| Nigel Bamford A conversation with the Next Generation There’s an impressive clarity about Nigel Bamford’s thinking. The Dunedin gas fire manufacturer has definite thoughts on how to approach life, how to approach business, the importance of family, and New Zealand’s economic direction. “Bamford says New Zealand’s smallness is its strength, which needs to be exploited more than it has been. “If you want to grow decent business, you’re forced to sell offshore, so you’re forced to become an open-minded company which understands the needs of other markets.” His company Escea has been trailblazer on the business scene, picking up accolades and awards locally and nationally with almost giddying frequency. He believes achieving initial growth from small base is far more difficult than achieving sustained growth from large base. Goal setting seems to be something of habit – as does meeting goals. Bamford was just 18 and at high school in his home town of Balclutha, South Otago when he decided not only to do something in business but in one that could derive income from several markets. This turned into seven-year journey that included four years as production designer for Dunedin manufacturing company, followed by three years managing gas appliance retail store in Nelson. Along the way Bamford also studied for New Zealand certificate in mechanical engineering at Otago Polytechnic. The Nelson experience gave him “great insight” into the needs, wants, and desires of consumers – an important apprenticeship for what was to come. “It provided me with lot of feedback about the strengths and weaknesses of the other products on the market. Every night I would go home and write down what people had said and add to my design brief.” He compiled database of potential suppliers, including “vague details” of what his product would be like. And, having clocked up some life and work experience as well as market insights, he chose Dunedin as launching pad for his own business venture in 2002. “I moved from thinking about it to doing it.” “Nationally people like to support New Zealand-based company. Internationally there are times to play the ‘Made in New Zealand’ card and there are times not to. You make the decision based on the market you’re going into.” Bamford says Escea does play the ‘southern card’ where possible when hosting clients from overseas. Dunedin’s proximity to Queenstown, for example, means there are opportunities for clients, prospective and otherwise, to mix business with pleasure. Bamford and his team spent their first three years at Escea purely on product design. “Yes, we could have gone out there and got big bucket of capital, but essentially the lower-key approach was model that worked well for us. It wasn’t conscious decision not to spend our own millions – we just didn’t have our own millions.” | |
| Dan Coup Deer Industry New Zealand CEO Dan is the chief executive of Deer Industry New Zealand - the industry good body for deer farmers, processors and marketers. He has previously worked in New Zealand's meat and dairy industries and has a passion for the primary sector and its contribution to New Zealand's society and economy. Dan has degrees in science and business from New Zealand and from the UK and lives with his young family in Wellington
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| Michelle Edge OSPRI CEO Before joining OSPRI, Michelle was Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Meat Processor Corporation (AMPC). The AMPC is responsible for investing in research and development on behalf of the Australian meat processing industry and supply chain. She held this position since 2010 and, during this time, implemented a range of changes within the AMPC business, including an enhanced service delivery model for RD&E on behalf of meat processing levy payers. Prior to her role at AMPC, Michelle held senior positions in the Victorian Government. During this time, she was involved in the development of the national Research, Development and Education (RD&E) Strategy for the Primary Industries Ministerial Council. She also helped set strategic research priorities and enhance current capability, collaboration and co-investment, as well as developing the Victorian Livestock Management Act and associated regulations. Michelle has worked as a research scientist in animal welfare and animal production and held a position as the Executive Officer with the Animal Welfare Science Centre at the University of Melbourne. Michelle has also operated as a consultant, delivering projects to the livestock industries in research, policy, extension, education and training for industry, government and commercial stakeholders. | |
| Steve Green Owner/General Manager/Assistant Winemaker/Marketer/Overseas Traveller Steve, the founder of Carrick is multi skilled and busy! Initially involved in the development of the vineyards and the setting of the winery, his skills and experience in the wine industry help define Carrick as one of the leading Central Otago wineries. As well as guiding and promoting Carrick wines in the local and international markets, Steve is on the Board of Wine New Zealand, and has been both the chairperson of Central Otago Pinot Noir Limited, the highly successful marketing arm of Central Otago and also the President of the Central Otago Winegrowers Association. He travels the world on Carrick's behalf but likes nothing better than to be in a back country hut enjoying a bottle of Carrick Pinot Noir. | |
| Rhys Griffiths DINZ Velvet Market Manager, Asia Rhys is DINZ’s Market Manager for Asia – with a primary responsibility for velvet. His work is keenly focussed on market access and development, particularly within north Asian markets. He has been with DINZ for eight years, previously working in a marketing development role sourcing products for the NZ agricultural sector from China and as marketing manager for a prominent animal health company. | |
| Tony Hammington Rabobank Tony Hammington is one of Rabobank’s Succession Planning Facilitators and has extensive experience working with farming families and is motivated by Rabobank’s commitment to rural communities. Tony has enjoyed a successful 10 year career with Rabobank, having previously held the position of Regional Manager, Southern South Island. Tony also has extensive prior experience in rural lending, financial risk and superannuation and senior management roles in rural banking and finance. Tony’s presentation will be entitled: | |
| Lorna Humm DINZ Deer Health Project Manager Veterinarian Lorna Humm BVSc BSc (hons) started with DINZ on a part time basis in early January as the P2P Deer Health Project Manager. Lorna began working as a large animal vet in Mid Canterbury in 2010 after graduating from Massey University Veterinary School. “I completed a year of agricultural science papers at Massey before vet school and one of these was deer production,” Lorna explains. “This introduction to the New Zealand deer industry sparked a passion for deer that continued throughout my degree and into my veterinary career. I have been extremely lucky to work with, and learn from, some of New Zealand’s best deer vets.”
