And I call on the things that I observed and learnt during that process often – now in my day job. But yeah, it’s certainly been one heck of a journey since that time. That’s for sure.

Bryan: Now your topic seems to me to be a little bit related to your consultancy, is that right? Um, taking a look at how New Zealand farmers can embrace, and improve sustainability, that sort of thing.

Kate: Yeah, that’s correct. What I did my research on was enabling better environmental outcomes in agriculture. Back in 2018, I was starting to see a bunch of the challenges that certainly a number of my clients were facing. How could they ensure they continued to have profitable businesses, but deliver better outcomes for the environment too? So those challenges that we’re all probably feeling more acutely now.

I took that opportunity to go and have a look to understand what things we were doing well. I asked, what are the areas where we can do things better? Some of the findings I identified in my research were things like, you know, I felt that we had to have an overarching strategy for sustainable agriculture within New Zealand, because if we’re not all on the same page, in terms of where we are wanting to go, how are we going to get there? How do we create that coherence?

I also identified during that study, that there’s a bunch of barriers in the way. And look, it’s perhaps a little odd for the consultant to say, but in my view, sometimes I think, if we could change our approach and view the world with a ground-up perspective and have less regulation, not more, we might actually end up with much better outcomes for our communities, for our environment and for our businesses. And so all these things that are just as relevant then as they are now.

I think the importance of supporting and enabling farmers to continue to do really great work is hugely important to me. That’s what drives me to get out of bed in the morning. It’s knowing that by working with those clients, we’re actually helping them to showcase and demonstrate the good things they are doing and identify the areas where they can continue to work on to do more.

And I think it’s been a real shift in the view of farmers in that space, since 2018. You know, the amount of knowledge and understanding that farmers have gained in that time has also been quite significant.

The Nuffield Research and a global context.

Bryan: Now, obviously you did a bit of travel. What did you see out there in the big, bad world, that either worked or didn’t as far as this goes?

Kate: One of the things I found really fascinating at the time, that was probably quite reassuring, was that New Zealand farmers for a while there were certainly getting a really bad rap about all the terrible things they did. But when I went out and had a look at the way that agriculture was being undertaken and other parts of the world, it pretty much highlighted for me that there was a lot of things we were doing very well.

In terms of managing the effects of our activities on the environment. I think one of the other things that stood out for me is that we actually have quite different challenges in terms of our environmental impacts from farming here in New Zealand compared to elsewhere.

An example of that would be that we run a predominantly pastoral agricultural system and therefore our impacts on fresh water, they will be some of the core concerns we see, and still see, here in New Zealand. Whereas if you go to other parts of the world there’s a whole lot more of their agriculture undertaken in indoor systems.

The impacts and the challenges that were top of mind for those farmers at that point in time were more along the greenhouse gas and emissions space. Identifying that we all have the same top 10 issues and challenges we are trying to overcome. They just came in a different order, depending which parts of the, the world we were undertaking our activities. I found that quite fascinating.

The other thing that I found interesting was the differences in scale. Some of the solutions I might have seen that were being deployed around some of the climate-smart agriculture in places like Denmark, for example, where, you know, you’re talking about very small-scale farms, perhaps those solutions aren’t likely to gain much in the way of traction in New Zealand. So, look, I think that was a really fascinating observation – that there isn’t a one size fits all in terms of an approach. I don’t think there’s any one silver bullet out there.

Bryan: You mentioned earlier about the pros and cons of having quite a strict regulatory framework. Did you see anything abroad that was better or worse than what we have?

Kate: It’s fair to say the deep-dive that I did into the regulatory space, around controls relating to agriculture in the environment – it’s probably fair to say that as a general rule New Zealand has some of the more stringent requirements. Obviously, some regions are different to others, but if we go into some of the more stringent regional requirements around land use controls on farming, it often wasn’t the case that those same level of controls were necessarily required through parts of Europe, where I spent a lot of my time. They had other controls and measures in place.

So, for example, it might have been the P caps that might’ve been in place. Yes, they had some controls, but they probably weren’t quite as stringent as some of the challenges we were facing here.

But they’re also quite difficult to compare because there were different layers of government, and different issues and challenges that were trying to be overcome. That was probably one of the challenges when I was trying to do a more in-depth analysis. It became quite difficult cause you weren’t always comparing apples with apples.

Tackling agriculture’s regulatory challenges.

Bryan: Seems to me, sticking with that regulatory sort of avenue, that the market itself seems to be starting to move farmers and food producers in that direction. And you know, maybe you can get more buy in that way. Is that something you’re seeing?

Kate: Yeah, look, I’ve seen a really big shift. I spend a lot of time talking to a broad range of farmers from a range of different sectors and catchment groups. And one of the things I often talk about is the fact that we need to make sure that from a mindset point of view, if we stop thinking about all of this change being regulatory driven.

It’s not just central government or local government making the rules to say that we have to change. If we actually think about it in the context of the consumer and those people that want to buy our meat or our milk, or our wood, those people are wanting to see, and be confident, that the products that they’re buying are doing the right thing. Whether that’s by the environment, or by people, or by animal welfare.

I very much believe that there’s a real market-driven change occurring there. But again, if we come back to our mindset, if we view the change in the construct of a market-driven change, then instead of doing it because someone’s telling us to do it, which we inherently don’t like to do, then our reason for doing it is a little bit different.

So, it becomes a lot easier to think, well actually, the reason I want to show why I’m doing a good job is because I want such and such, you know, and, you know, let the market actually value what I’m doing, and what I’m delivering, and how I’m doing a good job. The perspective shift actually helps to drive people along towards the change piece.

Bryan: I guess, chasing premium is a lot better than avoiding fines.

Kate: Exactly. It’s a pretty strong incentive there.

Sustainability and the speed of change.

Bryan: Yeah. Obviously, it’s been three or four years since you carried out your studies, and as we’ve been talking, the journey along this sustainability path is continuing – how do you feel about where we are at the moment?

Kate: I think one of the biggest challenges we’ve got at the moment is the speed at which things are changing. It doesn’t matter whether you’re in the rural sector or you’re in any other sector – the speed and pace of change is getting quicker. One of the challenges I have in my job is things are changing so quickly, that sometimes it feels like you are trying to drink from a firehose. I think that’s the overwhelming bit that everyone’s probably feeling and the pressure that everyone’s feeling.

I think that there’s an amazing amount of good work being done by farmers, and by catchment groups and communities coming together to actually understand how they can do a better job. That’s not always recognised for what it is either.

My advice to farmers is keep doing a good job, keep striving for change and improvement. If you take little steps, you’ll actually get there. That’s something we’ll start to see bed in a little more.

