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Brazilian farmers set to tour New Zealand as part of agri leadership programme

Thirty-two Brazilian farmers will spend next week in New Zealand taking part in the latest Rabobank Agri Leaders Brazil, a knowledge and networking programme which aims to develop the next generation of Brazilian agribusiness leaders.

The 2024 Agri Leaders Programme will kick off in Auckland on Sunday 17 November and finish in Queenstown on Thursday 21 November. The whirlwind five-day programme will feature presentations from several leading New Zealand agribusiness leaders and companies, as well as visits to a range of flagship agribusiness operations in both the North and South Islands.

More than 200 Rabobank Brazil food and agri clients have participated in the Agri Leaders Programme over the past 17 years, with previous programme tours having taken place in Chile, the Netherlands, the US, Australia, Argentina and Colombia as well as several within Brazil.

Brazilian-based Rabobank Regional Head of rural South America, Pollyana Saraiva said the programme launched in 2007 with an initial intake featuring about 25 of Rabobank Brazil’s largest export-focused farming clients from across a range of sectors.

Past agri leaders cohort

“A sizeable chunk of this original group are still involved with the programme and, with more large-scale farmers having been added over the years, we are now providing leadership training to a significant number of Brazilian farmers each year,” she said.

“The programme combines theory, networking and exposure to different environments. Succession is also a key focus, and many of our newest programme participants are the children, or in some cases grandchildren, of the farmers who came on board as part of our first intake.”

Ms Saraiva, who will join programme participants on the tour along with five other Rabobank Brazil employees, said the touring party featured farmers from across several Brazilian regions involved with a wide variety of agricultural sectors including coffee, sugar, soybeans, beef and poultry.

“International visits and trips are a key component of the overall programme as they provide access to a rich environment of experiences and benchmarks,” she said.

“Across recent years, we’ve had a number of our participants express an interest in travelling to New Zealand and I know the traveling party are really excited about the prospect of visiting New Zealand and learning more about technology and innovation across the country’s agricultural sector.”

Rabobank New Zealand General Manager for Country Banking Bruce Weir said the upcoming visit by the group of Brazilian farmers follows last year’s Rabobank Global Farmers Master Class, which saw 28 farmers from 12 different countries spend 10 days in New Zealand last November.

“As a global food and agri banking specialist with operations in 38 countries, Rabobank sees real value in providing our clients with opportunities to travel overseas to meet other primary producers and to learn more about farming systems and best practices in other regions around the world,” he said.

“Many of our New Zealand-based clients have taken up opportunities to do just this via bank organised programmes across the last decade, and the vast majority have found these trips hugely rewarding.

“We’re really thrilled to host the Brazilian touring party as it gives the Rabobank New Zealand business a chance to highlight some of our country’s outstanding agricultural operations and to demonstrate why New Zealand farmers are held in such high regard around the world.”

Mr Weir said he would address participants on the Monday morning in Hamilton and would also join the group for the event’s closing dinner in Queenstown.

“I’m confident all of the participants will thoroughly enjoy their time here and there will be plenty they learn which can be taken away and applied to their own operations once they return home,” he said.

“And I am sure the Rabobank New Zealand staff participating in the tour will learn a lot as well.”

The event programme will see participants spend two days in the North Island and two days in the South where they will visit several agribusiness operations including two Waikato dairy farms, Forest Lodge cherry orchard in Central Otago, and a large-scale sheep and beef operation in West Otago.

Speakers lined up to address the group over the course of the four-day programme include Rabobank New Zealand CEO, Todd Charteris; Head of Carbon Research at BloombergNEF, Emma Coker; Fonterra Group Director- Farm Source, Anne Douglas, Duane Redward and Scott Pollard from NZ Carbon Farming, and representatives from Greenlea Premier Meats.