I was interested by the fact that many felt that New Zealand was perhaps the country feeling some of the most significant scrutiny, with a few people commenting on the fact that New Zealand’s farmers are now considered to be on the table of social standing at about the same level as the politicians.

By Kate Scott, 2018 Nuffield New Zealand Scholar

It’s not every day you walk into a room of 80 odd people and the entire room is abuzz with chatter, where people come together with a common and passionate link – agriculture and food. It’s also not every day that you get to attend the Contemporary Scholars Conference (CSC) as a Nuffield Scholar.

This year we were able to travel to the proverbial home of agriculture, the Netherlands for a week of immersion in all things Nuffield, including the opportunity to hear from some great speakers, to enter into some challenging debates, see some of the amazing opportunities that the Netherlands have to grow food, as well as to hear about the challenges that the Netherlands is facing in the agriculture space. It was however surprising that despite the Netherlands producing approximately 12 billion litres of milk per year that it was not overly easy to find fresh milk for your cuppa tea!

A couple of highlights included the opportunity to cycle to the farm of 2015 Scholar Gerjan Snippe where we were able to see the inner workings of Biobrass their organic cooperative farming business, and for me a highlight was also being able to attend the Royal Holland Flower Market, a modest 270ha area of land dedicated entirely to the selling and distribution of flowers and plants! (the inside tip for those of you interested in flowers, is that ‘pastel’ colours are on trend for the coming seasons).

It was also a great opportunity to visit the recently opened World Horticulture Centre, which was a great example of collaborative use of space between industry, education and research to advance development in the Horticulture sector.  The Netherlands is truly world leading when it comes to horticulture and their ability to grow an abundance of food and produce, especially from a relatively small footprint.

I was also given the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion on the ‘future of agriculture 2030’ from a New Zealand perspective. This enabled me to reflect on where we are at the moment, and what the opportunities might be for New Zealand in the future. One of the key things that came to mind for me was that there is a clear need for us to have an agriculture strategy, and that we need to focus on having the hard conversations so that there is a path forward for NZ to be the most environmentally friendly farming nation in the world. The opportunity is there for us as the leaders in the agriculture sector to seize, but we need to be brave enough to start the conversation.

Despite a jammed packed schedule at the CSC, there was also opportunity to observe some commonality amongst the various countries represented including the increasing disconnect between rural and urban communities, leading to a number of discussions around ‘social licence to operate’ or ‘licence to produce’. I was interested by the fact that many felt that NZ was perhaps the country feeling some of the most significant scrutiny, with a few people commenting on the fact that New Zealand’s farmers are now considered to be on the table of social standing at about the same level as the politicians.

There was also a lot of talk about the vegan movement, which I observed as creating a lot of angst for some amongst the room. However, where some see this as a threat to the agriculture sector, I see it as an opportunity. I don’t believe we are going to change the views of those who are so strongly engrained in their vegan view of the world, but I also don’t see that there will be a move to the majority of people choosing to be vegans (certainly not in the short to medium term).

The opportunity to focus on providing good quality, nutritious food which is known to be safe, exceeds animal welfare requirements and growing in an environmentally sustainable way is where we need to be spending our time. Those nations who can move quickly towards providing this certainty, traceability and confidence in their food, stand to prosper from the increasing knowledge that food consumers have. I believe New Zealand has the ability to lead this space.

After having spent the week in the Netherlands I am still firmly of the view that New Zealand is still at the leading edge in many aspects, and that if we can foster a collaborative approach to managing the effects of agriculture, that our future will continue to prosper as an agricultural leading nation.

The last 6 weeks just seems like a blur of Airports, planes, busses, hotel rooms and most importantly an incredibly diverse sometimes extraordinary string of farms and the people for whom that is their passion and livelihood.

The key word in that is passion, everywhere we went to we met farmers who loved what they did. The common theme was you don’t get into agriculture because you want to make money, you get into agriculture because you love working the land and the outdoor lifestyle that comes with it.

Our first stop was in Singapore where we not only caught up with our own GFP group but the 2 other GFP’s travelling at the same time. When we departed Singapore, while we headed to India, one GFP would head towards China and the other towards Japan only to all meet again in Washington DC 5 weeks later. Singapore has no agriculture of its own but has become a hub for commerce and trade throughout Asia so our meetings were about giving us an overview of agriculture in Asia in general.

India was everything I expected and more, the heat, the noise, the sheer mass of population, but it did also surprise and delight. Away from the cities there are some truly beautiful parts of India, they just take a bit more effort to get to. One of these places is Yercaud. From Chennai we had to fly an hour to a small airport that had only 1 flight a day, and then we had to drive for several hours up a twisting mountain road, but the trip was absolutely worth it and the destination was one of the highlights of India for me.

It was also disappointing to see a country with fantastic natural resources and the ability to grow almost anything, stifled by tradition and corruption, totally unwilling to confront unsustainable practices. In an effort to become self sufficient India is promoting growing rice in Northern India in areas that are just not suitable for rice production. The result is a huge drain on the underground aquifer to flood irrigate vast areas, the result is levels in the aquifer are dropping by 1.5 meters a year. That same aquifer is the only water source for the villages as well and at this rate it is estimated it will run dry in around 10 years.

It was hard to know what to take from what we saw in the Middle East other than if you have unlimited funds you can do whatever you want even in a desert. The wealth being invested in trying to gain some level of food security and self sufficiency is staggering. This was typified by a dairy production facility in Qatar. Our guide had been there last year to visit a small sheep milking facility. 12 months later where there had been dessert was now a facility milking 8,000 cows. 3,000 of those cows had been airfreighted in between daily milking with the balance shipped in calf so they were in production shortly after arriving.

The time spent in France and Belgium reflected the uncertainty being driven by Brexit and the threat the breakup may pose to wider farming subsidies that had become a crutch for many farmers. The greatest threat to farming in Europe is from the urban population who have no understanding of farming. The influence being exerted on politicians by the anti farming NGO’s is starting to become overwhelming. It’s a stark reminder of the path dairy in New Zealand is on and the need to be open and educate people on farming practices that whilst on face value may not seem pretty, are actually done for valid reasons with the animals welfare in mind.