One of the challenges everyone is facing is this lack of certainty, particularly when we look in the regulatory space, how do we plan for what’s coming? Or how do we plan to implement change when we don’t know if it’s stopped, or is it still coming? I think that’s the part that people are finding hard to overcome in terms of taking that next step in the progress space.

Bryan: As you say, the pace of change seems to be quickening and people in my line of work are probably somewhat responsible for some of that. But one thing you can’t make go faster is the physical and biological processes of the environment, so you know, it takes a while for changes to filter through, doesn’t it?

Kate: Yeah, it sure does. And you know, we also need to make sure that if we want change to be a long and enduring change, I strongly believe that that change needs to be led from the ground up, rather than the top down.

A really big part of my Nuffield research was about taking that, that ground up approach and leading everyone along with you rather than telling them what to do. I think, where we are starting to see some of that meaningful change is from those communities and those areas where they’ve actually seen the value in coming together as groups to support the change.

That comes back to the fact you need to have a profitable business to be able to implement change. There’s still a lot of work going to have to continue to happen around how we adjust our farm systems to meet the challenges from both a climate change, and from a biodiversity point of view. But it’s a matter of how we find ways to work together and support that together, rather than the loneliness of trying to do it on your own the whole time?

The Nuffield Scholarship – positive, life-changing, challenging, and giving back.

Bryan: So now it’s quite obvious that in your Nuffield studies you’ve learned a lot, but how was the experience for you?

Kate: Hmm, you’ve spoken to a number of scholars through the podcast series you’ve been doing, but they all, well the ones I’ve listened to, talk about the fact that it was this life changing moment. That’s completely true. But I often try, when people ask me about it, to describe it as being this event that is kind of a positively disruptive thing in your life, that at the time.

Sometimes when you’re living it, you are, not sure what it means. It tips your world upside down and you feel very uncomfortable about your place in the world. But as you work your way through that, and you get the opportunity to reflect on it, then you see it as this hugely positive experience.

For me, that positivity comes from the people you meet, the family of other scholars that wrap around you. That you have this network of people, of Nuffield scholars open to you picking up the phone or flicking them an email. And they’re immediately interested in connecting with you on any range of issues or challenges.

And that’s about that whole challenging of your perspective and your knowledge and your understanding – building yourself.

The people have been the amazing part of the opportunity and that personal growth, that business growth too, certainly that also comes from that experience. It’s been one of the most amazing things that has happened.

I think sometimes we can get or fall into the trap where we think we do our Nuffield Scholarship, and then that’s that – the end. But actually, I would probably view Nuffield, and once you complete your travels and your report, that’s kind of the start of the journey. It’s asking what next? and how we apply what we’ve learned, and how we give that back to our sector – to the primary sector, that’s the really exciting piece.

The future of food and fibre is in the hands of our bold and our grounded people – those who give back to their communities and industries.

Sound like you?

Register your interest to find out more.

Lucie Douma: Entering an unknown future – 2022 Nuffield CSC – Norfolk, United Kingdom

Lucie Douma

2022 Nuffield Scholar

I was lucky enough to be at the first Contemporary Scholars Conference (CSC) to take place as the world is starting to see out the other side of the Covid pandemic. It was quite surreal to be with two-years’ worth of scholars (roughly 140 people) from 15 countries, all in one place for eight days. Considering most of us have not travelled for more than two years it was a bit of re-learning how to travel and manage the new ‘Covid’ rules. But it felt normal again. This feeling couldn’t be bet.

The feeling of returning to normality comes with a number of new challenges. These global challenges affect all of our agriculture systems and our farmers. The challenges we are facing are:

Two weeks before the CSC took place, Russia invaded the Ukraine.
Dealing with the aftermath of the world being shutdown for two years from Covid, and the damage this has caused to our respective supply chains.
The implementation of Brexit and creation of new Free Trade Agreements with countries.

These large challenges were common themes to all of our discussions during the conference.

How do we navigate this new world from Norfolk?

We also spent a significant amount of time at the Norwich Research Park which is home to pioneering research and solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges including; food shortages, an ageing population and climate change. The perfect place for us! Here we tackled some big questions from potential meat free days to water shortage.

Innovation in agriculture in Norfolk can be seen at the Food Enterprise Park where Fischer Farms has begun work on a £25m project to build the world’s largest vertical farm. The vertical farm will be 25,000sqm of stacked growing space for salad leaves, herbs and other fresh produce for supermarkets.

Fischer Farms claims they will be able to produce the same amount of food in its four-acre building as would be possible on 1,000 acres of conventional British farmland. What does this mean for conventional British farming? The question becomes, is there room for both and how do they co-exist? This is what Tristan Fischer (CEO of Fischer Farms) tasked us with designing a solution for.

Learning from other scholars

I greatly valued learning from the other scholars on the challenges they face in their countries with agriculture. It was heartening to hear that we face similar challenges. However, having read through other Nuffield reports these challenges were already recognised 5-10 years ago.

One example is the vegan movement, which is getting worse and there is now a greater level of activism amongst vegan and environmental groups who appear to have coalesced in some areas (including the UK).

If this is a sign to come, then in New Zealand we really need to be thinking how we can reduce our rural-urban divide. How do we encourage more participation in our agriculture sector? Is there a role for data here? This will lead me through to the rest of my research on data interoperability and the value of data.

Thank you to Rural Leaders and all those who support Nuffield for enabling us to travel to Norfolk and come together as a global community to address some of our big challenges in the sector. The experience and what I have taken out of it is invaluable, including all the new friends I have made.

Ngā mihi nui.

Parmindar Singh: 2022 CSC Insights – Norfolk, UK

Parmindar Singh

2022 Nuffield Scholar

Background

The 2022 Nuffield Contemporary Scholars Conference (CSC) was held during March 2022. Nuffield 2021 and 2022 Scholars travelled from 15 countries and were hosted in Norfolk, UK. Prior to our departure in March the New Zealand Government announced their plan to relax border restrictions, welcoming New Zealand residents back to New Zealand. With this announcement we had the opportunity to attend the CSC in the UK and represent Nuffield New Zealand.

Pre-conference, Lucie Douma and I spent time with Nuffield Scholars David and Christine Hill in Norwich. David and Christine introduced us to agriculture to Norfolk, where we visited their arable farming business, visited friends of the Hills who were dairy farmers in the village and toured the local town and village getting an insight into farming in Norfolk. David and Christine shared with us their farming and family history and the challenges the UK farming sector was facing.

Farms in the Norwich area consisted of generational farming with long-time family connections to the land and estates. Larger estates like Holkham Hall consisted of variable farming and commercial enterprises and considerable land ownership. These estates are well recognised in the UK, along with their family ownership and heritage and in some circumstances their association to the House of Lords.

