Building New Zealand agribusiness

Massey University is well placed to help transform New Zealand’s agricultural sector and ensure it reaches its global potential, according to Vice-Chancellor Steve Maharey.

KPMG’s agribusiness sector chair Ross Buckley outlined the accountancy firm’s Agribusiness agenda at a Massey stakeholder function at National Fieldays last night.

Mr Maharey says the agenda outlines a clear path for the sector, which is in tune with the University’s own strategy. He says many of its major themes – biosecurity, sustainability and investment in research – are important.

The University’s own Agri-Food strategy contains many synergies with the KPMG document, Mr Maharey says. “We too, recognise the importance of collaborating with others, both in research and in industry, to provide solutions to the issues facing the sector, and to add value to the primary products we sell to the world.”

But transferring knowledge to practitioners is also a key. “Massey, along with Lincoln and Otago Universities, is doing just that through the Food and Agribusiness Market Experience programme,’ Mr Maharey says. “This will give food and agribusiness leaders the opportunity to undertake professional development at the cutting edge.”

Mr Maharey says biosecurity is a major area of focus for the University. The Hopkirk Insitute, a collaboration with AgResearch, has the ability to add millions of dollars a year to GDP through better risk management and disease control. “Our researchers are working to better understand and mitigate the occurrences of zoonoses, diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans, to create a safer environment,” Mr Maharey says.

“KPMG highlights the need for increased emphasis on sustainability, particularly in regard to water, as international buyers are increasingly demanding the ‘green credentials’ of produce,” he says. “Our researchers are heavily involved in providing these statistics. In partnership with other research providers we are measuring the water footprints of products ranging from milk and wine to a punnet of hot chips.”

Massey is home to the New Zealand Life Cycle Management Centre, a collaboration between Massey, AgResearch, Landcare Research, Plant and Food Research and SCION. The centre is working to build capacity in the field and to help in the development of more sustainable export products.

The University also leads research are in precision agriculture, animal productivity and genetics, health and welfare.

“Massey is responding to the changing nature of global agriculture,” Mr Maharey says. “We have 80 years’ experience in agribusiness, and we’re committed to providing New Zealand’s agricultural industry with the tools and knowledge it needs to become a world leader.”