Hi there,

Kia ora and welcome to this edition of The Rural Leader.

Over the past month, our focus has been on Nuffield and our current Kellogg cohort.

The Kellogg group completed their Phase Two in Wellington from 7–11 September. PwC generously hosted at its waterfront HQ, providing a memorable week of learning, discussion and connection with industry leaders.

For Nuffield, preparations are well underway for the 2027 Awards at Parliament, one of Rural Leaders’ most important annual events. With these Awards taking place just before the election, the evening carries added significance.

Interviews for the 2027 Scholars take place in early October. Congratulations to everyone who reached the interview stage following a highly competitive year and a strong number of applications. The new Scholars will be announced on 4 November, the day after the Awards.

The 2026 Nuffield Biennial Conference is also approaching, with scholars, alumni and their partners gathering in Invercargill from 26–29 November. Under the theme Anything is Possible, the programme will explore innovation, leadership and possibility across food, fibre, land, water, culture and community through scholar presentations, panels, field trips, local stories and networking.

In this month’s Ideas That Grow podcast, Di Roadley (2026 Kellogg Scholar) speaks with Farmers Weekly Managing Editor Bryan Gibson about the leadership challenges facing New Zealand’s catchment groups. Di explores what happens when these groups suddenly find themselves responsible for millions of dollars, complex governance and growing expectations.

Applications for Kellogg Programme One 2027 are open until 25 October. Register your interest to stay informed or submit an online application here.

Applications are also open for the Value Chain Innovation Programme. In this edition of The Rural Leader, we share a previously unpublished article by Anna Seccombe on behalf of AWDT, exploring value chains, the programme, and its facilitator Prof. Hamish Gow.

To register your interest in this popular five-day immersion into New Zealand’s leading value chains, head here.

Our friends at Mayfield Group are offering Rural Leaders programme alumni a discount on their Executive Governance Development Programme. We share more about this opportunity for current and aspiring directors and senior leaders.

You’ll also find the latest partner news, industry developments and leadership opportunities from across New Zealand’s food and fibre sector.

We hope you enjoy this edition of The Rural Leader.

Ngā mihi,
The Rural Leaders Team

PODCAST

Di Roadley - The governance challenge facing New Zealand's catchment groups.

What happens when grassroots catchment groups suddenly face millions in funding, complex governance and growing expectations? 

2026 Kellogg Scholar Di Roadley explores the leadership challenges facing New Zealand’s catchment groups, including succession, funding, trust and capability, and why strong purpose, good governance and playing the long game are critical.

Listen on your favourite podcast player:
Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Podcasts

Beyond the farm gate: Rethinking how we create value.

Do you know where the value in your value chain is really created, and who captures it?

Professor Hamish Gow (Lincoln University) has spent more than 35 years exploring how value is created across global food and fibre markets. His thinking is at the heart of Rural Leaders’ Value Chain Innovation Programme, helping leaders look beyond their own part of the chain to understand where value is created, captured and returned.

This insightful AWDT article explores why seeing the whole chain can change how you see your own.

Applications for the 2027 Value Chain Innovation Programme are open until 22 November.

2027 Kellogg Programme One applications close in 4 weeks.

From a marketer’s perspective, the testimonials our scholars give on their Kellogg experience often leave us spoiled for choice on what to share.

Last month we shared twelve recent testimonials and Ideas that Grow podcasts to leave you spoiled for choice too, as you consider your Kellogg application.

For Dave Nuku, a 2024 Scholar, his Kellogg journey gave him the opportunity to explore Kaitiakitanga and how its long-term, intergenerational principles could inform the way he leads people, land and investment.

On his Kellogg experience, Dave said, “I can absolutely say without any word of a lie or doubt that it was the best leadership programme that I’ve ever done.”

You can read Dave’s report summary, or the full report here.

Applications for 2027 Kellogg Programme One close 25 October. 

Ready to take your leadership into the boardroom?

Our friends at Mayfield Group are running their Executive Governance Development Programme from October.

This practical six-month programme is designed for current and aspiring directors and senior leaders, covering strategy, finance, risk, board dynamics, leadership and effective governance practice.

Programme Highlights include:

• Deep-dive into finance, legal, risk and strategy
• Board dynamics including working as a team and understanding behaviours
• Effective board processes and practices, e.g. agendas, minutes and annual work plans
• Negotiating and influencing around the board table
• Role of the Chair and the CEO relationship
• Future themes: Climate change, ESG, people retention, AI and technologies, etc.
• Live board simulation exercise and experienced governors' panel.

Rural Leaders alumni are eligible for a discounted fee. Enter RL ALUMNI when registering your interest.

Alumni in the Spotlight

Read the full edition of Alumni in the Spotlight here, or go directly to the alum of your choice by clicking their More link:

James Allen (Nuffield 2023)
Rural News article: James Allen Named Life Member of Rural Professionals Body. More...

Corrigan Sowman (Nuffield 2019, Kellogg 2016)
NZX's LIC webpage for the Annual Meeting presentation and the Chair and Chief Executive address. More...