The UK Farming Situation: March 2022

The Russian invasion on Ukraine, has created a global humanitarian crisis. In the UK, it signified the immediate concern for food security and the additional pressure on farmers who had already been challenged over the past two years. Spiralling input costs were front of mind, particularly with wheat, fuel, energy and fertiliser costs.

Russia’s significant control over the supply of gas though the UK and the EU, imposed not only an increasing input cost on farm, however also increasing household and living costs. General conversation with the UK public, posed an anxious population with the on-going impact of covid-19 on businesses and the additional pressures from the Russian invasion on the Ukraine. It was interesting to note, that although the general UK population was sighting increasing food costs in the supermarkets, when comparing UK super market food costs with New Zealand super market food costs, it appeared that the cost of food in the UK was significantly less that the cost of food in New Zealand.

Additional changes in agriculture in the UK also reflect the transition from the long-standing EU scheme of agricultural subsidies (Common Agricultural Policy [CAP]) to the phasing out of the subsidy scheme with the exit of the UK from the EU. Post Brexit, the UK is navigating the challenges of staff shortages and increasing costs of production (which are likely to see the cost of local produce continue to increase), creating additional pressure for UK farmers.

Regenerative Agriculture was a topic discussed often and referred to as an opportunity to restore soil health and the quality of waterways, whilst reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enabling a healthy ecosystem; expanding the conversation of the global environmental challenge.

UK dairy farmers also expressed the increasing pressure and scrutiny they were facing from the public on environmental and animal welfare issues.

The CSC Agenda

The CSC agenda included presentations from agricultural leaders, identifying agriculture and the food of the world, British agriculture in a global setting, the impact of agriculture on climate and the global environmental challenge.

The all-important health, safety and wellbeing also featured on the agenda, with some real-life take-home messages and scenarios. A visit to the Norwich Research Park, highlighted the research and innovation undertaken in searching for solutions to worldwide challenges in food-related disease and research into plant sciences and species.

We also visited the Norwich Food Enterprise Park. This park has been created to encourage and support food production, processing and agriculture through co-location of commercial enterprises. Our visit to the park provided us with an opportunity to participate in a small group activity to come up with solutions to challenges four businesses in the park were facing. It was a great way to learn about real case scenarios and learn about a group of diverse agricultural businesses.

A visit to Houghton Estate and Dairy was enlightening, hearing from two enthusiastic farmers about their journey. Holkham Hall & Estate, was the final destination in Norwich. Holkham was somewhat surreal, with history dating back to the 1600’s and a family estate that was built for the 1^st Earl of Leicester in the 1700’s. The Estate consists of 25, 000 acres, with business ranging from agriculture, holiday park, retail to property development.

The final few days of the conference were spent in London, with a visit to the Houses of Parliament and a celebration to mark the closing of the CSC Conference with a Gala Dinner.

Learning from Global Scholars

The CSC offered the opportunity to engage with global agricultural leaders. Learning from other scholars about their country and their agriculture was a highlight.

Such a diverse group of agricultural enthusiasts, ranging from: cows, camels, poultry, crocodile, pigs, vineyards, horticulture, bees, deer, sheep, flowers, arable, sheep and beef to agricultural service and technology providers and developers (no doubt there was more). From the opening of the CSC on March 7^th to the closing of the CSC March 14^th, each day, a country group would present agriculture in their country.

Learning about how countries engage in agriculture and listening to the proud country men and women talk about their work and their countries work back home, was a great start to every day at the CSC.

NZ Farming vs UK Farming

UK is farmed according to landscape, water availability and weather/climate conditions much like NZ. Norwich for example consisted of predominantly arable farms, with variable crops (dominant crops included: wheat, oilseed rape and sugar beet) and forward negotiated contract agreements. Arable farms consisted of large fields and it was interesting to note that some fields were planted with more than one crop simultaneously.

Although the EU is recognised as a leading exporter of Dairy alongside New Zealand and the US, the UK was not seen as a leading exporter of dairy, conversely more of a domestic producer. New Zealand exports more than 90% of domestically produced dairy products and revenue exports contribute significantly to the New Zealand economy. The UK reports significantly less contribution to its national economy from its agricultural exports.

Across the UK, dairy farming appears to be more predominant in the South. As with NZ, some dairy systems are more complex than others and weather dictates the type of dairy system applied. The dairy farms we visited in Norfolk, housed their animals in barns, which appeared to be the dominant form of dairy farming system applied in this particular region in UK.

New Zealand Brand Reputation

CSC participant and fellow scholar feedback consistently focussed on a global perception of New Zealand producing premium agricultural products, with a focus on grass fed and an organic style of farming where products can be traced back to origins of a country that cares about their environment and animal welfare. “New Zealand punches above its weight”, was a consistent and humbling message from many fellow scholars.

My insight from the conference and travel, was that New Zealand is profound at producing premium quality food. Globally we are viewed as leading in all thing’s agriculture and we are seen as a country who cares about environment factors and animal welfare. We have a great story to tell, and we are getting better at telling it!

Lucie Douma and Parmindar Singh reporting from abroad.

After a two-year hiatus courtesy of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Contemporary Scholar Conference (CSC) finally took place this year, in Norfolk, UK. Lucie Douma and Parmindar Singh, 2022 Nuffield Scholars, attended and reported back on the event and their travels. The following article brings together these reports.

As part of their scholarship programme key milestones, they also compiled a brief insight work report.

Follow the links to read Lucie and Parmindar’s Insights Reports.

The 2022 Nuffield Contemporary Scholars Conference.

“Lucie Douma and I represented New Zealand this year. The Contemporary Scholars Conference was a great way to start the global aspect of our Nuffield Programme. The Conference provided an opportunity to meet global agricultural enthusiasts and build new network of connections,” says Parmindar Singh.

“Our hosting region, Norwich, is predominantly arable farming with notable long time family estates. The landscape, climate and access to water very much determines land use and production.

“Before the CSC, Lucie and I were very generously hosted by Christine and David Hill. David is a Nuffield Scholar who is still very active in the Nuffield community. David travelled the world to study biotech crops. His wife was a science teacher and very involved in agricultural education and research and is also actively involved in several Norfolk organisations working in this filed. They manage their 500+ha arable farm.

“David and Christine showed us around their neighbourhood, we visited a local dairy farm and learned about the Hill’s arable business and family history,” shares Parmindar.

Our hosts, Christine, and David Hill had introduced us to Norwich and to some of the Nuffield Team.

Sharing New Zealand with the world.

New Zealand, our farming systems, and the positioning we have on global markets was part of virtually every conversation Lucie and Parmindar had at the CSC. This was driven in some part by a presentation Lucie and Parmindar gave to those attending. This was a brief overview of the New Zealand food and fibre sector.