We arrived in Washington DC at a fascinating point in time with the highly divisive Trump administration only recently announcing the tariff war with China. There was a general feeling of uncertainty how it would play out, but one thing was clear, that retaliatory tariff’s from China would hurt American Farmers. It was interesting to see the recent announcement of subsidies to help farmers cope with the impacts of his policy. As Republican Senator Ben Sasse put it, Trump isn’t making America great again, he is making it 1929. There is a huge groundswell of support for Trump within the farming community, even with the threats tariffs place over them. Trumps efforts to “drain the swamp” and shake up the establishment are resonating and his popularity at grassroots level seems to be increasing. Now, if only they could delete his twitter account…

Alabama proved to be a bit of a surprise with an extremely diverse agricultural industry. The properties we visited were some of the leading in the state, but were all heavily invested in using modern practices and technology to maximise what they were producing. The greatest surprise was probably the amount of land that is locked up in old family trusts with just about every operation heavily reliant on leasing land as none was available to buy.

At this point there seems to be no concern about loss of agricultural land to urban growth and water is not currently regulated or a major issue of concern. Other than the availability of land to buy, the greatest concern seems to be labour with a heavy reliance on imported labour from Mexico under the H2A scheme which is very similar to our RSE program in New Zealand.

As I have just completed the GFP in July and submitted this report on final stages of GFP, I will need to digest the insights and learning from this 6 week experience.

By Turi McFarlane, 2018 Nuffield New Zealand Scholars

With a much-touted reputation as the tiny country which feeds the world, The Netherlands is the world’s second largest exporter of agricultural products after the USA. The Dutch agricultural sector is diverse and supplies a quarter of the vegetables that are exported from Europe amongst a range of other produce.

During the CSC, we were privileged to hear and visit a wide range of farmers, researchers and rural professionals who emphasised several key themes over the week:

Farming land and succession

Three farmers a day leave farming in The Netherlands and with agricultural land selling for € 60-100,000 per hectare there are massive challenges for the next generation of farmers looking to own their own farm.

Feeding the world versus niche markets

With the world population expected to grow to almost 10 billion by the year 2050, we are regularly presented with the challenge of “feeding the world”. However, how does this align with obvious opportunities for us as a nation to focus on creating high value products which command a premium price in niche markets? Food security, particularly in Africa which is expected to see the most growth over this period is critical to us all, yet perhaps our greatest opportunity as a nation is to provide technical advice and assistance to improve the food self-sufficiency in developing countries?

New technologies

A number of new technologies were mentioned throughout the week as potential game changers. CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing is definitely seen as having great potential, offering dramatic advances in speed, scope and scale of genetic improvement. However, the debate around GM and gene editing policy is obviously alive and well – “The CRISPR conundrum”.

We also heard about research at Waginengen University in The Netherlands which has highlighted a natural variation for photosynthesis in plants. With this knowledge they are hoping to breed crops in the future which make better use of photosynthesis – opening the possibility for much higher yields and capture of carbon dioxide.

To finish  – a few interesting quotes from speakers over the week included:

“Every 20 years, the number of people depending on one farmer doubles in developed countries”.

“Climate change is here”.

“Agricultural land per capita has halved since the 1960s (worldwide)”.

“1/3 of globally produced food is wasted”.

“Lactose intolerance is more popular than skinny jeans”.

By Andy Elliot, 2018 Nuffield New Zealand Scholar

It’s been a whirl wind week here in the Netherlands, I wasn’t too sure what to expect in terms of the whole experience and I honestly believe that it will take a while for it to all sink in. The first challenge was the meeting and working together with another 75 other future leaders from around the world. It was incredible, stimulating, challenging and empowering. It really pushed me and forced me to look critically at myself and my perceptions.

Sitting here now reflecting on the week, I realise that there were a few themes emerge that have been interesting to dive deeper into, some issues have been specific to the Netherlands, but many relate to New Zealand.

One of these is the obvious pressures farmers are feeling to become more demand, rather than supply driven. It’s very difficult under a backdrop of subsidy, but we met a few of small operators who are achieving this transition successfully by moving to a direct to customer, or value add proposition within their business model. These farmers are the innovators, the first movers who will always find a gap and are prepared to tread a different path. In the Netherlands, these innovators are supplying a very concentrated local market with quality products. But what about the rest of the farmers?

We learnt that the Netherlands has approximately three (3) small farmers leaving their land every day. They are walking off for several reasons; some of these include the income not being there, there are increasing legislative and regulatory layers and cost and the average farmer is becoming older without a younger generation succeeding them. For every farmer in Europe under twenty five there are seven over seventy five years. The average land price is close to €60000/H and these issues are not unfamiliar for us in NZ.

The Dutch cannot afford to continue to lower the cost of their production and rage battle over commodity prices, as like New Zealand, production costs are too high. Exports need a clear identity, a story, a differentiation from others, which will attract and appeal to the consumers purchasing choice. The other driver in loss of value would be volume, but that’s a bit more challenging to manage.

Can everyone innovate and become a supplier direct to consumer? Is everybody capable of becoming an entrepreneur? I’d suggest not, but we can all change what we do, and we can all prepare ourselves to be in a better position, when such disruption is being forced upon us.

By Simon Cook, 2018 Nuffield New Zealand Scholar

The theme of this year’s CSC in the Netherlands was very much about learning and understanding the history of Dutch agriculture and how and why they have got to where they are now. As a New Zealand farmer, we often hear about the long term subsidies paid to farmers in the EU, without ever understanding why these subsidies were introduced in the first place. During our Nuffield conference in the Netherlands we had a number of speakers fill that gap in our knowledge with the story behind the introduction of subsidies.

After a day of beginning to meet each other and an afternoon farm visit, the second day of our CSC got off to an interesting start, with a presentation being given to the scholars while they sat in the pool in their togs – an introduction to business models.

Once back in the conference room we had some moving presentations focused around WW2 and the famine bought on as the war drew to a close. We had a presentation by Mr Jaques Von Trammel who was a young Jewish boy forced to grow up quickly as he lived in constant fear of being caught by German forces. We were then given the story of Leny Adelaar-Polak, a survivor of the medical experiments in Auschwitz. Leny was the only member of her extended family to survive the war.

