It’s also not every day that you get to attend the Contemporary Scholars Conference as a Nuffield scholar.
This year went to the proverbial home of agriculture, the Netherlands for a week of immersion in all things Nuffield, including the opportunity to hear from some great speakers, to enter into some challenging debates, see some of the amazing opportunities that the Netherlands have to grow food as well as to hear about challenges the Netherlands is facing in the agriculture space.
It was, however, surprising that despite the Netherlands producing about 12 billion litres of milk a year that it is not overly easy to find fresh milk for your cup of tea.
A couple of highlights included the chance to cycle to the farm of 2015 scholar Gerjan Snippe where we saw the inner workings of Biobrass, his organic co-operative farming business, and for me a highlight was also being able to attend the Royal Holland Flower Market, a modest 270 hectares of land dedicated entirely to selling and distributing flowers and plants.
The inside tip for people interested in flowers, is that pastel colours are on trend for the coming seasons.
It was also a great opportunity to visit the recently opened World Horticulture Centre, which is a great example of collaborative use of space between industry, education and research to advance development in the horticulture sector.
The Netherlands is truly world-leading when it comes to horticulture and the ability to grow an abundance of food and produce, especially from a relatively small footprint.
I was also given the chance to take part in a panel discussion on the future of agriculture, 2030, from a New Zealand perspective.
It enabled me to reflect on where we are at the moment and what the opportunities might be for NZ in the future.
One of the key things that came to mind for me was that there is a clear need for us to have an agriculture strategy and we need to focus on having the hard conversations so there is a path forward for NZ to be the most environmentally friendly farming nation in the world.
The chance is there for us, as the leaders in the agriculture sector, to seize but we need to be brave enough to start the conversation.
Despite a jam-packed schedule there was also a chance to see some commonality among the various countries represented, including the increasing disconnect between rural and urban communities, leading to a number of discussions around social licence to operate or licence to produce.
Many said NZ was perhaps the country feeling some of the most significant scrutiny, with a few people saying NZ’s farmers are now considered to be on the table of social standing at about the same level as the politicians.
There was also a lot of talk about the vegan movement, which I saw as creating a lot of angst for some in the room.
However, where some see this as a threat to the agriculture sector, I see it as an opportunity.
I don’t believe we are going to change the views of those who are so strongly engrained in their vegan view of the world but I also don’t see that there will be a move to most people choosing to be vegans, certainly not in the short to medium term.
The chance to focus on providing good-quality, nutritious food known to be safe, exceeds animal welfare requirements and grows in an environmentally sustainable way is where we need to be spending our time.
Those nations who can move quickly towards providing this certainty, traceability and confidence in their food stand to prosper from the increasing knowledge food consumers have.
I believe NZ has the ability to lead this space.
After having spent the week in the Netherlands I am still firmly of the view NZ is still at the leading edge in many aspects and if we can foster a collaborative approach to managing the effects of agriculture our future will continue to prosper as a leading agricultural nation.
