Sarah's Country

Parents for generations have tried to preach to their children that apples are packed with good nutrients, yet lunchboxes plenty have been returned with the trusty snack.

From the orchard gate in New Zealand through to the packaging of its product in Japan, RockitTM apple is not only the world's first snack-size apple but also a brand and business model that will make you sit up and take notice of how great brands are created by more than just great marketing.

"It's high in antioxidants, high in Vitamin C with a huge amount of daily fibre and it's kind of an underpinning story. But what will really connect with consumers is how relevant it is to them in their daily lives and then you've got a really winning formula," Julian Smith, Rockit.

This week's Change Maker is the General Manager of Global Marketing for Rockit, Julian Smith who brings to the Hawke's Bay-based company his experience with Jazz Apples, Les Mills as well as over 10 years working under New Zealand food & fashion brand guru, Brian Richards

Sarah discusses with Julian:

- Their unique vertically integrated value chain at Rockit and differentiating marketing strategy

- How they work to optimize their systems on a daily basis to work with their orchard managers to produce a world-class product

- How they are managing the global licensing of Rockit to scale up and plan for the rise of counterfeit products

- Why they chose to focus on the Japanese market first and their partnership with Costco

- His learnings on how products marketed with great stories can achieve price premiums

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A short message from Sarah Perriam to share the excitement of being back with three new episodes every week from Monday 13th September in partnership with Farmlands Co-operative.

Rural mental health can now benefit from a simple, effective Kiwi invention that attracted crowds at Fieldays. Farmers find it hard to get off-farm due to the tie of feeding their working dogs daily, as the Manawatu farmer-turned-inventors knows personally so he set out to do something about it!

I wondered about heading to the coast for a fish for the weekend, with the hope the manager could feed my dogs for me. He mentioned he had a bit on with family, so that made my decision for me - I wasn't going to go away. 

With the vision to ‘feed freedom’ for both the farmer and the dog, Gerard along with his partner Claire created Durafeed, an automatic dog feeder.

As a Change Maker this week in Sarah's Country, Gerard discusses:

1. How he vividly remembers a stinking hot day in the sheep yards, back in December 2016, when he was working with the dogs to push sheep up the race for processing, that the idea of an automated dog feeder, known today as Durafeed, first came to mind.
2. The real challenge for farmers both employees and employers alike, to get off farm to spend time with their family and take a break is the reason there is so much interest in such a simple innovation.
3. The process of developing the Durafeed automatic dog feeders and the route to commercialising the invention for dog owners to purchase.

About Gerard Richards:

A rural Manawatu born and bred farmer, Gerard, along with partner Clare and their young daughter, are currently leasing a hill country block in Northern Horowhenua, where they're farming sheep and beef. 

He's always had an interest in working with animals, as they always find a way of keeping him on his toes and teaching him something new from season to season. Gerard's connection to the land runs deep, having had previous roles on a cattle ranch in Australia, in the live export industry as a stockman for 4 years at sea but his heart was firmly at home, eventually coming back to NZ to get his feet back on solid ground with a team of dogs.

Learn more about the Feeder

Contact Gerard: [email protected]

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The early findings of a survey show that New Zealand sheep farmers' are feeling they are hamstrung to meet the expectations of ‘transitioning to sustainability’ until the information collected and the wider system they operate in can tell the full picture.

The government’s role is to create an environment where businesses can solve problems. If great businesses and farming is one of New Zealand’s largest businesses, gets out and shows how it’s done, then the policy can be led by that.

Lincoln University Faculty of Agribusiness and Commerce economics researcher and research & development lead at Webtools, Jemma Penelope’s fascinating combined experience in and passion for policy, ecology, commerce and technology pair beautifully to be researching solutions for the New Zealand sheep industry.

As a Change Maker this week in Sarah's Country, Jemma discusses:

1. Her research survey asks New Zealand sheep farmers what a sustainable future looks like beyond the farm gate which is collecting a range of perspectives.
2. Farmers can’t be sustainable behind the farm-gate, if the system beyond the farm gate they are operating in doesn’t support change.
3. Feedback so far from the survey is that farmers feel that the information collected doesn’t reflect the full picture of the positive contribution sheep farming makes to tell the full story.

About Jemma Penelope:

Jemma Penelope is an economics and accounting researcher, currently undertaking her second Master in Commerce and Management. Combining her earlier academic career in biology, conservation and environmental markets with her subsequent commercial experience in accounting and business management today she specialises in sustainability via impact business and social entrepreneurship – where the commerce tools of business, economics and accounting are used to address and solve this generations’ complex and challenging social and environmental issues. She compliments this through her role in political party management, speaking to her interest in the macro-level changes required on national and international levels to bring political and economic solutions to issues of sustainability in business and industry.

Complete the survey (closes mid-August 2021)

Connect with Jemma on LinkedIn

Contact Jemma: [email protected]

Connect with Jemma on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jemmapenelopemisjp/?originalSubdomain=nz 

For more information on Sarah’s Country: www.sarahscountry.com

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It turns out, according to new research, that Kiwis - urban and farmers - share similar views on what sustainable farming looks like.