We also had a presentation by Ingrid de Zwarte who completed a PhD thesis titled “The Hunger Winter” which focused on the famine that struck the Netherlands as WW2 drew to a close. In the winter of 1945 the population of the Netherlands were struck by food shortages. Bought on by a shortage of local produce and failing supply lines from Germany, the population of Netherlands suffered a severe famine. During April 1945, the average daily calorie intake dropped below 500 kcal, less than a quarter of the daily average an adult consumes today.

This mass starvation and resulting deaths galvanised the population to ensure that farms completely de-stocked and devastated by the war would be given whatever support was needed to get back up and running, to ensure this situation would never happen again. Food security became the utmost priority in the Netherlands and across Europe.

It was interesting to reflect on the low status farming holds in countries like New Zealand and Australia, where there has never been a food shortage, and compare it to countries like the Netherlands and Japan who have known critical food shortages and truly understand the importance of agriculture as a necessity of life along with fresh water and clean air.

One of the major steps towards ensuring not only food security but also political stability in Europe came in 1958 with the formation of the EU. The initial trade agreements, signed up by the six founding nations, that were to form the basis of the EU, were designed to control the supply of steel and coal, the two raw ingredients required to manufacture canons and therefore wage war. By the late 70’s most European countries and the UK had also joined the EU.

Now that I have a better understanding of the environment and pressures that lead to the formation of the subsidies I have a more open mind towards their purpose and introduction.

The question is whether they are still valid in today’s society and it will be interesting to follow the outcome of Brexit which will remove the direct payment subsidies to farmers in the UK, and may also challenge the future of farming subsidies across Europe.

November and the last E Nuff seem a long time ago, but Lisa, myself and the Board have been very busy since then with programmes, events and projects.

It is a good time to acknowledge, as we head into the two yearly AGM, the workload and contribution of the Trustees.  The Nuffield Trustees (along with the two independent Trustee), have the responsibility of overseeing both leadership programmes (Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme and the Nuffield Scholarships) which have increased in size and complexity.

While I respect the decision by Juliet to stand down after 6 years as a Trustee and 2 years as Chair, the leadership and the support, time and effort she has given to the organisation and myself as GM has been enormous, particularly given the significant strategic changes and developments in the last two years.

The establishment of the NZ Rural Leadership Trust has required us to review our vision, strategic goals and external brand and the positioning of the programme. I am excited about the branding work that has been done, which will be shared at the Conference.

The Nuffield programme is still a flagship programme for the agribusiness sector and in discussions recently with the Forestry sector, it is clear the status extends wider than the traditional sectors we have operated in.  The exposure of our scholars is also expanding and they are increasingly active in industry events and media broader than their sector.

I have been impressed by the number of presentations already completed by the 2017 Scholars and the quality of their reports ‘hot off the press’ and now live on the website for reading (see the enclosed box for the latest reports).

The encouragement to look at issues facing NZ Agribusiness rather than more technical topics has resulted in greater interest from the wider sector. The 2017 group were invited in March to present their insights and report recommendations at  a) a workshop with MPI staff, and b) an Agmardt Board lunch with both providing some robust discussions and challenges.

Individually, they have already presented at a number of forums including  Irrigation NZ & Landcorp’s Pamu Conferences and have a number of scheduled presentations coming up.

Both the 2016 and 2017 scholars are looking forward to some challenging discussions with alumni following their presentations at conference!

2017 NUFFIELD SCHOLAR REPORTS JUST RELEASED

HOW CAN PASTORAL DAIRY FARMING REMAIN COMPETITIVE?
Ryan O’Sullivan

EFFECTIVE INDUSTRY COLLABORATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL GAINS
Rebecca Hyde

THE INNOVATIVE FARMER
Mathew Hocken

DEVELOPING AN ONLINE SALES STRATEGY FOR NEW ZEALAND FOOD
Jason Rolfe

GROWING VALUE FOR NEW ZEALAND’S RED MEAT INDUSTRY
David Kidd

BROKEN FOOD SYSTEMS – DEVELOPING A CITIZEN CENTRIC NEW ZEALAND FOOD STRATEGY
Nadine Porter

 

Our 2018 scholars who we announced in the last newsletter, are well into their programme. The group attended a two day briefing in December, with government and industry representatives ensuring that their knowledge of New Zealand and its positioning and activities globally were well understood.

This year the scholars were also offered the opportunity to attend a leadership skills workshop in January, in conjunction with the Kellogg group, run by Coach Approach in January. This proved to be really beneficial for them in gaining greater insights into their personal leadership profile and developing higher level skills in question formulation.

The five scholars (Simon Cook, Andy Eliot, Turi Mcfarlane, Solis Norton and Kate Scott) commenced their first international component with the Contemporary Scholars Conference (CSC) in the Netherlands from 10 – 17 March along with 80 plus other international scholars. They share their reflections, insights and questions to explore further in their travels in this E Nuff.

The CSC is always a big week with the Dutch organsers, Djûke van der Maat and Henk Smith and their team, putting on an excellent programme of fieldtrips, speakers and panels presentations. Many of the recent Dutch scholars were involved in assisting with the conference and hosted field visits and provided food products for the self-contained apartments that the conference enjoyed.

One memorable experience of Dutch life, was a 20k round trip cycle into the countryside (see header photo) visiting the very successful farm and production enterprise of one of the 2015 Dutch scholars and his business partners.

However, the “Beast of the East” temperatures with -2 chill factor and snow which hit during the CSC, was in stark contrast to the outdoor activities enjoyed in Brazil, the previous year!

Alongside the CSC, the Nuffield International meetings of Board and Country Executives were scheduled. This is a particularly important time for strategy development, sharing of information, planning of events, and alignment of programmes. The NI Board (with Andrew Watters as the NZ representative) spent many hours on reviewing the strategy and financial business plan. Andrew will share the key points at the Nuffield NZ AGM.

Upcoming Events

As this Enuff arrives, a group of 10 Nuffielders from around the world, including NZer Kate Scott, will be completing their Brazil GFP – NZ Leg with a programme in the Hawkes Bay organised by Tom Skerman and Sam Lang (with support from other alumni). This is the final week of their 6week programme which started on 18 March with visits to the Netherlands, Ireland, USA, Mexico and Brazil & NZ before concluding on 26 April.

