Close to forty farmers from across the East Coast and lower North Island recently spent a day-and-a-half developing new skills to advance their agricultural careers at the latest edition of Rabobank’s Ag Pathways programme.
An initiative of Rabobank’s Client Councils, the Ag Pathways programme aims to develop young farmers’ capabilities and contacts so they can move forward with their farming aspirations. The 2024 Ag Pathways was the second edition of the programme in the North Island with the previous edition having taken place last year. The format for the programme was based on the South Island Ag Pathways programme which was developed by the Rabobank Lower South Island Client Council in 2015 and has run annually in the years since.
Rabobank’s Client Councils – which operate across four agricultural regions of New Zealand – are groups of Rabobank’s farming client representatives who work with the bank to address key industry and community challenges in farming and agribusiness.
The latest Ag Pathways was held at the Waikanae Top 10 Holiday Park in mid-June and was attended by young farmers working in the industry across a range of sectors and roles.
LNI AgPathways Participants
The programme covered three key focus areas; Managing people – incorporating personaility testing, communication styles and leadership, Managing your business – including business planning, succession planning and options for attaining land ownership and Risk Management – including compliance, environmental risk and financial management.
Rabobank Lower North Island Client Council Deputy Chair Tam Jex-Blake attended the event and said the Programme content was specifically tailored to the needs of the farmers and growers in attendance.
“The programme featured an experienced line up of speakers who generously gave up their time to come and talk to the group. And their knowledge, the ‘war stories’ they were able to share, and their ability to facilitate discussion among the attendees, was key to the programme’s success,” she said.
“Throughout the day and a half, we frequently sought feedback from participants, and this was used to make adjustments to the schedule and ensure the programme was fit for purpose, and the participants got the most out of the event.”
Ms Jex-Blake – who is an owner of Mangapoike Limited, a 19,000 stock units sheep and beef farming business located 50km south-west of Gisborne – said participants learning opportunities would extend beyond the programme.
“All participants will be offered ongoing support from their local Rabobank team which will include access to the bank’s extensive agri knowledge and networks,” she said.
Programme participant Ella Eades attended the programme alongside her partner Toby Wallbank and said they’d both really enjoyed the event.
“We’ve recently started leasing a sheep and beef block in Otoko near Gisborne, and there was plenty of helpful information in the programme that we can incorporate as we start to get into a routine on the new operation,” she said.
Ms Eades said she’d found the programme sessions on personality testing and financial management particularly useful.
“My and Toby’s personalities are quite different, and this sometimes makes communication a bit tricky,” she said.
“So the personality testing session was great, as it helped to give us both a better appreciation of how the other thinks, as well as a few ideas on how to communicate better with each other.
“I also really enjoyed the financial management session with Lawrence Field from Rural Field Consultants as I find him easy to listen to and he has a way of explaining financial concepts that makes them feel a little less daunting.”
Ms Jex-Blake said the Lower North Island Client Council was extremely grateful to the Rabobank team for funding Ag Pathways via the bank’s Rabo Community Fund.
“This funding support has been instrumental in helping us provide valuable educational initiatives to our community. As a council, we’re committed to working alongside the bank and continue to help make a positive impact in the agriculture industry,” she said.