Foresight on foods

Building the capacity of our leaders and organisations to anticipate and navigate change is a powerful path to a better future.

That’s why AGMARDT partnered with KPMG and the world’s leading futures organisation, the Institute for the Future (IFTF) to bring its Foresight Essentials training programme to New Zealand’s food and fibre leaders.

Two workshops were held in June 2021 and May 2022 where a broad cross-section of food and fibre sector leaders gained a new toolkit – reading the present to inform ad create a better future.

The workshops were instigated by Ian Proudfoot, KPMG New Zealand’s Global Head of Agribusiness who’d been inspired after hearing an IFTF speaker at a Te Hono event in Stanford 2019.

“I was really excited by how relevant this would be to our governance and business leaders in New Zealand, giving them the tools and techniques to look at what is happening now, create plausible scenarios and think strategically about a future they want to be part of.”

Ian then worked with the IFTF Future Foods Lab to develop a tailored programme for New Zealand’s food and fibres sector.

“We were incredibly pleased when AGMARDT decided to come on board with funding support, meaning we were able to significantly reduce the cost per person. AGMARDT also sponsored several people to attend.”

The results have been game-changing for those who attended, he says.

“We know that attendees are already using these tools and techniques in their strategic thinking. And for us at KPMG, thinking about what’s happening now in terms of what it means for the future is enshrined in how we work. critical.

Another key aspect of the forum was bringing together people from across the sector in a real physical environment to undertake the programme – allowing the sparks of creativity to ignite.

“It was really important to us to have people together, face to face in a physical environment. We could have done it in May 2020 during COVID lockdown in a virtual environment, but it wouldn’t have created the deeper and richer of sharing and engagement.”

AGMARDT Trustee Justine Gilliland who attended the June 2021 event says it was a transformative opportunity, strongly aligned with AGMARDT’s strategic objectives.

“Our purpose is to ignite a better future for food and fibres through our investments and partnerships, through building the capacity of our leaders and through catalysing collaboration.

“The IFTF Foresight Essentials is strongly aligned with that on all level. It was an amazing opportunity to learn the skills of foresight that drive positive action for the future – and to do so working with a diverse group of people from across the sector.

“We don’t do that enough as a sector and when we do, the ideas and conversations are so much richer. It’s in combining people’s different insights that you get those real gems.”

For Belinda Price, former AGMARDT Leadership Scholar and Fonterra Dairywoman of the Year 2021, who represented AGMARDT at the second workshop in May 2022 – the experience was equally game-changing.

“From a dairy perspective, we’re always put in the same bowl. But we’re all food producers and need to tell our story together and protect the environment together.

“To be part of a roomful of people from across the sector with a diversity of experience and vision, looking at how to identify signals and build scenarios really expands your thinking and takes you outside your silo.”

It’s also empowering.

“Our sector is facing massive challenges,” says Belinda. “I walked into the workshop feeling worried about the future and came out feeling better.

“It changed my thinking through being able to take a step back and spend time collaboratively thinking about the future and find where the pathways are.

“Having the international flavour and feedback from the IFTF, also provides context about what’s happening in other countries and makes you think bigger.”

Justine says AGMARDT is keen to harness the experience of those who’ve completed Foresight Essentials to take it forward.

“Foresight is a cycle of activity. Things change and we need to keep this alive.”

What we’re looking for

AGMARDT is in the business of supporting bold new ideas and leaders that will help accelerate a better future for food and fibres in New Zealand.

We do this through a range of grants and scholarships

So, what exactly are our trustees looking for when they consider applications?

Well, in short, high quality, high impact ideas!

It’s important that applicants demonstrate ‘impact potential’ that aligns to one or more of our priorities:

  • Regional resilience / growth
  • Regional or placed based leadership
  • Improved environmental performance
  • Growing economic value for New Zealand (at farm, community, regional or national level)
  • Collaboration / partnership

And we’re looking for evidence of need or demand, whether that’s about the problem that needs to be solved, the market opportunity or the capability / leadership needs that funding could support.

We’re also after an innovative approach – transformational, diverse thinking and future focused, demonstrating scalability and benefits/broader impacts that can be sustained over time.