“At the start of each day of the CSC, representatives of all participating nations were asked to share a short presentation of the agricultural sector in their respective countries. In all cases the ten-minute time limit was not enough, and we were no different,” shares Lucie. “For our presentation, Parmindar opened with our values and understanding towards agriculture and how we incorporate the principles of Whakapapa and Kaitiakitanga.

“I did the second half of our presentation and covered the key statistics of farming in New Zealand and shared our vision of fit for a better world.”

Parmindar adds, “ Learning from other scholars about their country and their agriculture, was always a highlight of the day. To be given the opportunity to explain more about what we do here at home was a time for reflection on how proud I am to be a New Zealand farmer.”

The CSC business hackathon.

One of the initiatives included in the conference programme was the so called “business hackathon” where each group of scholars visited four different businesses over one day.

“The visits started with a 20-minute induction about the business followed by a specific challenge. Then as a group, we had to come together with a result – a solution to the challenge. We then had to present this to our hosts at the end of each session,’ explains Lucie Douma.

“It was an interesting way to get to know more about some of the notable businesses in the region. I really enjoyed the exchanges we had during the hackathon with the other scholars and the local business community,” adds Parmindar.

At the Houses of Parliament and the Palace of Westminster with Aussie friends

Two years’ Nuffield Scholars get together.

This year’s conference was the first after a two-year hiatus caused by Covid restrictions around the world.

“It was great to have two years combined – instead of having 60 or 70 people, we had 140. Also attending were the 2020 UK Scholars and we got to meet some of the alumni,” recounts Lucie.

Parmindar agrees, “All in all, CSC was a full-on conference, where we had the opportunity to meet passionate and enthusiastic global agricultural leaders.

“Many scholars commented on how New Zealand punches above its weight and has created a name for itself as a premium agricultural production powerhouse. It seems we are known as a small country with a notable place in the premium agri-products market.

“We also touched on many global issues around climate, water, and soil management along with political tension particularly with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the associated concerns for global food security.

“We’ve both been reflecting on the last few weeks and feeling very privileged to have had the opportunity to engage with whanau from across the globe! Thank you Nuffield New Zealand, the CSC in Norfolk was invaluable,” concludes Parmindar.

Lucie’s post-conference travels: North England, Scotland, Shetland Islands, Norway and the Netherlands.

Young Farmers Club, Shetland Islands - dog training session

Training session for a sheep dog, Shetland Islands

After the CSC, Parmindar travelled back to New Zealand to organise further travel plans for later in the year, while Lucie had the opportunity to further explore the United Kingdom and Europe.

She went to Wales, where unfortunately she tested positive for COVID and had to spend a week in isolation – giving her time to reschedule her itinerary.

“I went up through Northern England to The Lakes District and spent some time with farmers in Cumbria, and North Cumberland.

“What really struck me is that people were facing similar issues to what we do in New Zealand. Almost all farmers who have similar systems to us, are facing the same challenges with labour access and input costs. It’s a global problem, not a localised one.

“In Scotland, I visited Angus Soft Fruits. These growers supply 15 to 20% of all the fresh berries to UK supermarkets. It was interesting to talk to them and hear about the challenges they face with Brexit, and what they are doing to secure the labour they need to harvest. They need roughly 400 seasonal workers over the main picking period.

“They have contracts with growers in other countries like Morocco, Spain to ensure year-round berries are available for the UK supermarkets. It was informative to hear how they are dealing with the realities of modern farming,” says Lucie.

“The next stop was the Shetland Islands – probably the most eye-opening time I had. They farm so differently to us here in New Zealand, it’s a more community-based approach they have built there; where everybody supports each other,” explains Lucie.

“They don’t have the same labour challenges as larger farming operations do, because they operate as one community, they operate on mutual support – helping each other in times of need. That really came across in my conversations with the people there. They have an active young farmers group and I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with them. I really enjoyed that,” concludes Lucie.

Next on the schedule was a visit to a Norwegian salmon farm. “This is an industry that has risen at pace and scale over the last few decades. The wild salmon population around the Norwegian coast numbers 500,000. This farm has 11 cages with the capacity to hold 1.8 million salmon and there are over 1000 farms in Norway such as this one.

They are very advanced in some respects. When it comes to data management, similar issues exist around data interoperability of systems as with the agriculture sector. Biosecurity is an important issue for them as well,” adds Lucie.

Lucie then headed to the Netherlands, but not before experiencing full Norwegian blizzard.

The Netherlands had a highly advanced agriculture sector. From traditional horticulture and animal farming through to developing new industries, including camel milking.

Land-use change in the Netherlands means incorporating energy production into the systems. Some arable farms where busy building large wind turbines and other farms had solar panel fields incorporated within them. Lucie visited advanced farming barns where the whole rood was covered in solar panels.

“With the Russia-Ukraine conflict, energy production and self-sufficiency has come to the forefront of farming. All farming systems I visited were diversified in some part, and they all had a farm shop in order to share the story of their produce and build strong connections with the local communities,” recounted Lucie.

You can read both Lucie and Parmindar’s Insights Reports here.

Where it started – The Global Tour of New Zealand.

The ‘Global Tour of New Zealand’, as it was quickly named by 2020’s Nuffield Scholars, gave a unique view of the country’s food and fibre sector value chains. This year, the programme will be made richer still.

The Value Chain Innovation Programme will begin in September 2022 and is now open to a larger number of people in the primary sector.

Building the value.

A lot of work has gone into building a collection of exciting and varied case studies across dairy, arable, horticulture value chains. Participants learn straight from the source. They gain unique insights into food and fibre innovation, in both domestic and international markets.

The new programme gives a wide view of established and novel value chains. Participants compare and transpose thinking at a time when the primary industries are going through the biggest period of transformational change since the 1980’s.

“If you’re in food and fibre, now is the time to be gaining a pan-sector view of as many successful business models as possible,” says Lincoln University Lecturer Prof. and Programme Co-facilitator Hamish Gow,

“Increasingly the most successful value chains are those with business models closely aligned to their customers, use protected IP, and provide innovative shared value structures.”

The programme runs over five weeks, two of these are spent on the road. The remaining time is spent on an individual research report. “It will be a busy few weeks, with the time commitment being 100 hours on field trips, guest lectures and networking, online lectures and discussions, tutorials, and another 50 hours self-directed learning,” said Prof. Gow.

The programme delivery team.

New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust CEO Chris Parsons remarked, “As a global leader and thinker in value chain design, innovation and entrepreneurship, Professor Gow is uniquely qualified to impart deeper strategic learning and insight into the September programme.”