Lorna and her husband Duncan have been breeding and finishing deer for more than 10 years – initially managing Duncan’s family deer unit in the Canterbury foothills near Mount Somers. They now have their own red deer breeding and finishing enterprise and are active members of the Canterbury Advance Party. Lorna credits Duncan with fuelling her interest in deer: “Duncan’s enthusiasm and drive is infectious – he is an active member of the Next Generation group of deer farmers, and is really forward thinking.”
Originally from south west Scotland, Lorna’s academic background also includes an animal science degree from University of Newcastle, England, completed before her move to New Zealand in 2001.
Improving deer health has been identified within the Passion2Profit programme as one of the main ways to increase deer farm productivity and profitability. As Deer Health Project Manager, Lorna will be the link between farmers, researchers, vets and farm advisers.
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| Andrew Macfarlane Deer Industry New Zealand Board Chairman Andrew is a producer appointed representative on the DINZ Board Andrew Macfarlane (B.AgSci) is a farm management consultant, farmer, and property investor. Director of ANZCO, a member of the Lincoln University Council, Director of Ngai Tahu Farming Ltd and Director of AgResearch Ltd | |
| Mark Mitchell President/Owner of Broadleaf Mark Mitchell is the President/Owner of Broadleaf. Broadleaf is a Specialty Meat Company based in Vernon, California. Mark has a lifelong passion for the agriculture industry and sustainable farming. Early on, Mark recognized the opportunities for specialty meats in the U.S. market by listening to the consumers and market demands, and then supplied accordingly. Mark's customer focused approach, supported by quality brands and services has allowed Broadleaf to expand its offering over the years. Today, under Mark's vision and guidance, Broadleaf is a leading distributor for specialty meats. Mark also serves in advisory positions within the industry including the North American Meat Institute. Mark is a past Board Member of the North American Meat Processors. Natives of New Zealand, the Mitchells involvement with the industry began in the late 1970’s. Mark would trap deer out of the bush of Fiordland and transport them back to the family farm just out of Alexandra. The traps were baited with leaves from the "broadleaf" tree, hence the name for the company was born. In late 1981, Mark & Annie moved onto a larger deer farming property in the Kaimai Ranges near Tauranga to be close to one of the first farmed deer slaughter plants where they became both shareholders and employees. The Mitchells entered the U.S. Market in June of 1988. Today Broadleaf is an importer, manufacturer and distributor specializing in “centre of plate” proteins. Broadleaf primarily services the Food Service channel via wholesalers and distributors in all 50 states across the USA, including Alaska, the Hawaiian Islands, and Puerto Rico. | |
| Kris Orange NZDFA Chairman Kris is Executive Committee chairman for the New Zealand Deer Farmers Association and is very passionate about anything deer and has been involved in deer farming and transport for over 25 years. Managing Director and co-owner of Downlands Deer Transport. Co-owner and Director of Great Southern Deer Farms running 2500 deer on two properties in Otago and South Canterbury. Kris is married to Cathie and has three school age children. | |
| Mike Petersen Mike Petersen was previously the Chairman of Beef+Lamb NZ and on 1July 2013 was appointed NZ Special Agricultural Trade Envoy, an appointment made jointly by the Minister of Trade and the Minister for Primary Industries. Offshore he represents the meat, wool, dairy, horticulture and wine sectors, and also does some on-shore hosting of visitors. Mike travels for a couple of weeks four times a year, but in his first six months of office, had already completed four trips. He has also been active in advocacy and diplomacy in support of the Trans Pacific Partnership trade talks. When he’s in New Zealand the role takes up about half a day a week.
Mike still does most of the work on the farm at Waipukurau, explaining that the farming business has been simplified significantly by taking deer out of the mix. “It was another complication that made the farm more difficult to run. It’s harder to get staff to work with deer, as not many people have experience working with them.”
The farm is 350 effective ha, and is now a finishing operation with 500 bulls and 5,000 lambs finished a year.
Farm rainfall has averaged 950mm a year since 1990 and up to 1255mm, but in the last three years has averaged 815mm. Of the last seven years, six have been very dry, and since the family started recording rainfall, from August 2012 to May this year was the driest 10 months they’ve had.