Of course, with that we want to see evidence of ability to deliver and the right mindset. That can be demonstrated in a clear, well thought out plan, sound success measures, capable people / teams, entrepreneurial spirit, growth mindset and willingness to learn and adapt

We’ll also looks favourably on applications where industry financially contributes (whether commercial companies or industry good organisations). This signals strong support for projects and is a good demonstration of collaboration and industry commitment.

Find out more about our grants and scholarships – and check out the FAQs – here.

BioLigna – Wood to Food

An AGMARDT Agribusiness Innovation Grant (AIG) has enabled BioLigna to achieve proof of concept for Wood to Food, a unique approach to producing a high-value food grade ingredient using wood residue converted to sugars as a feedstock.

“AGMARDT plays a wide-ranging role in the eco-system, but I particularly appreciate its early-stage funding in the ideation space,” says BioLigna project manager Amos Palfreyman.

“So many great opportunities never get underway because there is no-one willing to step up and provide grants for experimentation and incubation, but AGMARDT does that.”

The AIG grant kick-started testing of the Wood to Food concept. The project successfully identified strains of lactic acid bacteria with potential to be grown in this way. Options now being explored include using these in in production of specialist ingredients such as low-calorie sweeteners for use in plant-based food products.

Amos is passionate about food sustainability. He is the former business development manager, and now advisor for emerging proteins for FoodHQ. The world class food, science and innovation hub is a collaboration between internationally-recognised New Zealand companies, councils and research and educational institutions. He is also a co-founder and CEO of the Miruku foodtech company, which is developing alternative dairy proteins technology.

The BioLigna project had its origins in discussions at FoodHQ around ‘what does New Zealand’s role look like in the future of plant-based food’?

“When we look at ingredients of plant-based foods, beyond plant proteins they require ingredients not so well-known in the food industry,” says Amos. “For instance, sweeteners to address the bitter taste some plant foods have. Manufacturers don’t want to add sugar or sucrose because of the health aspect.

“A lot of the industry is importing many ingredients, such as sweeteners and plant-based proteins and these are being repackaged in ‘made in NZ’ products and sold here or exported. As more of these products are needed, more transparency in the supply chain will be required.

“We wanted to look at supporting plant-based food producers with natural ingredients from New Zealand – to look at what we have, including our unique botanicals, and what we can access and leverage. Then we could have a compelling story to tell about the most natural plant-based food, all produced here in New Zealand.”

Further inspiration came from a research document on bacteria being used to ferment wood-derived sugars into biofuel.

“The idea was sound but ultimately the economics had not stacked up for that,” says Amos. “But I thought, ‘could wood seconds be used to create high value feedstock for food-grade bacteria’? Especially as a lot of biomass is not being fully-utilised.”

The team worked with Crown Research Institute Scion, which had developed a proprietary technology to convert wood residues to fermentable sugars. Laboratory testing was provided through Massey University and AgResearch.

“We have been exploring a few different options and the best option is specialist health food ingredients such as low calorie sweeteners to use in formulas in the fast growing plant-based market,” says Amos. “There is also potential for probiotic fibre-based ingredients with these sweeteners, so you also get healthy gut microbiome.”

The AIG funding included covering travel costs for a post-graduate to undertake work on the project, Scion sample processing, lab hire and microbial materials costs.

“It helped enable testing of multiple strains of lactobacillus to find those that most enjoyed the ‘dinner’ we were providing,” says Amos.

BioLigna will now work with Scion and AgResearch to explore the techno-economic feasibility of specific ingredients and use non-GMO accelerated evolution platform to enhance bacterial strains to  improve growth and efficiency while creating a patentable microbial strain.

“Through the laboratory trial we have identified over a dozen strains that most efficiently used the wood sugar components to ferment single cell proteins and grew fastest,” says Amos.  “We now need to identify a number of targets in terms of high value low calorie sweeteners – xylitol, erythritol and mannitol for instance – to see which we can produce most efficiently.”

 

Common good action leaders

For dairy farmer Deborah Rhodes, the future of the industry depends not only on looking after the environment and animals, but the human beings the industry relies on.

“Humanity is the least economically valued factor in our dairy industry workplaces,” says Deborah, a 2021 AGMARDT Leadership Scholarship, undertaking a Master’s in Health – Workplace Health and Safety.

“What we need from future leaders is to bring this humanity, the duty of care and love of whanau, into our complex work relationships to create more equity and a balance of work and life outcomes in our industry.”