Leadership and Strategic Development Consultant, and Programme Co-facilitator Phil Morrison, ONZM, further strengthens the team. “We are also fortunate to have Phil onboard. He brings a different leadership perspective, drawing on a career in military command, and in the delivery of innovation, strategic and leadership training as a consultant. We couldn’t hope for a stronger team”, added Chris Parsons.

Building leadership capability.

Once completed, the programme will give participants the competencies, confidence, and networks to influence change and lead transformation at an enterprise level and throughout regional New Zealand.

Chris Parsons says, “We hope this programme will lead to positive larger scale change as our graduates continue to grow and contribute to a fast-changing food and fibre sector.”

Rural Leaders are taking applications until Sunday 10 July.

Applications can be made at ruralleaders.co.nz/value-chain/

Finding the next Nuffield Scholarship recipients.

After recent Nuffield strategic work, the Rural Leaders Team and the NZRLT Board have identified five highly desirable core attributes of a Nuffield Scholar. These won’t come as any great surprise to Nuffield Alumni, but articulating these simply has been a valuable exercise, especially as our 2023 Scholarship search is set to begin.

Here are the five attributes any scholar selection process will look for in terms of evidence that they exist or have the potential to emerge in an applicant.

Bold

The will to step forward, be willing to challenge conventional thinking, to act, to make decisions with confidence.

Innovative

Someone who can develop and express original thinking and ideas.

Motivated

Driven to go above and beyond to accomplish a goal. Someone who can find the energy and confidence needed to do so.

Perceptive

Possesses the cognitive, observational, and critical thinking abilities to assess challenges and generate usable insights.

Community-minded

Motivated to contribute to community by collaborating and sharing skills, knowledge, experience, and ideas, forging ever-stronger connections with people and place.

Six Alumni to help with this years’ Scholar search.

We’re fortunate to have so many inspiring alumni to help us drive this years’ scholar search. We’ll need to represent as many industries as possible as well as show the changing face of food and fibre.

From the Catlins to Nelson – Scholars photographed doing their thing.

We set off a on a road trip recently to capture a few Nuffield Alumni – in their natural habitat.

From a time and budget perspective, travel was kept in the South Island. We hope to make it up to the North Island as well at some stage.

There are still many industries not yet represented – we’ve done our best for now covering: Aquaculture, dairy, sheep and beef, horticulture, agri-business, and more broadly, entrepreneurialism.

A big thank you to the Nuffield Alumni that agreed to help us with this shoot. Your generosity with your time and the effort you made was greatly appreciated. Those images shown, or some like them, will be used in advertising for the upcoming 2023 search. Here’s a preview.

Kate Scott, 2018 Nuffield Scholar

While much of Kate’s work is done indoors these days, running her business Landpro, she has a background in resource management planning, part of which involves testing water. We wanted to show Kate outside, on the land, doing the work she did when she started her business in 2007.

Kate balances a young family with work and involvement with organisations outside of work too, such as being Chair of the New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust.

Julian Raine, 1997 Nuffield Scholar

Julian is involved in both the horticulture and dairy industries. For the purposes of this campaign, we captured Julian in one of his apple orchards near Richmond, in Marlborough. Julian is also partners with fellow Nuffield Scholar Murray King in Appleby Ice-cream.

One of Julian’s dairy farms was recently recognised by the SPCA for infrastructure aiding animal well-being. He has an eye on the future too, making at least a third of his orchards robot-ready.

Lynsey Stratford, 2021 Nuffield Scholar

Lynsey is a non-practising lawyer involved in her local rural community. She is a consultant for her business Primary People, which provides people management and development services to the primary sector.

We wanted to shoot Lynsey out with husband Chris on their dairy farm, situated in a unique part of the country at Curio Bay in Southland. Here, they have also recently covenanted 30 hectares of incredible bushland.

Andy Elliot, 2018 Nuffield Scholar

Andy is based in Nelson, Marlborough and is Research and Business Development Manager at Wakatū. He is at the cutting edge of aquaculture research and far from being daunted by the need for a lab, he created his own at the Cawthron Aquaculture Park. He is currently developing several projects.

Andy was also recently appointed to the Investment Advisory Panel for Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures.

Desiree Reid-Whitaker, 2010 Nuffield Scholar

Desiree is a former dairy farmer who learned the craft of whiskey distillation from some of the world’s best. Returning home to New Zealand, she spent six months finding the right location to build the Cardrona Distillery.

We wanted to capture Desiree in a beautiful environment loaded with visual clues that she has built everything in the most authentic way, not the easiest way.

Hamish Murray, 2019 Nuffield Scholar

Hamish farms sheep, cattle, and runs a substantial honey operation at Bluff Station, near Kaikoura. The station is as visually beautiful as it is vast and is run by an exceptional team of people. No surprises there, as Hamish is just as passionate about his own growth as he is about his team’s.

We were spoiled for choice at Bluff Station, the landscape is a photographer’s dream. The goal was to capture Hamish working – in this case moving cattle.

The Nuffield Contemporary Scholars Conference 2022.

Lucie Douma and Parmindar Singh, 2022 Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholars, have been in Norfolk, UK, for the Contemporary Scholars Conference (CSC).

Back after two years’ hiatus, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the CSC ran between 7 and 15 March.

The Contemporary Scholars Conference – all together now, finally.

The Conference gathers Scholars from the current year and creates opportunities for them to learn and get to know each other at the start of their Nuffield journeys. Nuffield Scholars each bring different expertise, and all are keen to share knowledge and discuss the big challenges.

The CSC is followed by the Global Focus Programme (GFP), where Scholars split into groups to travel around the globe, visit multiple countries, businesses, institutions, and research organisations. On the GFP, Scholars will begin to dig deeper into their topics of interest, they will gather information and explore solutions and ideas.

CSC 2022 – Food, climate, health.

The theme of this years’ Conference was “Food, Climate, Health”, but by all accounts, the discussions were far reaching and went beyond the theme, not surprising given the aim of any Nuffield initiative has always been to look at things differently.

The Conference itinerary was packed with quality content, Q and A sessions, workshops, and plenty of opportunity for networking between Scholars.

In a post early on the CSC, Lucie and Parmindar both share the excitement,

“What a privilege to be able to join 150 people from across 15 countries at the Nuffield Contemporary Scholars Conference in both Norwich and London.

The week was packed with inspirational speakers, farm visits, gala dinners, meeting MPs, and getting to know how other countries farm. We’ve met some incredible people along the way.”

The elephant in the room: War time food security.

When the Conference was planned, everyone’s mind was preoccupied with the Covid pandemic and when we would get that under control. If we only knew…

Just couple of weeks before the start of the CSC, a new global challenge arose – the Russian invasion in Ukraine, bringing a tsunami of worries around the world – the humanitarian devastation, the economic sanctions, the shifts in the political stances on so many issues. But there are massive implications for the agricultural sector and food security, caused by the war and the sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus.