Registrations close in a few days for the 2018 Nuffield NZ Biennial Conference & it is only a few weeks until we get together in Tauranga. Dave Hurst and his team have put together a great programme, and put in a lot of hard work with support from management.  Dave and his team have successfully secured a family of local sponsors, who along with our strategic and programme partners we look forward to engaging with at the conference.

Work is building for the 2020 Nuffield Triennial Conference which will be held in March 2020.  We hope that alumni will use the opportunity to invite their Nuffield cohort for a reunion in NZ. We will release more details in the next E Nuff as promotion of the conference will be launched. Confirmation of hosting the 2020 Nuffield NZ Biennial Conference in conjunction with the Triennial will be made after discussion with alumni in Tauranga.

Finally, on a sad note, Nuffield NZ lost one of our oldest and respected scholars with the passing of John O’Connor.  Condolences were sent on behalf of the alumni and Board to Del, Damien and Bede and thankyou to Julian Raine who represented the alumni at the funeral.  Many will remember John & Dell attending part of the last conference in 2016 in Blenheim and he desperately wanted to be in Tauranga to see Bede present and Damien as Minister open the conference, but unfortunately it was not to be.

I look forward to seeing most of you in Tauranga on 10^th May.

Anne Hindson

BRAZIL GFP 2018

10 Nuffield Scholars, 6 Weeks, 5 Countries, 23 Flights, 78 Visits & Meetings

After a whirlwind start to “Nuffield 18” and having survived the Contemporary Scholars Conference in the Netherlands, it was time to set out on my GFP – by all previous accounts the sort of trip that legends are made from!

Our group was known as the Brazil group, who would be travelling to Ireland, the USA, Mexico, Brazil and New Zealand. The first stop on our GFP was Ireland. Despite it being a little on the snowy side for our arrival into Dublin late on the Sunday night following St Patricks day (whether that was by bad luck or design is another debate), it was great to finally be on the road for the start of our six-week journey.

It is also fair to say that despite the quiet excitement there was also some apprehension amongst the group, and our ability to survive the next few weeks together in such close quarters.

Ireland

During our trip through Ireland we travelled from Dublin, through to Kilkenny, onto Tipperary, Kilarney, Ballybunion, and back to Dublin in the space of a week. We saw beef farms, dairy farms, pig farms and equine farms. We met dairy companies, organic orchardists, cropping farmers, research scientists and Nuffield Scholars, and throughout I was struck by how positive those involved in Irish Agriculture were, especially on the back of what many were calling the wettest spring in history.

The opportunities in Ireland, particularly in the dairy sector are in my view significant, especially in terms of their ability to continue to improve efficiency and productivity. In recent years it would seem that this is being driven by the removal of milk quotas. A simple example during our visit with Teagasc (Irish equivalent of Ag Research) is the more recent development and focus on herd production and the introduction of herd testing, which is still not widespread in Ireland, however over the past 18 years since the economic breeding index program was developed, Irish dairy farmers have started to see the improvement in productivity of their animals, which they expect will continue to be taken up by more farmers.

It has also been interesting to gain an insight into the fact that as a general rule the Irish do not have a great exposure to debt within their farming enterprises. Many are not prepared to utilise debt for expansion, something which I have observed as being largely borne out of the fact that farms are not generally brought and sold externally and are usually passed to the eldest son, and that any development is funded out of cashflow. This was certainly a contrast to the way that farming growth is financed in New Zealand, and was something I saw as a significant difference between New Zealand and Ireland.

It will be interesting to see over the coming years whether there is any change to the way in which they fund development given the expected growth within the Irish dairy sector. One thing that become apparent to me when travelling through Ireland was that many Irish farmers have been exposed to the negative press that farming in New Zealand has been receiving. In particular with respect to water quality and the environment, and most, if not all, were of the opinion that farmers in Ireland were not held in the same “low” regard by their public.

This was something that was discussed in depth when I had the opportunity to participate in a Nuffield Ireland debate on “Fake News & Agriculture”.

On the flip side however, it seems that the animal welfare debate and the “rise of militant veganism” was something that was causing concern to the agriculture sector in Ireland, that I am not seeing to the same extent here in New Zealand.

“That frog was right…it isn’t easy being green” – Anon

United States

The second phase of our trip was the USA. Here we had the opportunity to meet up with the Chile and Africa GFP Groups in Washington DC before continuing onto California.

Our first day in Washington DC was filled with a range of different briefings. Some of the more interesting observations for me were the comments from the American Farm Bureau (AFB) around the desire to foster innovation on farms, which they saw as being constrained by heavy regulatory requirements.

It was also interesting to hear that agriculture is still very influential in the policy space and that their farmer members are very closely engaged in the policy process compared to many other sectors. Accordingly they probably had a greater voice compared to farmers in other agricultural nations, where farmers make up a very small percentage of the voting public.

The importance of lobby groups was also something that stood out for me, as they appear to be far more active in the US than I observed elsewhere during the GFP.

The comments made by Matt Perdue (National Farmers Union) had a familiarity, in terms of seeing consolidation of farms and the corporatisation of farms as profitability of smaller farming units reduced.

I was also surprised by the comments that his farming members saw climate change as a big issue, and that they were individually seeing climate change affecting their farming businesses. I felt however that there was a lot of push to enable self-regulation, but not much talk around how this would be seen to be achieving the desired results.

It was also surprising to hear that internally the US agriculture sector may not be as supportive of Trump policies, especially in the trade space as is perhaps publicly portrayed.

In terms of emerging trends in Ag, there was a lot of focus on GMO and gene editing, with much commentary around how farmers saw Precision Ag as a pathway for navigating the changing regulatory environment. A highlight from the briefing by the USDA was learning about the USDA small business innovation grants program, which has been set up with the purpose of de-risking technology development by investing with businesses and then providing the government with the first right to utilise or purchase the technology, something that is being done to the tune of 2.2 billion dollars each year.