A registered nurse with a background in sales and marketing and project management in the international pharmaceuticals industry, Deborah owns a dairy farm in Collingwood with husband Tim and their three teenage children.

An active leader in the community and industry, Deborah sits on the Ministry for Primary Industry’s regenerative agriculture technical advisory group with past roles including school boards and Chair of the local Arts Council. She did stand unsuccessfully for the Fonterra Shareholders Council, Dairy NZ Board of Directors, and Golden Bay Community Board, to show commitment to the need for change.

Her driving passion is evolving leadership to support mental health, wellbeing, and workplace ethics for people in the dairy industry, looking to improve safety, wellbeing, and common good prosperity.

“Ultimately, common good action leadership is my take on the future for the industry and is driven by my experiences.”

Entering the booming dairy industry in 2010 as a second career, Deborah says she and husband Tim were surprised by the hierarchical nature of workplace relationships in the industry.

“We started out as farm assistants, right at the bottom of the ladder and it was there that the workplace injustices became evident. In an industry built on rapid growth with a lot of money at stake, employees were being squeezed to do jobs within tight timeframes, under huge pressure and with little opportunity for recourse.

“That motivated us to not only buy our own farm but do something for more equality.”

Deborah with husband Tim is pioneering healthier employment relationships in the dairy sector having developed the Responsible Work Relationships ™ framework with an accompanying app, that can be used to record, report, and trigger resolution, of relationship issues on farm.

“The framework has the potential to build regenerative workforces that are less hierarchical and exploitative, help retain staff and build skills for people to stay in communities, maintain performance, keep school rolls stable, and build more robust businesses in climate change.”

Supported by the AGMARDT Scholarship as part of her Master’s in Health, Deborah will be working to validate the framework and progress the app, also working alongside Māori to ensure the system is appropriate and accepted.

She sees the framework as being a useful tool to support the Employment Relations Act 2000, under which employers are responsible for the health and safety of their workers – including their wellbeing and psychosocial health.

She says farming contracts can be a far more significant driver of fatigue and harm to people than government regulations, but better measurables of production-based pay for share and contract milking arrangements, can then be a source of powerful metrics.

“Social and environmental metrics giving proof points of future food and fibre businesses will become imperatives for market approval of good, service and trade agreements.”

Deborah will also be using her Master’s in Health – Workplace Health and Safety study to better understand what type of leadership is needed to allow ‘common good action’ leaders to emerge and evolve in the dairy industry – and wider primary industry sector.

“Hierarchical structures can be an impediment to emerging leadership. When power is held, less leadership may be given, but common good action leaders achieve a lot because they understand the issues from the ground up.

“I have worked voluntarily for common good goals, and I know with responsible work relationships to restore our faith in humanity, means a long-term prosperous future for our primary industries.”

Using satellite science to measure river water quality

AGMARDT is funding laboratory testing for a new programme to develop ways to use satellite science to measure river water quality.

“Rivershot is an intelligent and innovative approach to water quality that is data-driven, highly directed, inquisitive and comprehensive in its commitment to learning and understanding,” says Paul Brown.

Former dairy farmer Paul, from Ashburton, is one of the core team of three driving development of the innovative programme which uses a combination of satellite-based spectral analysis and direct water sampling to monitor changes in river water quality and to identify nitrogen and e-coli levels.

AGMARDT provided funding to support regular testing of water samples during 2020 and 2021 to help Rivershot test and adapt its processes.

“As a dairy farmer, I was very aware that dairy farming is blamed for a lot of river pollution and I wanted to look at ways to help,” says Paul. “The other members of our team are a computer scientist and a space scientist .

“Rivershot portrays water quality by continuously tracking the extent of Nitrogen and E. coli content along the river. It works through a mixture of absorption, refraction and reflection of wavelengths. It is very complex but, by measuring wavelengths, you can detect what is in the water.”

While satellite-based programmes for analysis of lake water quality are already established, Paul  believes Rivershot technology is a world first for monitoring river water.

“Lakes are larger and more stable. Rivers are not as wide or deep and they move faster and weave through hills and urban and rural environments and various industry. There is the potential to monitor every river in New Zealand using this – and overseas too.