As part of the conference a Dutchman, named Kees Huizinga, who farms in Ukraine, addressed the scholars and talked about what it is to farm in a war zone.

As Lucie recounts, “Kees gave a sobering account of what is happening on the ground in the Ukraine, where farmers have less than a two-week window to plant their crops for the next year, including wheat. They are short 200,000t of diesel and are afraid to drive their tractors at night because they light up like Christmas trees and become targets.”

Everyone in the room felt the situation required immediate action.

“I just heard of a group of UK farmers who are driving to the Ukraine border next week to drop off supplies. This is real action. My question to you is what can we do from New Zealand to support these farmers?”, asked Lucie.

Scholar, Camila Hayseldon-Ashby, from the UK also conveys the sense of urgency and desperation she felt during Kees’s talk:

“As well as the humanitarian and moral impact, the war will have a huge impact on food production. We go to our political representatives and make sure they understand how this is impacting food production and global food security.”

Aled Rhys Jones, Nuffield Farming Scholar, broadcaster, and podcaster tweeted,

Visiting the locals: Condimentum.

Another highlight for the New Zealand Scholars, was the visit to Condimentum. Lucie shared on LinkedIn after the meeting:

Great to spend the morning with CEO, David Martin and the wider team at Condimentum where they are going through an exciting Growth stage while servicing a 10 year contract with Unilever to supply Coleman’s Mustard, an iconic brand in the UK. Parmindar Singh and myself learnt a lot about the mustard business and suggested ways they could use their by-products as an income stream instead of a waste stream #Condimentum

The end of the beginning.

The week appeared very intense and busy, even from afar, and in Lucie’s words “An excellent week spent getting to know 150 scholars, across two years from all around the world.”

Another attendee, Helen Wyman, quoted Nuffield Scholar Wyn Owen at the conclusion of the conference – ‘The end of the beginning’ as she elaborates on the experience,

“On Tuesday I returned home emotional, tired and overwhelmed but after a few days of reflection I am excited about the future and look forward to visiting my new friends around the UK and the globe very soon.”

These were only some of the anecdotes from the conference. We’ll hear more from Lucie and Parmindar when they return to New Zealand to collect their thoughts.

The conference is over, but the journey still lays ahead. For most of the participating scholars, it will never end. After all, being a Nuffield Scholar is, above all, a mindset – to keep searching, keep daring, keep improving.

Mel Poulton: Insights from a Special Agricultural Trade Envoy.

2014 Nuffield Scholar Mel Poulton is someone with a unique perspective. Well, two really. As both a food producing farmer and New Zealand’s Special Agricultural Trade Envoy, we asked Mel to share her perspectives on trade, Nuffield, Brexit, and an industry grappling with significant global challenges.

Question: What do you do in your various roles?

Mel Poulton: In and on my farm business, I’m on both sides of the farm gate. I do anything from stockwork to bulldozing, to making all the decisions required to run a business.

In the Special Agricultural Trade Envoy (SATE) role, following my appointment, border closures and a vastly different global operating context, have meant changing how the role is delivered. It’s a two-pronged approach with an international and a domestic focus, mixed with face to face and virtual engagement.

I’ve been more purposeful working with the world here in NZ, by way of direct engagement with the International Diplomatic Corps here (they are the eyes, ears, and influencers of their nations in NZ). This engagement includes taking Ambassadors on x-sector farm tours, hosting Diplomatic Corps meetings, and meeting with them one-to-one, or with industry groups. I am also working internationally on virtual platforms, speaking on panels, webinars, or virtual meetings with farmers, and private and public sector organisations.

Covid has provided opportunity for me to invest more time and effort with NZ sectors (all food and fibre – except Forestry and Fisheries). My background is the sheep and beef sector, but I put a high priority on building a greater understanding of the other sectors I represent as well. I use these insights when engaging with each of the sectors, government, and the world.

Helping NZ food and fibre producers broaden their understanding of the global and domestic context is a priority too. Both behind and beyond our farm gates.

Q: What changes have you seen since being in your SATE role?

MP: Quite a few things.

Trade negotiations.
Trade negotiations, particularly the New Zealand-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA), have been the fastest progressed trade negotiations in New Zealand history to get to Agreement in Principle – so I’ve been told. Much of this negotiation has been done virtually, also a first. This will change the way trade negotiations occur in the future. A lot less travel overall.

Farm subsidies.
Direct and indirect farm subsidies in large economies, such as the USA, have increased exponentially. People may argue they have already exceeded agreed WTO thresholds.

Growing distrust.
There’s a growing distrust of governments in the democratic world. Governments need to work on their social licence to operate. Social licence is not just a thing for food producers.

Supply chain vulnerability.
Just In Time (JIT) delivery has been exposed for its supply chain vulnerability in this global pandemic. Economies and businesses will now be building more capacity in their value chain system. This will mean a more conservative approach to exports and imports, to withstand the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) in the world of trade, market access and freight.

Nevertheless, nothing beats high trust and long-term government to government, business to business, and people to people relationships across the world. New Zealand has optimised these relationships throughout the pandemic to utilise market diversity for navigating trade, market, and supply chain disruption.

For example, Covid19 related trade agreements to secure medical imports and food exports. As well as digital certification for export products, through to relationships that our major exporters have with freight companies, importers, and international customers. The last 18 months haven’t been easy, but these strong relationships, and diversity of markets, have shown their worth to New Zealand.

Food security.
Economies are moving from thinking about food security, to actively putting mechanisms in place to secure their food supply in a pandemic disrupted system, e.g., green lanes in Europe. There’s also a slow nuanced shift from food security to nutritional security taking place.

Regulatory pressure.
Farmers and food producers in New Zealand and around the world are wrestling with the multi-layered challenges of regulatory pressure (particularly on the environmental and climate change fronts), as well as market volatility, and Covid 19 induced uncertainty. This is increasing farm input costs and diminishing the tools available for farmers to use to produce food.

As an example, farmers in Europe have real fears about their ability to produce the volume of food required to stay viable and maintain food security. The new farm to fork strategy in the EU is deliberately shifting organic food production up to 25%, with rules to reduce synthetic fertiliser by 50%. Glyphosate use is under threat too. In some places farmers can’t use it (I note in New Zealand, the EPA is currently undertaking a review of Glyphosate use). There’s major transformational change happening in Europe.

The rush of multi-layered change gives a sense of exponential pressure. Farmers all over the world are feeling exasperated, frustrated, misunderstood and under siege. All the same, if there is anywhere in the world I would rather be farming right now, it is here in New Zealand.

