Come along to an eventful evening where you will get to engage with the next generation of primary sector influencers.

We would appreciate local member support, it may also give you the opportunity to meet your future employees.

Agenda:

There will be a bar tab provided, with a student registration, receive a free beverage of choice. Along with some bar snacks through the evening.

Speakers:

Our three speakers will talk about their role in the primary industry plus some tips/tricks they have learnt along the way to progress their career and how NZIPIM has supported them along the way.

Laura Keenan, Director, Co Founder, Senior Consultant, KS Agri plus NZIPIM Board member
Manawatu based as an Agronomist and Environmental Consultant, Laura can help farmers achieve their productivity, profitability and sustainability goals. Following a B Ag. Sci (Hons) degree at Lincoln, she has followed her passion for the technical element of the environment, agronomy and farm systems analysis. With proven experience in delivering environmental outcomes for farmers, Laura has extensive knowledge of national and local policy to guide practical decisions on farm.

She is widely involved throughout the industry, including commitments on the national executive of the New Zealand Grassland Association and on the board of the New Zealand Institute of Primary Industry Management.

In 2018 she was awarded the Emerging Rural Professional of the Year award at the NZIPIM national conference and in 2020, was selected to start a PhD at Lincoln University where she is focusing on improving the profitability of farm systems and environmental outcomes when using forage crops.

Dave Thomson, Sustainable Dairying Program Manager, Fonterra

Dave has worked in sustainability focussed roles in the dairy industry for the past 4 years. This has included roles focussed on one on one support with farmers to look for efficiency gains in their operations or helping them understand their regulatory requirements and in his current role he is responsible for managing nationwide initiatives such as The Co-operative Difference and the Farm Insights Reports that are delivered to every farmer each year.

Previously he was part of the key accounts team at FMG for a number of years working with some of the largest agricultural businesses across New Zealand. This is on top of growing up in Northland on a sheep stud and dairy farm and four years at Massey University studying Animal & Agricultural Science and a Post-Grad Certificate. In 2023 Dave completed the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme as part of Cohort 47 and his research project for this was on “Farming Lessons from Te Ao Māori".

Joel Hensman, Agribusiness Partner, BNZ
Joel has extensive agricultural strategy, business development and agtech knowledge having spent over eight years in agribusiness consultancy and agtech based in Rotorua. This is on the back of a rural upbringing and farming career.

As an advisor he worked with a wide range of successful clients including Māori Trusts and Incorporations, privately owned farms and industry bodies. He has worked across the sheep and beef and dairy sectors and is passionate about the future of NZ food production.

Joel has extensive project management experience having completed over $26M of farm development projects. He sees NZ ag poised to evolve into a much more consumer oriented industry with this enabled by technology.

Registration

Please register to attend this event by clicking the "registration" button at the top of the page.

Non-members wishing to attend must initially sign up as a new user (if they haven't done so before) via the registration button, then login to register. If you are having problems registering for this event, please email events@nzipim.co.nz