“Rather than taking river water samples in a handful of locations monthly, Rivershot looks across the whole river, taking up to 2000 test points per km, and averaging them over a length of river. Results will be presented within 48 hours of satellite imagery.”

Paul is funding technology development costs for the project and the AGMARDT funding enabled regular laboratory testing of river water samples to check against satellite analysis.

Initial pilot programmes were undertaken on the Avon, Cam, Kaiapoi and Rakaia rivers, with water samples taken on the same day as satellite imagery. The data set and analysis is being independently peer reviewed.

“We did a lot of testing with satellites and, at the same time, did traditional bucket testing,” says Paul. “We also used water testing data from LAWA (Land Air Water Aotearoa) to correlate our results.

“It’s been a constant process of developing our technology to overcome issues like flow and distinguishing stones from water. There have been many steps in the process but we have successfully demonstrated the process of using satellites to measure N and E. coli is possible on different types of rivers within NZ. We are now processing data from 60 rivers – mostly in the South Island but some in the North too.

“As an example, the Avon is one of the most tested rivers in the South Island – it is tested in seven places monthly by agencies like ECan and Christchurch City Council.. In one day, Rivershot can get 1,500 samples from the Avon. The Rakaia river is tested in two places monthly; we can get a shot every metre and over 50,000 samples in one day.”

The Rivershot team is now seeking partners to help take the programme to its next stage and ultimately to facilitate its uptake by agencies, government, independent groups and business groups, who can use it for their needs.

“We want to work with the right people for the right reasons,” says Paul.  Rivershot contributes to a sustainable river eco-system that benefits everyone.  Our system is a more holistic view of the whole river system and presents the results to clients very quickly. Therefore results can be acted upon  by those that monitor our rivers in real time to help prevent further pollution. Rivershot helps tell the whole story of the river , the good and the bad, as it passes through different localities that can effect water quality.

“Our aim is to become the trusted supplier of regular data from all possible fresh water rivers and waterways, and supply agencies, farmer groups, water care groups and individuals, that require this information to carry out their regulatory roles and maintain our fresh water standards for the benefit of all New Zealand.”

Turning NZ into the eco valley of the world

Alex Worker sees a future for New Zealand as the eco valley of the world, producing ethical, technology enabled food to help feed Asia Pacific more sustainably.

That may be a big ask, but this innovator and future-focused thinker is already well on track and as a 2022 AGMARDT Leadership Scholar will be furthering his goal.

The founding Chair of Future Food Aotearoa, a collective of food entrepreneurs committed to growing New Zealand’s foodtech industry, Alex has an extensive international career in food and agribusiness.

He has over a decade’s experience in sales, marketing and management for Fonterra in China and New Zealand, and wider experience in new ventures and business development across Australasia, the Americas, Greater China, and Asia Pacific – including co-founding and directing China’s first culinary incubator, Hatchery.

Aware of the changing dynamics of the global food industry, the challenges of climate change, population growth and changing customer needs and preferences, Alex sees significant opportunity for New Zealand to transform into a modern food system.

“Like any good garden, Aotearoa’s food system requires thought, care and attention. With the right knowledge, experience and leadership, New Zealand could become to food, what Silicon Valley is to software. We could become the Eco Valley of the world producing sustainable, technology-enabled and ethical foods.

“To do this we need to take a systems approach looking globally at what’s possible, where demand is heading, and where New Zealand fits in. Understanding our role in this value chain, investing in food technology and IP, and feeding both China and US with higher quality nutrition is our opportunity”.

Having lived in Asia for over 15 years, Alex is now based in Queenstown with his wife and young family and passionately pursuing his goal. He splits his time between several ventures, including leading the launch of Impossible Foods’ meats from plants into New Zealand.

“Once New Zealanders and farmers start to experience the delicious meat taste of Impossible that’s made from plants, they’ll open to a new world of possibilities.”

Alex is also a partner in two New Zealand foodtech ventures LILO Desserts and NewFish. LILO is focused on harnessing fruit waste, the 10% that never makes it out of the orchard and turning it into novel plant-based desserts. NewFish is scaling up use of micro-algae as a powerful, protein rich future food from New Zealand.

And he sits on the steering committee of Te Hono, a partnership between food and fibre sector industry leaders, iwi, and government agencies with a vision to turn New Zealand into a global food and fibre exemplar economically, environmentally and socially. He also sits on MPI’s food and beverage industry transformation plan advisory board.

