Young Agribusiness Team from Massey University Competes in China

Massey University(NZ) had a team competing in the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association student case study competition, held in Shanghai,China.

 The competition is in its 7^th year and is held in conjunction with the IFAMA annual forum and symposium. The late "Daniel Conforte" (an inspirational lecturer at Massey University) had a long standing association with IFAMA and at the opening of the Symposium was made a fellow of IFAMA the highest honour, a well deserved tribute recognising his passion and contribution to the organisation. 

Sending a team to the case study competition had been a dream of Daniels since his arrival at Massey. This year he was to be co-chair of the competition and was the author of the case highlighting his dedication to the students and passion for the case study method of teaching.

 The competition this year consisted of 17 teams from 6 countries including: United States, New Zealand, India, Canada, The Netherlands and China. On Saturday afternoon each team was issued the case: ANZCO addressing the Chinese market. We then had 5 hours in which to read and analyse the case and come up with our strategy for ANZCO. On Sunday we presented our strategy to a panel of 3 judges made up of representatives from industry and academia. Unfortunately we didn’t make it to the top 4, but it was still a great experience for us. After watching the 4 teams present in the finals we decided we had a lot to learn in terms of the ‘wow’ factor of our presentation and ability to really sell something, but academically we were on par with the others. All of our feedback from the judges was positive, as were comments from audience members, which was encouraging.

 Nanjing Agricultural University from China took out the top honours a $500 prize and the offer of an internship for each team member with Novus international (the main sponsor of the student programme). Texas A&M University (USA) and University of Guelph (Canada) were 2^nd and 3^rd respectively.

 As students the opportunity to attend the conference and experience China 1^st hand was amazing. 
 The theme of the conference was the road to 2050: The China Factor. 
Key messages were delivered surrounding sustainability, food safety, food security and investment, so it was a great chance for us to enhance our understanding of these key areas from those on the front line of developments. Getting to talk with students, academics and industry representatives from around the world was pretty special, as we got to meet the people whose articles we constantly reference and others who share similar visions. The passion of IFAMA and the industry for supporting and developing young people in agribusiness is heartening and gives us confidence that we are in a great industry with a very bright future. They are willing to invest time and money in us and include us in their thinking to ensure we learn from past mistakes and continue to move the industry forward.

 Outside the formal conference sessions and in the week following the New Zealand contingent ensured the Kiwi spirit was upheld and shared with our peers from the other parts of the world. We visited many markets in Shanghai including a massive Carrefour supermarket and wet markets, experienced the Bund by day and night, scaled the world financial centre, explored the Yuyuan gardens and French Concession and of course watched the All Black beat Ireland! We met with Fonterra in Shanghai and heard from the head of strategy and growth for China before touring the brand new innovation centre. We got the bullet train (310 Km/h) to Beijing where we meet with Beef + Lamb and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise to hear about what was happening with NZ meat in China. We visited Fonterra’s Yutian Farm and were blow away. As good tourists we wondered through Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden city and visited Olympic park to see the birds nest and water cube. We played soccer on the great wall, explored the Hutongs and meet the Dutch and American’s at the Houhai Lake area. Everyone had a fantastic time but you know the rules, what goes on tour stays on tour!(Yeah Right Sarah.....I can see the photos have been carefully selected....not to give away any secrets...Ed.Tom)

 If any of you ever get the opportunity to do something similar, grab it with both hands. It was truly incredible and mind boggling experience.

This week's blog has been written by guest blogger Sarah Crofoot, a Agribusiness student at Massey University. She was a team member competing in China. Well done Thank you Sarah!

Centre of Excellence in Farm Business Managment, Facebook & Uruguayan Agricultural Students

Hi from Massey University, Palmerston North, & Lincoln University, Christchurch, New Zealand where this blog will now be written & produced on a regular basis. http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/home.cfm
http://www.lincoln.ac.nz/
I have recently moved back to New Zealand after a 30 year period of working overseas as a dairy consultant in Australia, UK & France. The blog has been produced in Europe but will now come from the southern hemisphere.
I’ve joined the new “Centre of Excellence in Farm Business Management” which is currently funded by the NZ dairy industry & both Massey & Lincoln Universities. Hopefully the other agricultural sectors in NZ will also be involved with the Centre shortly. The Centre is a virtual Centre of Excellence (no bricks & mortar) of the Farm Management Staff at both Universities working together (a joint project) to improve the capability in Farm Management within NZ. We aim to be a serious player in Global Best Practice in Farm Management Research & Education.