Kate Scott (Nuffield 2018)
Farmers Weekly article: Growers push for faster access to crop protection tools. More...

Charles Yule (Kellogg 2023)
Farming at Pace profile in the Spring 2026 edition of CountryWide magazine, or the subscriber-only digital copy. More...

Luke Doyle (Kellogg 2026)
CountryWide Connect episode: Financial skills the next hurdle on the dairy progression path. More...

Parmindar Singh (Nuffield 2022)
LinkedIn post by the Vet Council: Welcome, Parmindar! It’s great to have you on board. More...

Clare Bradley (Nuffield 2026)
Farmers Weekly article: Narrow view of agriculture misses vital connections. More...

Sonja Vreugdenhil (Kellogg 2022)
Farmers Weekly article: Who profits from data generated on farm? More...

If you have news about a new business venture, trip, award, or appointment you’d like to share with our audience, please get in touch with Matt Hampton, Marketing and Communications Manager at matthampton@ruralleaders.co.nz.

News from our partners

East Coast Young Farmers give $5,000 win to Rural Support Trust
The FMG Region-off runs alongside the Young Farmer of the Year, with points earned off the field, through fencing, food donations and helping out local farmers. This year the East Coast team, led by Ed Laver, took the title and chose to pass their $5,000 prize to Rural Support Trust Tararua. More...

North Canterbury's Bex Green appointed Associate Director on FMG Board
Bex Green and her husband Blair are first-generation farmers, contract milking and farm-sharing 1,000 cows at Culverden while raising three children. Alongside the farm she is president of Federated Farmers North Canterbury and was named the organisation's 2026 Advocate of the Year. She says good governance starts with listening and understanding the issues people face. More...

New Zealand Dairy Workforce Insights
DairyNZ has launched New Zealand Dairy Workforce Insights, a monthly series taking one workforce trend at a time and translating the data into practical implications for farm businesses.
The first issue looks at how the on-farm workforce has changed shape. Since 2000 the total has fallen from 46,700 to 38,000, but the bigger shift is in the mix: employees up from 13,300 to 22,500, while the number of employers more than halved.
Dairy has become an employee-led business rather than an owner-operator one, putting the sector's people risk squarely onto leadership, rosters, training and retention.

Farmer honoured for waterway mahi
Waiuku dairy farmer Stu Muir has received the inaugural Kaitiaki Award at the Dairy Environment Leaders Forum. The fifth-generation farmer has turned once weed-choked waterways on his 500-cow farm into thriving ecosystems, and opened up the whole Mangati Stream with a public walkway so people can experience it again. More...

Entries open for next year's Ahuwhenua Trophy
Entries have opened for the 2027 Ahuwhenua Trophy, the Excellence in Māori Farming Awards, which next year turns to the dairy sector. Founded in 1933, the awards judge entrants not just on productivity but on how they farm in line with their own tikanga and values. The winner's prize pool totals nearly $100,000, with up to $5,000 for the Young Māori Farmer Award. More...

B+LNZ leadership scholarship applications now open
Applications have opened for B+LNZ's Rural Leadership Advancement Scholarship, which will give six livestock farmers up to $4,000 each towards a place on any Rural Leaders programme, including the Kellogg Programme. Now in its second year, the scholarship is aimed at farmers already showing leadership in their businesses, communities or the wider sheep and beef sector who are ready for the next step. Applicants must be living and working on a New Zealand livestock farm. More...

Investing in our sector's future
B+LNZ has refreshed its Employment Hub, bringing recruitment, onboarding and people-management tools into one place. It's also inviting Generation Next graduates to join its alumni network ahead of a 10-year reunion dinner at Telford on 19 November. Its Agricultural Student Scholarship opens on 1 November. More...

More days in milk: efficiency drives every decision on Fraser Hasnip's farm
Pirongia farmer Fraser Hasnip has built a system simple enough to run largely on his own, using Short Gestation Length semen to tighten calving so around 80 percent of his herd calves in three weeks. It's helped cut his empty rate from around 18 to 10 percent, and he's counting on genetics to lift production from 510kg to 550kg of milksolids per cow. More...

Industry news

Record returns and $1b South Island investment
Fonterra has declared total fully imputed dividends of 73 cents per share on a $9.69/kgMS final milk price, and will invest an additional $1 billion expanding South Island protein manufacturing. More...

New alliance targets stronger honey and bee sector
The New Zealand Honey and Bee Alliance has held its first meeting, bringing together beekeepers, researchers, government and the kiwifruit sector, with early priorities including pollination coordination and reducing varroa's impact. More...

Stats NZ snapshot on the state of the farming workforce
Stats NZ puts the median age of farmers at 49.8 years against 41.9 nationally, with 76 percent satisfied or very satisfied with their job but only 58 percent with work/life balance. More...

Leadership Opportunities

Fonterra board nominations close 1 October
Two farmer-elected director positions are up for election. Shareholders can stand through the non-assessment pathway until 1 October, alongside Co-operative Council and Directors' Remuneration Committee nominations. More...