We’ve navigated major challenges in the past, and when farmers look at the change they’ve implemented on their farms over the course of their careers, or in the intergenerational businesses they are running, we can take confidence in the fact we are already change agents.

A uniquely positioned New Zealand.
From a New Zealand food producer’s perspective, farmers here are uniquely positioned. Without subsidies, we aren’t dancing to someone else’s tune in quite the same ways as farmers receiving subsidies elsewhere. There are two sides to this. On one hand we’re not being bailed out at the next threat, but we also get to take full responsibility to master the destiny of our businesses. So, we have an ability to create workable solutions in a way that keeps our businesses competitive globally.

With an innovative, integrated systems approach, we can create solutions to challenges like reducing our global warming impact, improving native biodiversity and water quality, while producing high quality, safe, nutritious food – delivered with integrity.

In New Zealand we have an industry ecosystem focussed on helping farmers create and implement solutions. Our research centres and academic institutions, both provide science and knowledge, and help support farmers crack real challenges. There are the easily accessible service providers, and the folk in Government ministries – who are in the teams working hard on trade negotiation to ensure the best possible outcomes for access to markets, and on removal of tariffs and non-tariff barriers to create a level playing field for New Zealand. Let’s keep it that way.

This ecosystem enabling success is our major competitive advantage in the world. We’ve really got to leverage this and remember we’re all on the same team.

We must not be paralysed by fear, but instead celebrate what we’ve already achieved throughout our farming careers and take confidence that we can use our whole systems thinking to improve what we do for our natural resources, our people, businesses, and our nation.

Q: What links between International Trade and International Policy have you seen, with direct and indirect implications behind your farm gate?

MP: Let’s summarise how it works first. There are recognised global challenges. Then international forums are established to address these challenges, leading to international commitments made by member states (different nations).

Examples of this include United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the Paris Accord on Climate Change. Some international commitments are legally non-binding. But where it applies to the WTO (World Trade Organisation) they are often legally binding.

Once those international commitments are made, each economy, member state, or nation must determine its own policy and regulation to deliver on its commitments. That gets shaped up (with some consultation in the process) and is rolled out by the government of the day, and folks like us everyday people have to make it work on the ground. The Government then reports back to those international forums, or institutions, on what our progress has been against the commitments the Government made. COP26 is an example of this.

Given New Zealand’s economy is so internationally exposed and dependent, we need to be at the international table to maintain influence.

But to have influence we need to have integrity and demonstrate action. So, these international commitments have been drivers for shaping NZ Government policy on Sustainability and Climate Change. Examples here are the New Zealand freshwater regulations and climate change targets. Both resulted in changes on my farm, and on farms all over New Zealand, which is increasing costs and could reduce revenue for some.

If we do it right, there could also be opportunity to reduce costs and increase profitability. It will be different for every business. The bottom line is that financially there’ll be change, so we need to reconfigure the financials for a new shape to our businesses. Easier for some than others, and not all will be the same.

The environmental, social, and economic outcomes are significant across NZ, and underestimated. In some cases, we might secure a market premium for this work, though there is no guarantee what we’re doing delivers a premium to food producers in New Zealand for all products in all markets. I have more confidence this work will enable us to obtain and maintain market access to customers.

This is where the work of our trade negotiators, ensuring a level playing field in market, is so critical for ensuring the changes we’re making here in NZ don’t make us uncompetitive on the international market. I’ve seen their tireless, relentless work, day, and night, to get the best possible outcomes for New Zealand. Many of these negotiators are the hidden superstars of our food and fibre ecosystem.

What is going on in New Zealand around environment and climate change is often a focus of interest from others in my international engagements. I talk about what these regulations and targets mean for me, and what I am investing in to address the challenges in my farm business, alongside promoting what other farmers from the different sectors are doing in New Zealand. I also give a clear message that much of this cannot be done quickly when taking a whole systems approach. Effective change takes time. Farmers the world over get this.

Q: How do you think Brexit will play out for New Zealand trade? The obvious and not so obvious.

MP: The choice of the UK people and UK parliament to pursue Brexit is forging transformational change for the UK food and fibre sector. The transition period will take 15 to 20, even 30 years to find a new equilibrium. Like the 30 years it took New Zealand to find equilibrium when agriculture subsidies were removed here.

This change requires a culture shift in thinking about UK farm business structures, their subsidy system, domestic policies, and rebalancing their trade and export portfolio beyond the common market, to a global market. Add major geostrategic inflection points in trade and security, affecting us all, and you have a UK trying to position itself as a global strategic leader.

Its focus in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly regarding the FTA’s it is currently negotiating with Australia and New Zealand, along with its formal request to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), all highlight the trade and security opportunities and challenges it perceives.

So, building more structure into the relationships of allies like New Zealand and Australia by way of FTA’s is an important part of their process to find their new place in the world. This is providing new trade opportunities for New Zealand, subject to the NZ-UK FTA and their accession to the CPTPP.

In the future it may create more competition in our export markets too. It will also create opportunities for more collaboration on the global stage, especially where we align with the values and perspectives that matter to both economies.

Q: What does New Zealand need to do more, and less of, now and in the future?

MP: Because our food and fibre sector is orientated to international markets, we need to continue to pursue being the best we can be. This means achieving optimal standards, positioning ourselves to have the best integrity, facts, processes, and story for all the concerns that governments, markets, customers, and consumers may direct at us.

Whether these be from the position of protectionism or not, we still have to give ourselves the best chance of capturing opportunity. So, concerns about animal welfare, food safety, or environmental stewardship, e.g., water, soil, biodiversity, chemical and fertiliser usage, climate change, labour, the list goes on. These are the things we need to keep improving to position ourselves to open as many doors as possible, and to keep flexibility, adaptability, agility, and economic viability open to us.

We have already demonstrated plasticity through this pandemic, and we need to fully embrace a plasticity approach in our lives, our businesses, and how we engage with the world.

We need to be able to maintain our essence and values, while changing and reshaping the way we live, do business, trade, and collaborate with others, as we all grapple with significant global challenges.

Q: How has doing a Nuffield Scholarship helped you?

MP: The Nuffield Scholarship has been an important part of my personal and professional development. It’s been a stepping-stone for doing what I do now, on and off farm. The international networks, the doors of opportunity opened, the domestic and international insights as well as the ‘aha’ moments. These all contribute to my thinking, conversations, and ideas on the farm and in the world of trade.

That said, and without taking away from Nuffield, the older I get and the more I learn, it seems the more questions I have and the more I need to learn.
I’d like to encourage all readers to keep that hunger to learn, take some confidence from the change we’ve already made on our farms, in our businesses and our whole industry with our systems thinking.