I will regularly write about progress in these Research Projects & the Professional Development courses we are developing. I won’t be waiting until they are completed but report on progress to date…..why? I believe it is really important firstly that agricultural research is effective in visible change on farms….for that to happen, farmers & rural professionals need to engage all the way through the process to buffer, blunt, reshape & constructively be part of what I call “The Widget Making Team”. Otherwise the research “widget” will be deemed useless by the farmers & sent to the rubbish bin. Farmers need to both voice their opinions & have their expertise recognised & clearly heard.
My role with the Centre (CEFBM) is partly research, some teaching but mainly communication from the Universities to farmers, farming families, staff & the rural professionals that deliver professional services to the farming communities.

Let me divert…..Yesterday I gave my first my very first lecture to a group of agricultural students #BUTyouhavetolearntolaughatyourself. The students were from the University of the Republic of Uruguay. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_the_Republic_(Uruguay)

I sadly don’t speak Spanish nor they much English. You might quite rightly think that was a recipe for disaster (for my first University lecture) but NO because we started to talk about Facebook. Facebook is the social media of the young (& not so young). A quick survey revealed that 100% of the students use facebook. Now we were on the same wavelength & both talking with passion…..we were now understanding each other!

I asked (through Massey University’s International student support team who translated) how many of their parents used facebook (Can you imagine the “what are you for real…..looks). The answer, about 10% of the Uruguayan agricultural students’ parents were on facebook! That clearly illustrates why today we need to use social media to communicate with the young agriculturists & young well educated farmers who are the face of today & tomorrows food through out the world.

The Uruguayan students & I discussed what role Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, blogs, google, wiki spaces might have in communicating global best practice farm management to farmers & the general public.

“IF I CAN TALK TO THE WORLD (by using social media) YOU ALSO CAN TALK TO THE WORLD ABOUT YOUR COUNTRY, YOUR AGRICULTURE, YOUR FARM & YOUR FOOD” In fact not only can you but you must as city separates from country & consumers become removed from farmers & food production.

Judge for yourself…..despite language differences DID we communicate with each other? Sorry Vice Chancellor….yes I did instruct them to turn on their mobile phones, cameras & make a hell of a lot of noise (probably against all the rules of the University) but it was a lot of fun….thank you fellow students! Great!

I have to confess also that when I was an AgSc student at Massey University back in the 1970s I got seriously offside with the then VC Dr Alan Stewart…..for erecting illegal ramps around the campus for disabled students access (in particular a fellow agricultural student who became a quad during his studies & struggled to get to lecture rooms because of poor disabled access (it was the 1970s)). The fact that our ramps looked remarkably similar to materials off the university farms was probably quite obvious to Dr Stewart too. However the good news is that I was allowed to complete my degree & the University erected proper Disabled Access everywhere…..& today would be very proud that they have good access for all students….little does the current admin realise it all started with fence posts knicked off the University farms!

I think it’s great that today, agricultural students get a chance to travel the world & come to NZ to look at our internationally respected farm business management. Both Massey & Lincoln offer postgraduate scholarships in Farm Business Management, so I hope some of my new best friends (NBFs) from Uruguay might consider studying here in NZ. Uruguay & NZ are already working together including AgResearch projects in Uruguay.

http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Countries/Latin-America/Uruguay.php

So getting back to my role at the “Centre of Excellence in Farm Business Management”, it’s essentially communication. I’m the interface & we intend using every social media tool available to us to talk as often as we can with farmers. We will use Facebook, Youtube, Webinars, Wiki Spaces, Twitter….you name it…if it’s effective we will use it. The Centre CEFBM will have a website shortly.

By the way the Vice Chancellor at Massey University Steve Maharey also uses Twitter. @SteveMaharey.

I strongly believe that farmers need to become “advocates” for their own Global Best Practice, their farming industries & the food they produce. We can’t rely on outside PR agencies to promote or defend farmers & excellent farm management practices. We must do it ourselves. I want to help farmers become “Farming Advocates”. If I can talk to the world YOU also can talk to the world…..& you must!