Focused on further honing his governance skills to better represent New Zealand’s growing pipeline of food entrepreneurs, Alex will be using the AGMARDT Leadership Scholarship to complete Harvard Kennedy School’s Public Leadership Credential programme.

“With the Harvard programme, my aim is to significantly upgrade my governance, public good thinking and leadership skills to have a greater impact on the betterment of Aotearoa New Zealand.

“I’m really grateful for AGMARDT’s support. It’s a progressive signal to take a risk on my type of profile. In turn I hope to de-risk their investment and use the opportunity to drive real, collective impact across New Zealand’s food and fibre sector.”

2022 Primary Industries Good Employer Awards open

We are very excited that the search has begun to find Aotearoa New Zealand’s most exceptional primary sector employers.

Entries have opened for the 2022 Primary Industries Good Employer Awards, which are run by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and AGMARDT.

“The Awards provide the opportunity to recognise and celebrate outstanding employers across the primary sector that may otherwise fly under the radar,” said MPI’s director of investment, skills and performance Cheyne Gillooly.

“The sector has been resilient throughout the pandemic and the hard mahi of farmers, growers and processors is leading our export-led recovery from COVID-19.

“Revenue from food and fibres exports is predicted to hit a record $50.8 billion in the year to 30 June 2022.”

The primary sector employs about 367,000 people, representing almost 14% of the total workforce.

“Since the Primary Industries Good Employer Awards were launched in 2018, 9 employers – ranging from transport companies, to environmental guardians and agritech innovators – have received accolades,” said Mr Gillooly.

“We’re on the lookout for employers, both large and small, who go above and beyond by creating productive, safe, supportive, and healthy work environments for their people.

“Our Fit for a Better World economic roadmap sets a goal of employing 10 percent more New Zealanders in the primary sector by 2030.”

Read more and apply for the awards here.

 

Survey shows talent key to future success

Fostering talent, shifting mindsets, and addressing sustainability challenges are keys to the future success of Aotearoa New Zealand’s food and fibres sector, according to new research from AGMARDT.

In December 2021 we worked with Colmar Brunton’s KANTAR to seek input from the sector to help us better understand the opportunities and challenges of the food and fibres sector in New Zealand.

There were 229 people  who responded to the KANTAR AGMARDT Applicant Experience and Perspectives Survey – a mix of past and present AGMARDT applicants and potential applicants.

AGMARDT General Manager Lee-Ann Marsh says one of the strongest themes to come out of the research is that the future success of food and fibres depends on attracting, retaining, and unleashing the talent of our best and brightest.

“It’s exciting that we’re seeing huge talent potential across the board including in underrepresented groups in agriculture such as younger people, women and Māori agribusiness. Everyone is interested in how they can make a difference and where they can get involved.”

The research also highlights a growing awareness that innovation needs to be market connected and spread across the entire value chain, rather than confined within traditional areas and roles as it has been in the past.

One of the top barriers to innovation within the food and fibres sector as identified in the research, is navigating the funding landscape itself, (43% of respondents). Other barriers include costs (38%) and pulling the right people and skills together (34%).

The research also identified opportunities for the sector to prioritise, including supporting the growth and development of agri tech (40%), promoting, and developing more premium products (38%) and developing sustainable options using natural resources (30%).

Sustainability is seen as the most critical challenge to the sector’s future success (43%), followed closely by ‘short-termism’ and reactive and narrow thinking (34%) and attracting and retaining talent (32%).

For Lee-Ann, it was surprising to see how strongly the issue of mindset came through as a critical challenge. She says this indicates that people recognise the need to think beyond the here and now to ensure the sector is well positioned for the future.

AGMARDT will be using the input from the research along with other insights to develop an action plan for achieving our strategy.

“We certainly see that strategic partnerships will play a bigger role in uniting the industry and in helping to uncover new ways of tackling complex challenges.

“We already partner with many groups and organisations working collaboratively for the whole food and fibres sector, particularly in the leadership and capability space. We are one of several funders of Rural Leaders, Agri Women’s Development Trust and we support groups such as Te Hono and initiatives such as Taiao Ora Tangata Ora.

