Thought Leadership
Informed by an ability for critical analysis and their own research-fuelled passion, our alumni lead in businesses, advance community and social enterprises, influence policy and advocate for animal and environmental outcomes.
Below you will find insights drawn from research across our three core programmes, sector impact stories from alumni as well as Rural Leaders’ thought leadership projects.
Featured Insights
Sharing insights from across our programmes, the scholar reports presented here cover a topical industry theme we change every season.
Leadership, culture and people in dairy.
Here are three reports covering insights from the dairy industry.
The first report looks at the need for the dairy industry to prioritise climate change to ensure it has a sustainable future.
The second report looks at developing a high-performing team culture in dairy.
The final report unpacks the true cost of training a new employee.
Reports powered by Strategic Partner,
This report looks at the critical success factors required to develop a high-performing team culture; a deliberate process requiring a focus on continuous improvement based on building strong team values.
This report investigates whether the dairy industry has a labour transience problem and what it truly costs a business to lose and retrain a new employee.
This report aims to understand the motivations behind dairy farmers adoption of innovations and learn how to accelerate uptake of practices that ensure long-term sustainability of farming in New Zealand.
Rural Scholarship
New Zealand’s food and fibre sector is full of capable, purpose-driven people. Supported by our incredible group of partners, the New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust is privileged to help grow many of these people on their leadership journeys.
A key aspect of the Nuffield and Kellogg programmes is research based learning. The clarity of thought and confidence this promotes is transformative.
The Nuffield Insights and The Kellogg Rural Scholars Series reports presented below are distillations of this research.
Kellogg Rural Scholars Series
Each report in this series summarises 14 final research reports by Kellogg Scholars. There are currently three reports in this series, Dairy, Māori Agribusiness and Horticulture.
Māori Agribusiness insights from Kellogg Scholars
Scholar research in this collection cover topics that range from, the Māori economy, indigenous branding, Te Ao Māori, Whenua Māori, and social issues.
The reports are written by Scholars who seek to reflect a Te Ao Māori (world view) and/or Tikanga (Māori values) lens on many of the important challenges in Food and Fibre. They are written by people living and working in the Sector.
Dairy Insights
The report summaries here are of research by Kellogg Scholars from the Dairy Industry. They grapple with the big issues facing New Zealand Dairy and are written by people living and working in the industry.
The reports cover a range of topics as wide and topical as innovation, markets, people, sustainability, and social issues.
Horticulture Insights
The reports contained in this collection of the Kellogg Rural Scholars Series traverse topics as wide and as timely as horticultural futures, social impacts on Iwi, the potential for impact investing, technical production, and profitability topics.
Red Meat Insights
This curation of 14 Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme research reports cover topics as wide and timely as blockchain for red meat traceability, land use diversification, carbon neutral red meat, alternative proteins, and red meat processing.
These reports are written by people living and working in our food and fibre sector and most work within the red meat industry.
Archived reports
Nuffield Insights
We operate in a climate of increased pressure between ‘business as usual’ and the accelerating forces of change. Under these conditions protecting long-held structures and models becomes untenable.
Every year our Nuffield Scholars produce key insights designed to self-disrupt and help transform a fast-changing sector.
Nuffield Primary Sector Insights
“If everything has changed why would we keep everything the same?”
More than 20 key observations around topics such as innovation, people, supply chains, social issues and strategy, have been crystallised into the 4 deep insights discussed in this report. These insights cover: inequality, trade resilience, leadership, and transformation.
Dead-ends or Transformation. Redesigning NZ farming to thrive through change.
This report is the culmination of insights gathered by ten emerging sector leaders. These insights are viewed through five key pillars needed for a thriving food and fibre sector. These pillars are, Incentives, Innovation, People, Silos, and Leadership.
Archived reports
Leadership research and design
Rural Leaders’ commissioned and collaborative leadership projects include work with Food and Fibre Centre of Vocational Excellence and The Mackenzie Charitable Foundation. The results of this work are shared here.
The State of Leader Development in New Zealand’s Food and Fibre Sector.
In September 2022, the Food and Fibre Centre of Vocational Excellence commissioned the New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust to research and design a leadership development ecosystem for Aotearoa New Zealand’s food and fibre sector.
This first report examines the state of leadership development in the sector.
A Principles-Centred Leadership Model for Aotearoa’s Food and Fibre Sector.
Building on the first, this second report proposes a leadership model that will form the basis of the Sector’s leadership development ecosystem.
It is to be followed by two more reports, 1) a progression framework for leader development aligned to the NZ qualifications framework. 2) a best-practice handbook for leadership.
The Mackenzie Study: A Cross-sectional Study of Nuffield and Kellogg Scholars' Entrepreneurial Leadership Skills.
Taken together, the Nuffield and Kellogg contribution to New Zealand’s food and fibre sector has included the creation of an estimated 2,273 businesses, 41,895 jobs, and service in 29,347 leadership roles.
This study gives the Sector a world-leading insight into the art and science of building entrepreneurial capability.
A Path to Realising Leadership Potential in Aotearoa's Food and Fibre Sector.
This report brings together the research from reports one and two. It provides a much needed framework for the Sector to develop a flow of prepared leaders to step into ever more impactful roles.
The report does not claim to be a definitive answer to leadership. Instead it offers a principles-centred model for encouraging leaders to find their personal leadership approach and to embark on their own path.
Sector Impact
The Mackenzie Study (featured in ‘Leadership research and design’ above) highlights the accomplishments of Nuffield and Kellogg alums in new businesses started, jobs created, and the number of senior leadership roles they held.
While the Study’s numbers are compelling, the human stories of ‘a difference made’, need telling too. So, here are impact stories from programme alumni across industries in food and fibre.
Jessie Chan, MNZM
- MNZM - 2012 Kellogg Scholar.
Jessie became a member of the NZ Order of Merit for services to dairy and agriculture in 2022, was the recipient of Canterbury’s Institute of Directors aspiring director award in 2014 and was Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year in 2017.
Corrigan Sowman
– 2019 Nuffield Scholar, 2016 Kellogg Scholar.
Corrigan is owner, director of the 400ha Uruwhenua Farms in Golden Bay, a family-owned dairy unit where technology is used to manage a large herd in a small herd way – especially in terms of attention to individual animals.
Craige Mackenzie
- 2008 Nuffield Scholar.
Craige Mackenzie's use of technology on farm set a standard in the use of precision farming techniques. His business, Vantage NZ, helps remove the complexity around technology-enabled change, while his family farm demonstrated precision in practice.
Story to come.
Archived Impact stories
Our programmes work in partnership with some of New Zealand’s leading agribusiness organisations – click here for more.