Let’s keep doing what we do best – producing top quality food and fibre to the best of our abilities.

Optimising all we do with high standards, care and integrity for our environment and natural resources, our people, communities, and for the economic viability of our businesses and nation.

Balanced with humility, we need to be able to hold our heads high and have pride in who we are and what we do. Keep being the best you can be.

Read Mel Poulton 2014 Nuffield report “Capturing value.”

2022 Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarships awarded.

2022 Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarships awarded.

Three emerging food and fibre sector leaders have been awarded 2022 Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarships. Each has received a personal letter of congratulations from Hon. Damien O’Connor, Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Trade and Export Growth, Biosecurity, Land Information, and Rural Communities.

The New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust (NZRLT) is proud to announce the 2022 Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarship recipients. The Scholars are:

Parmindar Singh, a Waikato based Dairy Farm Manager, Company Director, and a recent master’s graduate.

Anthony Taueki, a horticulturalist from the Hawke’s Bay, leads horticulture courses at Fruition, New Zealand Apples and Pears, Tatau Tatau o te Wairoa, and many more.

Lucie Douma, leads a new team at the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) looking at disruptions to domestic food and fibre supply chains, and primary sector COVID recovery.

Chris Parsons, NZRLT CEO said, “This group comes from the most diverse range of backgrounds we have seen in recent times. Each Scholar brings talent, passion, perspective, and a track record of performance. Their job now is to find insights and foresight to benefit our sector.

“We wish to acknowledge all those who applied. It is safe to say, there is some real talent in our regions. Selecting three Scholars this year has given our Trustees and the Industry National Advisory Committee the opportunity to fund the start-up of an exciting new programme, the Value Chain Innovation Programme. The intention will be to return to selecting five Scholars again next year”, said Parsons.

Covid 19 restrictions mean this year’s scholarship recipients’ formal awards ceremony at Parliament, will be delayed until February 2022, when Minister O’Connor will award the scholarships in person.

2022 Scholars will follow last year’s travel approach, contingent on the local and global pandemic travel situation. This lets scholars defer the international travel component of the programme until border restrictions permit.

Kate Scott, NZRLT Chair, said, “As part of their Nuffield journey, the three 2022 Scholars will also join the Value Chain Innovation Programme to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities in front of our sector, before they venture abroad.

“The Scholarship will offer new opportunities and experiences through an immersive programme and will help to shape future world-class leaders for the New Zealand food and fibre sector” said Scott.

Their research topics are likely to cover a range of our biggest food and fibre challenges including, building resilience in our value chains, data interoperability, emerging market opportunities for trade in dairy, and finding sustainable pathways into the primary industries for rangatahi.

The three new Scholars will join more than 170 Nuffield Alumni awarded scholarships over the last 71 years.

Meet our 2022 Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholars.

Lucie Douma

Agri-professional, Livestock
Wellington

Lucie is of Dutch descent and is based in Wellington. She currently leads a new team at the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) looking at disruptions to the domestic food and fibre supply chains, and primary sector COVID recovery.

Lucie has a Master of Science degree from Oxford University, where she studied human-wildlife conflict. Her initial research topics of interest are data interoperability or building resilience within the value chain.

Lisa Rogers, NZRLT Programme Manager, commented, “Lucie is a great example of the policy talent we have coming through in our sector. She is greatly invested in the future of agriculture in New Zealand.”

Parmindar Singh

Dairy farmer, Company Director
Waikato

Parmindar is a fourth generation New Zealand dairy farmer of Indian descent. A company director and independent consultant, she is near completion of her master’s degree at Waikato University.

Parmindar’s research topic of interest is emerging market opportunities for trade in dairy. On her proposed research Parmindar says, “As a proud, intergenerational dairy farmer, my goal is to identify the shift that is occurring globally and identify future trade and market opportunities for New Zealand farmers.”

On Parmindar’s selection Lisa Rogers noted, “Parmindar is bright and fearless, with a lifetime of community involvement and entrepreneurship in the Agri-sector. Nuffield is lucky to have her as a Scholar.”

Anthony Taueki

Horticulturalist, Kaiako,
Hawke’s Bay

A horticulturalist from the Hawke’s Bay, Anthony is of Ngati Kahungunu descent. He leads, organises, and conducts horticulture courses and training programmes with Fruition Horticulture, New Zealand Apples and Pears, Tatau Tatau o te Wairoa, Ministry of Social Development and Ngati Kahungunu Inc.

Passionate about helping rangatahi find sustainable pathways into primary industries, Anthony’s research topic of interest is growing opportunities from the roots up.

Of Anthony’s selection Lisa Rogers said, “Anthony is a natural leader who is highly collaborative. He has integrity, passion, and a strong desire to influence in New Zealand’s Agri-sector.”

“I look forward to working with all three of our Scholars over their scholarship journey”, Lisa Rogers said.

About Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarships.

Nuffield Farming Scholarships have been offered to farmers, growers, fishers, and foresters since 1950. The scholarships were established in the United Kingdom by Lord Nuffield for farmers to explore best agricultural practice and facilitate innovation through sharing knowledge and ideas in food and fibre globally.

The scholarships are among the most respected awards in the food and fibre sector. They offer a life-changing opportunity for travel, study of the latest developments and an introduction to leaders and decision-makers around the world, who would not normally be accessible.

With a network of more than 1,600 alumni internationally, the programme continues to build New Zealand’s rural leadership capability and the food and fibre sector’s profile internationally.

For more information about Nuffield go to https://ruralleaders.co.nz/nuffield

For more information, please contact:

Matt Hampton
Marketing and Communications Manager
Rural Leaders
Ph. 0274 171 065
E: matthampton@ruralleaders.co.nz

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

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From Bluff Station to Cambridge University and back.​

Pushing your limits and personal growth.

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The 2022 Nuffield Contemporary Scholars Conference.

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Kate Scott, 2018 Nuffield Scholar

Julian Raine, 1997 Nuffield Scholar

Lynsey Stratford, 2021 Nuffield Scholar

Andy Elliot, 2018 Nuffield Scholar

Desiree Reid-Whitaker, 2010 Nuffield Scholar

Hamish Murray, 2019 Nuffield Scholar

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Question: What do you do in your various roles?

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Q: How do you think Brexit will play out for New Zealand trade? The obvious and not so obvious.

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Q: How has doing a Nuffield Scholarship helped you?

Meet our 2022 Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholars.

Lucie Douma

Agri-professional, LivestockWellington

Parmindar Singh

Dairy farmer, Company DirectorWaikato

Anthony Taueki

From Bluff Station to Cambridge University and back.

Agri-professional, Livestock
Wellington

Dairy farmer, Company Director
Waikato

Horticulturalist, Kaiako,
Hawke’s Bay