“On the farm here we want to keep evolving, and we are talking about succession quite a lot with our kids. It may be that our kids won’t be farming this property. We are only five minutes from town, and it’s a bit more of a lifestyle block area.”
Mike says New Zealand has a role in helping other countries deal with their food security. “It’s not an opportunity but a responsibility of ours. Food security is a real issue. We have an abundance of food in NZ, and we don’t actually take it seriously. When you go to countries overseas there is real concern about where the food will come from to feed their people.”
“New Zealand has a huge opportunity in this space to capitalise on that. However, more than that, we have a real responsibility to help these countries feed their own people. It’s about exporting our products but also exporting our farming systems to help them. It’s our comparative advantage, and something we can really share and use offshore to advance New Zealand’s interests.”
“When we talk about food security it is really about water, and having enough water to produce food. It comes back to the example of the Ruataniwha dam. I have met investors offshore who would buy the Ruataniwha dam tomorrow if they could because they see how strategically important it is.”
“We know that investment in subdivision, fertiliser and water will return 25-25% return on investment. When you can borrow money at 6% that is a very attractive return. High predictable yields of 5-8% are difficult to achieve in farming, and offshore investors think 3% is a very fair return.”
“Overseas investment in New Zealand is a non-issue. I work for an offshore investor who owns land in Gisborne, so I’ve seen it firsthand. I think fewer and fewer people will come here and buy farms. That’s because they now realise they don’t need to buy land to gain access to food.”
“For example the Chinese company buying into Synlait’s processing business isn’t buying the farms, but it is investing in the processing business. Foreign investors who come here are investing millions into farmland and employing people. I have yet to see any foreign investor in farms take profits out of New Zealand. I’ve only seen them reinvest any profits back into New Zealand farms. They can’t take it away, they end up creating wealth. It is a good news story.”
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| Ben Veldkamp Head buyer for game and poultry Ben Veldkamp is the head game and poultry buyer for one of the largest food service distribution companies in the Netherlands. Ben is responsible for securing supply of game products for the company Hanos, which supplies around 100,000 restaurants in the Netherlands and Belgium from their 16 distribution depots across both countries. Ben has been purchasing New Zealand venison for supply during the Dutch game season for many years, recognising its consistent quality and good flavour. Ben recognised buyers' demands for superior consistency and supply integrity – and so New Zealand venison has become a larger part of his game season offering over the past few years. At the same time Ben recognised that New Zealand venison has a wide variety of uses outside of the traditional game season presentations, but found increasing sales difficult due to the firm place venison has in Dutch seasonal cuisine. In 2014 Ben visited New Zealand to learn more about deer farming, processing and the culinary uses of farm raised venison. This visit convinced Ben that a new direction was possible for New Zealand venison to supply the Dutch demand for high quality summer grilling meat. Since then Ben has worked closely with DINZ and First Light Foods to introduce Cervena to Chefs during the European Summer. Ben piloted this approach in 2015, with pleasing results, this has led to the trial being expanded in 2016 which Ben will share more on during his talk. | |
| Rodd Willis Director of Natural & Specialty at Dot Foods Rodd has been in the food industry for his entire 23-year career. His career started at Hormel Foods, where he sold meat products to foodservice operators and distributors in the Chicago, Detroit, and St. Louis markets. Since 1997, Rodd has been employed by Dot Foods, who is the largest food redistributor in the United States ($6 billion USD). He has held multiple roles at Dot, including director level positions in sales, marketing and supply chain. In 2008, Rodd established a fresh meat and seafood division within Dot, which has since grown into a $500 million business unit. In 2015, he was named the Director of Natural and Specialty, and is responsible for developing natural and organic products across all channels in the US market, including Retail Grocery, Foodservice, Convenience, Vending, and Export. Rodd is also the founder of Steakhouse Direct, LLC which markets and distributes high-end subprimals to backyard “grillmasters”. He holds an MBA from the University of Missouri. He currently resides in St. Louis, Missouri with his wife Katherine and their 3 young children.
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| Marianne Wilson DINZ Venison Marketing Manager Marianne joined DINZ recently in October 2015 in the position of Marketing Manager – Venison. Previous to this Marianne has held a variety of roles in Product development, Project Management and Marketing with Fonterra Foodservice, Asia and Middle East and Burger King Europe. Marianne lives at Te Horo beach, on the Kapiti Coast. | |
| Women in Agriculture: partners programme ANNA CAMPBELL PHD MANAGING DIRECTOR ABACUSBIO
An innovative and strategic thinker, Anna specialises in in using commercially focused science to improve agricultural food products. She has broad industry experience in both the meat and cereal sectors and a drive to use science and technology to improve such industries globally.
Anna is a strong advocate for science and industry working together to find solutions to challenges associated with global food security. She believes solutions will be driven by trusted relationships across countries and mutual understanding of commercial imperatives.
Topics Anna and her colleagues will address
• opportunities to leverage good science in agriculture
• what looks new on the horizon that can assist our farming business profit in the next
10 years
• what can the women in the room do to speed up the impact
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