A brief visit to Capitol Hill was an opportunity to feed the inner political science graduate in me. It was an amazing place to visit, in terms of the opulence in the senate building itself, and the history that seeps from its walls.

We had a very informative briefing about the Farm Bill and its current negotiation process, it’s purpose, and the politics of trying to get bipartisan agreement to the bill, which appears to often be complicated by the fact that to get democratic support for the bill, it is not possible to decouple the food welfare (SNAP) aspects of the bill from the other farming related funding.

The value of the farm bill is around $954 billion. Nutrition is the biggest portion (75%), commodity programs receive around $7-8 billion, crop insurance $8-9 billion, and conservation $6 billion.

An interesting fact about the Farm Bill is that if bipartisan agreement is not reached, then the five year funding block reverts back to the 1940’s funding allocation, which is seen to be a motivator for all parties to reach agreement.

A visit to California was a nice change from the cold weather of the previous three weeks. Our week in California was based around the Central Valley and San Joaquin Valley areas, where there was a lot of focus on a few common issues including;

• Water
• Labour
• Increasing Regulation

We were given a good overview of the history of irrigation water in the California area, much of which has ageing infrastructure which has become less and less reliable over time due to increasing population demand on domestic water supply coupled with increasing environmental regulation, especially in terms of minimum/residual flow obligations for protection of endangered species.

This change in water reliability is driving a change to more dry tolerant species and more profitable cropping systems, including a move away from row crops to permanent crops, especially almonds, pistachios and walnuts.

In most cases the properties we visited had transitioned away from flood irrigation to micro spray or dripper spray in an effort to spread irrigation water further.

The new regulations addressing overallocation of groundwater aquifers is creating a lot of challenges for many businesses. It was interesting to learn about how the degredation of groundwater aquifers came about on the back of surface water restrictions which drove wholesale abstraction of groundwater to the point that regulation is now required to address the depletion of the water resource.

There was a lot of emphasis on the potential for groundwater aquifer recharge methods, basically involving flooding/holding water over an area and letting it infiltrate back to the aquifer.

However I was left with a few questions from a science perspective whether this approach was likely to be successful given the high evapotranspiration in the valley and the depth of the aquifers and their confined nature.

In terms of some general observations from California;

• There has been a significant shift toward permanent crops, including almonds, which are less labour intensive.
• Many producers are also trying to move towards value add processes, such as processing raw product into consumer goods. We saw some good examples of this within the Walnut and Almond sectors.
• There is a view that ‘organic’ is not likely to take off as significantly in US markets as it is too difficult to manage and customers are not prepared to pay for this, however it is likely that there will be a significant space for demonstrating animal welfare standards, and antibiotic free products.
• China trade tariff implications are a concern in California.

Mexico

Next up was a quick trip to Mexico, where we travelled to the CIMMYT Ciudad Obregon Wheat Research Centre, a 2-hour flight north of Mexico City located on the western coast of the Gulf of California.

Here we had the opportunity to learn about a large range of research happening relating to wheat as we spent the day at the research centre hearing from a range of different researchers. It was great to get an insight into the global reach of the research being undertaken at CIMMYT, and to see how they were trying to adopt new technology, including drones and manned aircraft for crop observation and management.

On the second day of our visit to Obregon, we were hosted by the Sonora Association of Agriculture, which works with its members to undertake marketing of agriculture products, group purchasing and financial credit services. The main crop grown by it’s members is durum wheat, with approximately 1 million tonnes of wheat produced in the Sonora regiona annually, making them the third largest exporter of durum wheat in the world.

A great way to finish our visit to Obregon was the opportunity to have a traditional Mexican lunch with our hosts, and for the first time since leaving home I was convinced that the steak was well worth eating!

A half day in Mexico City to finish our quick trip was an added bonus. The city of roughly 9 million people is relatively sprawled out, but there are people and cars everywhere, and the difference between the “haves” and the “have nots” is astoundingly obvious.

We were able to visit Centro Historica which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site right in the middle of the site. The square is known for its ruins, some of which date back to the Aztec era.

Brazil

The penultimate leg of our trip was Brazil, where we spent the most time during our 6 week GFP. Whilst Mexico and Brazil are seemingly close when looking at a map, the reality is it was a nine hour flight from Mexico City to Sau Paulo, followed by another couple of hours flight onto Brazillia the capital of Brazil.

The energy in the group as we embarked on the Brazil leg was high, no doubt fuelled by the excitement of our host Sally Thomson whose enthusiasm and ability to navigate Portuguese were invaluable.

For me the opportunity to learn about a New Zealand success story in Brazil first up was great. Simon Wallace was able to speak to us about his families dairy farming venture in Brazil, and how they are moving up the value chain by now not only producing their own UHT milk but also moving to other value add dairy products such as yoghurt and icecream.

The challenges that Brazil faces in terms of overcoming its political instability and images of corruption remain forefront. This was something that many of the farmers and businesses we met with emphasised was their lack of faith in the administrative systems of Brazil.

Whilst in Brasillia we had the opportunity to visit both government departments, research institutes, as well as having the opportunity to visit the Australian Embassy.

Our next stop was Cuiaba the capital city of Mato Grosso State, which is the westernmost state of Brazil. Mato Grosso State is apparently also known as “The Devil’s Armpit”, a name we had the pleasure of aquanting ourselves with as we left the air conditioned airport, and hit a wall of 38 degrees and close to 100% humidity.

In Cuiaba we were given a thorough overview of agriculture within the state, which has really only been developed within the last 30 odd years as the early agriculturalists from Southern Brazil made their way to the west. The challenges that Mato Grosso state faces include issues with transportation, distance to markets and overall infrastructure. Many farms are some 2000 kilometres by road to the nearest port.

It was of interest to learn that until the early 1990’s Brazil imported as much as 90% of its food, which is part of the reason that further development of agriculture in Mato Grosso State began.

Certainly the highlight for all of our group when we were in Mato Grosso state was the opportunity to meet with and visit some of the farming enterprise known as Bom Futuro. The success and scale of this family owned farming business, known as the worlds largest privately owned family farm is in many respects incomprehensible. This farming enterprise is only one generation old, is owned by three brothers and a brotherin-law, has over 5,000 employees and farms both crops (grain and cotton predominantly) and livestock (cattle) as well as having a fish farming enterprise.