They both share concerns that big retailers, like supermarkets and regulators, are putting pressure on producers and holding back a healthy food system with more and more Kiwis ready to shop with their farmers in mind whether buying direct, at farmers markets or labelled NZ-grown.

"Urban and rural dwellers have a similar vision for sustainable farming. They don’t just agree on the issues, but also on the solutions!” says Dr Turner.

As a Change Maker this week in Sarah's Country, Dr James Turner, Our Land and Water science leader & senior AgResearch scientist, shares the insights:

1. The research by the Our Land and Water National Science Challenge and Open Farms (a nationwide Open Farm day event), suggests that direct relationships between farmers and citizens could be a pathway towards more sustainable farming practices.
2. Urban and farmer respondents generally share a vision of more diverse landscapes, fewer chemical inputs, and farming practices that improve soil and water health.
3. These findings support Ministry for Primary Industries research that found the divide between urban and rural attitudes to farming is smaller than perceived.
4. Urban and farmer respondents agreed that the biggest barrier to sustainable farming is the purchasing and pricing power of large market players, like supermarkets.
5. At 29%, purchasing food directly from the farm was ranked as the most effective sustainable food action customers could take, followed by buying NZ grown food at 21%.
6. Visiting a farm builds a connection between those who grow and those who eat food. On-farm experiences also positively change how people view sustainability in farming, perceive the complexity of farming and encourage more considered food purchasing behaviour.

For more information visit:

1. A longer-form version of the release & infographic at the Our Land and Water website.
2. The Farmers’ Market NZ study comparing supermarket/market prices, as referenced above and in the release.
3. The Consumer NZ submission to the Commerce Commission echoes the concerns raised by survey respondents.

To watch the show, visit www.sarahscountry.com

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Following Covid Consumers like never before are wanting to stay healthy and are searching for ethically produced foods that have quantified health benefits and New Zealand’s natural product has a huge opportunity to capitalise on this trend.

“The interesting opportunity is how to develop a branded ingredient from New Zealand primary produce that has quantified health benefits. We have a programme that takes the concept right through to commercialization, everything from evaluating what the IP situation might be like through to all of the regulatory hurdles and how to access global markets,” explains Samantha Gray, BioEquitas.

As a Change Maker this week in Sarah’s Country, Samantha Gray explains:

• BioEquitas works with small start-ups to large global brands on branded ingredients to branded products and she sees the next big opportunity is how to create a branded ingredient from NZ primary produce.
• Their programme supports right through to commercialization, everything from evaluating what the IP situation might be like through to all of the regulatory hurdles and possible deals of developing a product that can access global markets. 
• Samantha is on the board of Natural Health NZ and is doing a lot of work on regulatory reform to encourage further innovation.

For information visit, https://www.bioequitas.co.nz/

To watch the show, visit www.sarahscountry.com

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Having known Abby France for over a decade as a friend, this episode provides an insight into two 30-something females having an honest yarn about how they see the future of New Zealand's primary sector.

In this fortnight's Sarah's Country Sisters, Abby discusses her work with farmers attitude towards risk in FMG, resilient communities in her work as a Rural Support Trust trustee and community event organiser and her passion for the deer industry as a former young farmer with her husband Dave.

Sarah & Abby discuss women's roles changing in the sector and the need for younger voices in governance.

Deep knowledge of what is happening amongst the vines is now able to be collected in the process of carrying out standard tasks such as mowing, mulching, leaf removal and trimming.

What was a lifestyle move from Auckland to Marlborough for an industrial engineer marks the start of a new era of technological advancement in vineyards with Smart Machine’s, Oxin.

“If you can be solving a fundamental industry problem, your value proposition ends up looking pretty good,” Andrew Kersley, CEO, Smart Machine.

As a Change Maker in Sarah’s Country this week, Andrew explains:

• Labour shortages for manual tasks in vineyards were apparent prior to Covid, but the design problem was more than a shortage of hands but the consistency of the outcome of humans.
• The artificial intelligence of the Oxin autonomous tractor can collect data on the health and yield of the plants whilst it carries out the tasks providing the hardware for the ecosystem of decision making for growers.

His opinion’s on data sovereignty and interoperability “We need to be developing ecosystems that are beneficial for the growers as a whole, not trying to own our own little pieces of it”

For information visit https://oxin.nz/

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Despite the government's efforts to reduce our reliance on migrant workers, there has always been an issue with the pathway's into the primary industry.

However, Covid also brought about a chance to co-design a solution with Primary ITO taking the lead to facilitate an industry-wide collaborative project to address the gapping labour shortage.

As a Change Maker this week in Sarah's Country, Eve Williams, Project Lead at Primary ITO explains their winter workshops and the outcomes they are working to achieve so this is more than a 'talk fest'.

To watch the show, visit www.sarahscountry.com

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A great tale of the next generation making change to the orchardists have been price-takers of commodity products for too long.

For information 73 Citrus visit, https://www.73citrus.co.nz/

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