“We will continue to work with trusted partners as well as seek out new ones to unlock impact at scale.”

Click here to read the AGMARDT KANTAR  Perspectives Survey Summary Report Feb 22 

 

 

Applying Supercritical UV technology to the dairy sector

AGMARDT funding is helping take a revolutionary new UV treatment technology to the dairy sector where it has potential to significantly reduce biosecurity risk and improve animal well-being.

Super critical UV (SCUV) is a patented technology designed at Massey University. SCUV is a potentially simple and cost-effective solution for rapidly disinfecting low clarity liquids like industrial effluent, juice, wine, and milk for which standard UV treatment is not normally considered feasible due to these liquids’ low ‘UV transmissivity’ (UVT).

SCUV is also potentially a cost-effective way to enhance the shelf life of products and treat them far more cheaply than other methods like pasteurisation – without high temperatures that impact nutrition and flavour.

Led by Professor Andy Shilton, who has a PhD in Environmental Engineering and more than 25 years’ experience working in solutions for water and wastewater treatment, Massey has already developed a market-ready industrial scale SCUV system.

Now Professor Shilton and his team are testing a prototype for the dairy industry – where SCUV has multiple potential benefits including reducing the biosecurity risks from waste milk and effluent.

Professor Shilton says farmers are particularly interested in the ability of SCUV to lift the quality of milk fed to calves by reducing potential disease spread, especially if the waste milk derives from multiple farms.

From talking to stakeholders a prototype has been refined and has been tested on milk spiked with E.Coli and Bacillus cereus spores and was shown to be effective and fit for purpose for the next stage of long term rigorous testing.

Professor Shilton says without AGMARDT funding this critical stage of the work wouldn’t have been possible.

“While we had been able to undertake preliminary testing that indicated potential, without this AGMARDT funding the young Bio/Chem Research Engineer that we had trained in this area would have had to be laid off and work on applying Supercritical UV technology to the dairy sector would have ceased.

“This funding gave us the opportunity to continue and enabled us to secure co-funding from Fonterra to apply for a second stage of AGMARDT funding that will allow longer-term testing including on-farm trials.”

This work will build a rigorous data set to allow practical proof of concept and economic feasibility analysis.

“Ultimately this work has the potential to provide a significant reduction of biosecurity risk, improvement in animal well-being and lift in profitability across New Zealand’s dairy sector.”

New generation apples for new markets

AGMARDT funding is helping Next Generation Apples better understand consumers in Vietnam and China as it works to introduce two new varieties of New Zealand-bred apples into these markets.

Next Generation Apples is a joint venture between long-standing Kiwi apple growing companies Golden Bay Fruit and Taylor Corp. The company is taking new varieties of apples to the world, growing them in the best apple-growing regions and delivering them to apple-loving consumers.

Next Generation’s first two varieties are T003 and T093, the latest to be developed by New Zealand and world-leading fruit, vegetable, and arable developer Plant Food & Research.

Golden Bay Fruit Branding Imagery

The two new varieties have all the right ingredients for commercial success from a grower and consumer perspective.

Steve Hayden, Project Manager says the company wants to get closer to the consumer rather than following the traditional New Zealand apple industry model of going to wholesalers.

To do this, it has undertaken an extensive Market and Customer Insight Programme to build in-depth understanding of specific markets and the customers, to inform naming of the apples, branding and overall marketing approaches.

During 2020 and 2021, Next Generation Apples has completed key phases of the programme, gaining an extensive but not exhaustive understanding of the experiences and perceptions Chinese and Vietnamese consumers have around food, fruit and specifically apples.

New Zealand apples are regarded as a desirable and premium product for a growing middle-class shopping at specialty fruit and vegetable outlets and online.

“We are aiming for this premium market and confident that there is huge potential and demand. New Zealand is still regarded in these markets as clean and green, and our COVID-free status has only worked to boost that reputation and increase demand.”

The other core component of the insights programme is in-market consumer taste testing and interviews, Due to COVID, some of these were completed in 2020 with Vietnamese and Chinese consumers.

However, during June to August 2021, the programme is heading into five cities across Vietnam and China working with consumers to experience branding concepts and marketing.

“AGMARDT funding is invaluable for us. Without it we wouldn’t be able to do this critical component of in-market consumer testing and interviews,” Steve Hayden, Project Manager