We were privileged to have the opportunity to meet with the second generation family members, who were incredible hosts, and open to sharing their experiences in terms of agriculture and what they believe to be the future challenges of farming, one of which relates to the issue of succession, and how they as the second generation can demonstrate to the first that they are capable of continuing to be good farming custodians.

Also of interest during our time in Mato Grosso was the investment in technology that the cotton co-operative Cooper Fibre has invested in their mill, an investment made all the more expensive by large importation taxes in Brazil.

Travelling through Brazil you quickly realise that nothing is close. Our next stop was Porto Alegre in the southern state of Rio Grande Do Sul. Here we were given the opportunity to visit a factory which is processing citrus to create essential oils, as well as visiting a biogas facility which receives 6000 tonnes of waste per week and is producing about 1200 cubic metres of biomethane per day.

A last minute itinerary change meant that our group was able to take the opportunity to visit the Inguazu Falls which are located on the border between Brazil and Argentina, and at any one time can have between about 150 and 300 waterfalls depending on the water flow. Our visit here was amazing, and a once in a life time opportunity, that none of our group wanted to pass up.

Our last stop in Brazil was Sau Paulo, a city of 20 Million people on the eastern coast of Brazil. The highlight for me during our time in Sau Paulo was the opportunity to visit the Centre for Rehabilitation, Education and Nutrition. This is an educational outreach centre focused on dealing with children with nutritional challenges, including severe malnutrition and obesity. The centre is located in a large slum area of Sau Paulo, and the small number of children and families that the centre is able to reach appear to be benefiting from the work that they do.

It was incredible to be able to play with these children, and gain a deeper insight into the importance of food especially for those whom food is more of a luxury than a necessity. For many in our group, our visit here provided an opportunity to check in with the reality many people in the world face, but it was so great to be able to see a community initiative having benefits albeit to only a small number of people in need.

New Zealand

7 weeks after leaving home, I was finally on the last leg of my travels, New Zealand bound with 9 other scholars, many of whom had not previously been to New Zealand.

After an early arrival into Auckland, we were off to Hamilton, where we had the opportunity to meet with LIC and Dairy NZ at Ruakura. Whilst unfortunately we were unable to get out onto the farm itself due to the fact we had just arrived from South America. It was great to see biosecurity protocols in place as the need to protect New Zealand (and Australia) from pest and disease incursions was something that had had much debate in our group.

Those with links to the dairy industry were certainly impressed with the knowledge that was shared with us during our visit in Hamilton.

Taupo was our next destintation. We were given an amazing opportunity to gain some understanding of New Zealand Maori Agri-business with a visit to Opepe Farm Trust, which is located on the Napier -Taupo Road. Understanding the challenges that a multi-owner farming trust has to face, and the key drivers in indigenous agriculture was something that the entire group enjoyed learning about.

A few days down time in Taupo was definitely needed at this point after being on the road for so long. A highlight of this being the ability for everyone to take out some of their pent up frustrations with a round of paint ball and some golf!

Early on Sunday morning we packed our bags for a road trip to Hawkes Bay via Ngamatea Station. The beauty of Ngamatea Station is characterised by its isolation. 80,000 hectares of farm land, of which only about 50% of which is effective area. A tough farming environment in the high country tussock land. Ren Apatu our host was very open in sharing his vision for the property, and how they were looking to make ongoing changes to ensure the sustainability of the farm for the next generation.

Despite our best efforts to run out of fuel on the Gentle Annie Road, we managed to make it to Hastings for a refill of gas just in time. Our final stop was Hawkes Bay where we were very kindly hosted by 2016 scholars Sam Land and Tom Skerman. Sam had arranged for us to stay at the stunning Mangarara Eco Lodge. Here Sam shared both his experience during his Nuffield journey, but also shared the story of regenerative agriculture that is being undertaken at Mangarara Farm.

An opportunity to visit both Drumpeel Farm (cropping) and to learn about both Horticulture and Viticulture here in New Zealand was a great way to finish our GFP. The challenges that farmers are facing here in New Zealand, in terms of ongoing regulation, and challenges around the ‘social licence to operate’ gave an interesting insight into farming in a New Zealand context.

It was also great to be able to quantify the challenges that New Zealand will continue to face in the future, particularly in terms of biosecurity which is something that the Horticulture Sector in particular is very concerned about.

When I reflect on my six week GFP, I am reminded of the many similarities that agriculture has throughout the world, but at the same time the contrast in issues that agriculture faces are also significant.

Finally, something I wasn’t fully cognisant of prior to commencing the Nuffield journey is the hospitality shown towards scholars, the time people are prepared to give and the doors that have been opened.

Without the hours of organisation that go into preparing for our trip by Nuffield, but also the time given by both work and most importantly our families, this opportunity would not be possible.

Our Global Focus Programme travelled through Italy, Texas, British Columbia, Argentina and Chile. A month on from finishing my GFP, certain themes remain fixed in my mind, here’s my highlights package.

Italy – “people, travel, not food”

Italy was a real change of focus and priorities to the export orientated Netherlands. It’s been all about regional, all about local and all about celebrating what is produced.

Our first host was from the slow food movement which connects health and wellness with the function of growing and producing food locally. They believe local food should be available at the cost of production plus some reasonable return of value to farmer added. A supermarket does not allow for this to happen, its unsustainable. The value of food is not in what the brand says it is, its value is the nutrition and health proposition that it offers the consumer.

This is a country that seems to have their priorities well in truly in order. They are certainly not sprinting to keep up with the countries around them. They celebrate the food they produce, they take time to enjoy, discuss and socialise their bounty and alcohol is always consumed with food.

The younger generations are seen to be the innovators and have embraced the value of marketing and being niche.  There are some extremely innovative businesses and they truly understand the value of storytelling, of the incorporation of their heritage and family tradition in the products they produce. These stories are real and inspiring, and they engage you in more than just the product, they engage you in the culture.

