Leading NZ farmers to attend global agri gathering

Five of New Zealand’s leading farmers have been chosen to join with the international food and agribusiness community to discuss and raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities around global food security, ahead of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Australia next month.

The Rabobank Global Farmers Master Class, which begins on November 5, will see approximately 40 of the world’s leading primary producers gather in Victoria and New South Wales to share information and ideas on the future of farming. These farmers will then join with up to 600 participants from government, industry, academia, media and advocacy groups at the inaugural Rabobank F20 (Food) Summit in Sydney.

Chosen from New Zealand to attend the Master Class and F20 Summit are dairy farmers Michael Horgan (Southland), Jane Nugent-O'Leary (Manawatu), and Mark Townshend (Hauraki Plains), as well as livestock/graziers Dan Jex Blake (Gisborne) and Nelson Hancox (West Otago).

Rabobank Group executive board member Berry Marttin said the Master Class and F20 Summit programs were designed to bring industry participants together to raise awareness and facilitate solutions that contribute to securing a sustainable future for the food and fibre sectors around the world.

"The world’s population is forecast to grow from seven billion people today to over nine billion people by 2050 and at the same time we are nearing the limits of our natural resources. So the challenge for farmers and food producers is to feed more people with fewer resources while also being sustainable," Mr Marttin said.

"As the world’s leading specialist agribusiness bank, Rabobank is committed to the development of the agricultural sector and through the bank’s global Banking4Food vision, we have taken a leadership role in bringing the industry together."

Based around the theme ‘the rise of the rural entrepreneur’, the Master Class program will see the farmers share information and experiences as they travel through key producing regions in eastern Australia to hear from leading agricultural thinkers and learn the latest techniques and developments throughout the supply chain.

New Zealand chief executive officer Ben Russell said the Master Class Program would be "a mix of farm-stay visits, educational opportunities, best-practice demonstrations and unique experiences that not only showcase the best of what this region has to offer, but focus the minds of the farmers on what they can do to innovate and improve farming practices".

Seven leading Australian farmers will also be among the Master Class participants, as well as farmers from Chile, Brazil, the United States, Ecuador, Mozambique, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Zambia. This will be the second Global Farmers Master Class. The first - which brought together 50 leading international farmers - was held in the Netherlands in 2012.

The 2014 Master Class program concludes in Sydney on Thursday November 13 with the inaugural Rabobank F20 (Food 20) Summit. Titled ‘Global food security: shared responsibility, collective solutions’, the Summit will feature a range of international keynote speakers discussing the themes of increasing food production, improving access to food, encouraging balanced nutrition, and strengthening stability in markets and production chains.

"This is the first event of its kind and a truly unique gathering of farmers, academics, policy makers and key influencers from all sectors of the agriculture and food production chain, including processors and major agri corporates," Mr Russell said.

"The goal is to raise awareness of the challenges around global food security and contribute to the discussion around solutions ahead of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Brisbane.

"The key themes to come from the F20 Summit will form part of a submission to the G20 Agricultural Working Group and will become a platform for the broader food and agribusiness industry to remain engaged in delivering solutions to the global food security challenge."