Italy – farm succession

Italy’s approach to farm succession is also worthy of mention. In an environment where 20% of farmers do not have succession plans and where levies are still being dished out, they have adopted a mentoring succession plan. This plan allows for older farmers to only get their modernisation subsidies if they take on a successor. The theory is that there is an abundance of farming siblings who will never inherit farms, this gives these aspiring farmers an opportunity to work with a farm owner collaboratively over a time frame to eventually take over the farm.  The current farm owner gets their full subsidies, a potential successor, innovation and modernisation and the young farmer gets the opportunity to one day own a farm.

Its sounds great and if its working seems like a sensible solution to a global issue and for once I see a real benefit in subsidies, or at least in the leverage of them by regulators.

Washington DC – Slow turning ship

An emerging trends panel from some key agricultural groups fronted our questions about the agricultural industry.  Interesting as you could change the country, but the first two are always up there;

• Labour was a key issue and with new systems being put in place such as the E-Verify system there is a lot of concern about how this will affect business. Immigrant labour both legal and illegal is a huge part of agriculture and farmers are concerned that this system could provide more hurdles than benefit.
• Surprisingly climate change was seen a major issue. With events occurring with increased frequency, affects were being seen through the whole farming community. Policy was one of the important drivers and barriers for change, especially in providing the right incentives for reducing emissions and the use of renewable fuels.
• There was a lot of discussion around U.S. Farm Bill, which is up for review this year. This allocates some US$956B, over a 9-year period. What was fascinating is that they were expecting no surprises with the passing of this Bill, they certainly weren’t foreseeing it being used as a political crowbar. It currently hasn’t passed, causing further uncertainty for this agricultural spend and the farming sector.

For me the one of the key take home messages from all of this is that US system is not set up for radical change. It seems to be set up for the complete opposite. The politics are one thing, but the policy and reforms are a slow-moving ship and icebergs that may appear in the form of Trade Tariffs may take a while for the US Ag Industry to manoeuvre around.

USA – Utilising new technology

As with NZ there is a lot of talk of new technologies becoming available, top of the list is gene editing. These groups discussed the importance of coalition and achieving good communications about what is occurring. Education for consumers, industry and supplier’s is crucial as well as the importance of not having technology owned by two or three large corporations.

In NZ this discussion needs to focus on facts. New gene-editing tools, either CRISPR or the slightly older TALEN, don’t insert a foreign gene into the plant to create a new trait (as typically happens with conventional GMOs) but, rather, tweak the plant’s existing DNA. It is cheaper, more powerful and more precise and is aligned to our traditional methods of selective breeding. The take home for me is that I just don’t NZ embracing the discussion fast enough.

 Argentina – 92% No-Till

This was a real contrast after the US and Canada. Argentina has a unique production capability, which allows three crops to be grown within a 12-month cycle. This gives farmers an advantage, but 20 years ago their soils were quickly becoming eroded and fertility was dropping.

No Till was brought in to reduce the costs of fertiliser and was then quickly adopted as they realised improvement in production and soil health. Today they are around 92% No-Till, with wheat, corn and soya dominating production. No subsidies, in fact the Govt takes around 30% of the yield of each crop. 80% of farmers lease some land on a year by year contract, this allows young consortium of farmers to enter the Industry. Agronomists are a crucial part of the farming fabric with up to 80% of farmers engaging the services of private agronomists.

Argentina – CREA

This was one of the highlights for me –CREA stands for Regional Consortia of Agricultural Experimentations. A national organisation in Argentina where there are 227 groups, with around 2000 participants. Each local group comprises of around 10 farmers, they hire an Agronomist who visits every farmer once a month.

The cool thing about these groups is that once a month one farmer hosts the other members for a day. This farmer puts up a topic for discussion. Everything is on the table, the group reviews crop records, financial returns, business structure, succession plans and accountancy. They collectively discuss the issues and topic, with honesty and intent, they rely on the collective learning of the group to be better farmers and help each other.

Regionally these groups can undertake crop experiments, often supported by third parties for example fertiliser or seed companies. The group, with their agronomist undertakes these experiments and owns the data. Nationally the organisation, although not political is involved in steering groups and advisory boards at a high level.

Could we do this in NZ? Would you open your books to others in your farming community?

We met one farmer, an oldest child whose father had passed away while he was studying at University. His local CREA group took over the management of the farm so he could continue to study. Twenty years later the son took over the full time running of the farm for the first time.

Chile – Can grow anything, quickly

With record export numbers in most horticulture categories to the US and China, Chile is cranking out the volume. If there’s money to be made they will grow it, quickly and at scale. Arriving in San Diego after Buenos Aires the first thing we all noticed was the urgency and the seriousness of the people in the street. They were on a mission and they weren’t taking their time. The economy and middle class is growing fast.

Horticulture exports from Chile is valued at $5B, the same as NZ. This surprised me given the huge volumes that Chile produces. I think NZ has invested heavily in marketing, food security and food safety and as a result gains more value in export. Zespri is the envy of other countries and is seen as the poster child of Horticulture with good reason.

I loved Chile, there is a lot of opportunity here, but instability at a political level is just around the corner. There are cultural issues too, and it appears that these are not keeping up with the rapid rate of growth and development the country is experiencing. I think that when there is expansion and growth at this level speed wobbles are inevitable, and this will impact us. Biosecurity and phytosanitary issues will become a lot more important and under increased scrutiny, and I think we need to be working a lot closer with this country.

In summary – The best little country?

Looking at NZ from across the world we are a producer of quality, we have those credentials that others respect, and being away for a while has made me realise we still have a massive advantage. However, I think we need to look to the future a bit more, I think that we need to be activity pushing the definition of what our quality stamp actually is? If it is environmental and clean and green, then let’s make it that way.  Let’s go beyond what it is now and embrace regenerative farming practices, choose sustainability and frame our natural assets to be the preferred exporter of trust, food security and safety and let’s use our GMO-free status for leverage.

If the world is saying that value is not going to be in crops, animal protein or commoditised products in the future, then we should transition more of our production into differentiation or go further up the value chain into ingredients or extracts and other forms of added value. The technology is out there, we don’t have to reinvent it. We need to celebrate more of our success, sing our own praises when it comes to food safety and monitoring for export standards. What amazed me is that NZ is already competing everywhere, there is technology, there are food products and brands and investment. We don’t actually know how good we are.

Our story is authentic, but so is everybody else’s. We need to be united on what it is that is going to differentiate us in the next 5-10 years. We should not be complacent and believe that other countries cannot compete, because competition is going to increase, and we shouldn’t just be following we should be leading.

38 days, 5 countries – the 2018 Africa Global Focus Programme in my words

The 2018 Nuffield Africa Global Focus Programme (GFP) was unrelenting and motivating to the core. This extended period of travel with 8 other international Nuffield scholars was nothing short of incredible – challenges would be laid down, preconceptions shattered and friendships forged.

After a whirlwind 8 day Contemporary Scholars Conference in The Netherlands, I set off on the Africa GFP, along with 8 other Nuffield scholars from Australia, Ireland, Scotland, Canada and New Zealand. Our journey started in the USA where we travelled through Oregon before spending three days in the capitol Washington DC. From there we dog-legged back across the Atlantic to Eastern Europe where we spent time in the Czech Republic and Ukraine. From there we finished with an extended period of travel in both Kenya and South Africa.

The USA

In the USA our journey started in Portland – a city famed for its quirky, avant-garde culture, iconic coffee shops, boutiques, farm-to-table restaurants and microbreweries. From Portland we traversed the state of Oregon visiting a wide range of farming businesses including producers and marketers of hazelnuts, oysters, wheat, beef and dairy amongst other produce.

Many of the dairy farmers we visited were doing it pretty tough in the face of an extended period of low commodity prices and it was a breath of fresh air to visit Tillamook County where the local dairy co-operative was standing out and really delivering for its farmers.

Tillamook is a high rainfall zone in Western Oregon and is home to the Tillamook County Creamery Association – a dairy co-operative particularly famous for its quality cheeses. Branding their products under the ‘Tillamook’ brand name, their members now receive payouts significantly higher than standard American commodity prices. Something that really stood out for me during our visit to the area was the Tillamook Dairy Visitor Centre. This facility is absolutely well worth visiting for anyone in the area and provides a unique space for rural and urban folks to mix and learn. The facility has been designed with the help of the farmers to give visitors an inside look, “taking you to the place where it all begins: the farm”. It was a terrific experience and something I think we could learn a lot from with regards to providing spaces for an increasingly urban New Zealand public to connect with our farming roots.

Another observation from my time in the United States was the broad sense of apprehension from within the rural sector with regards to international trade. The stereotypical upbeat and brash American was nowhere to be seen, as we met a succession of farmers, growers and industry representatives openly apprehensive about the future. Much of this centred around concerns at expected retaliation from China as a result of recent US trade policy and tariff announcements. We also heard numerous comments – largely from industry and government representatives – expressing concern at the reasoning behind the US exit from the TPPA. They expressed real concerns about the potential impact that this move would have on US trade with countries such as Japan and Vietnam, and acknowledged that countries such as Australia and New Zealand were in prime position to now take advantage.

Eastern Europe

Ukraine has long been known as the ‘breadbasket of Europe’ and now I know why. The potential for growing crops such as wheat in the Ukraine is immense. A combination of the famous black soils and significant foreign investment has seen large farming businesses (often managed by foreign nationals) thrive.  Driving through this country we could travel days without seeing a fenced paddock as we passed thousands of hectares dedicated to cropping.

Africa

Most of us have heard in some form about the growing food security challenges associated with a global population expected to reach ~9.8 billion by 2050. The central role Africa has to play in this puzzle was one of the reasons I was so keen to join this particular GFP. What is the current reality and what opportunities does this present for New Zealand given that Africa is a net food importer and that more than half of the projected global population growth by 2050 is expected to occur in the continent? During our time in both Kenya and South Africa we saw two unique nations with significant agricultural potential but with quite different historical and political contexts.

Our time in Kenya was really quite inspiring. Here was a country seeing significant investment in infrastructure and a government expressing a desire to use science and technology to empower farmers as part of efforts to achieve food security and nutrition. We saw a broad range of investment into the agriculture sector, from small-scale and subsistence farming right through to large, diverse farming businesses employing hundreds of staff. The agriculture sector in Kenya looks strong and is positioning itself well for growth. The most significant challenges to this growth appear be around climate change, population growth, and environmental constraints (particularly soil health and erosion).

Our visit to South Africa was equally intriguing and offered us unique insights into a country with an incredibly complex and turbulent history. Throughout our brief time there I found myself constantly wrestling with the contradiction of incredibly entrepreneurial and successful businesses flanked by such desperate poverty. Anyone who has had their ear to the ground with South African politics over the last year will know there are some significant challenges facing the agricultural sector as part of a land reform process, part of which is proposing the confiscation of ‘white-owned’ land without compensation. Almost without exception, the farmers and growers we met expressed optimism at how this process would eventuate, but I couldn’t help but think about how this was influencing farming investment for both the medium and long term and what this would mean for the country’s economy.

So what are the opportunities for New Zealand agriculture in Africa? We need to be there, now. We need to be building our brand and presence and recognising the growing importance and potential of this region and the significant opportunities associated with trade, investment and technology transfer.

Before signing off I’d just like to express my gratitude to the many individuals and organisations who have supported me during this time. To the sponsors of the Nuffield New Zealand scholarship and my employers Ravensdown for supporting me wholeheartedly in this journey; and to my family – in particular my parents, three children and amazing wife Jessie who have all made this possible.

For more updates on my Nuffield journey as I get into my individual study, feel free to follow my blog at foodagriculture.wordpress.com and on twitter at @turi_mcfarlane.

Over the course of our travels we grew into a tight knit group, having never previously met before. There were many trials and tribulations overcome which gradually helped stick us together as a professional group. There were plenty of social events and hours travelling in close proximity too which stuck us together as friends. Regularly debriefing as a team on the countless discussions we had with hosts, guests, farmers and all the rest was a great help to me at least in forming my thoughts as we travelled.

While we did on occasion use some of the tools Nuffield suggested for managing the team, overwhelmingly it was the positive outlook and desire to make us work as a group that drove our transition from virtual strangers to a professionally effective team of close friends.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank them all for their time, thoughts, care, and for looking after me so well.

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