August 2018 Edition Issue No. 1
Farmlands Co-operative – growing your business.
Growing success for our shareholders It is often said that the only thing that is constant is change. This is no less relevant for those involved in New Zealand’s primary sector. We see constant change in the form of seasonal weather, annual weather patterns, market demand, bio-security risks, land availability and legislative changes, to name just a few. On reflecting on this, it appears that survival and success are very much dependent on how we proactively respond to such changes. Darwin stated that “it is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change”. In the spirit of embracing change, this publication – which was previously titled Hort Focus – is now called Growing Success. Why the change? It reflects our fresh focus and approach to our business. Like the horticulture industry, Farmlands has also been proactively changing in ways that will strengthen us and our shareholders’ interests well into the future. We have developed a new, grower focused team in Hawke’s Bay. Mike Annand, who joined our team late last year and was previously the Operations Manager at Freshco, is now managing our Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne field teams. Mike is positively influencing our approach to the horticulture sector and what we can provide to our shareholders. Our approach is maturing and remains focused on sustainable business returns for our shareholders – their future success is at the centre of everything we do. While controlling input costs is clearly important for growers, we believe that a greater influence on profitability is the management of crops to optimise yield, quality, pack out, market access and therefore provide greater orchard gate returns. In responding to change ourselves, Farmlands is future proofing our entire business through a major transformation programme
known as Braveheart. This programme is completely transforming how we use technology, the effectiveness of our systems and processes and will greatly improve how we serve our shareholders in future. To this end, we have engaged Microsoft to help us achieve our goal of becoming New Zealand’s greatest agri-business provider. As we approach another growing year which, in the context of constant change, will likely be different in some ways from all others you’ve experienced, we wish you a rewarding and profitable season ahead.
Mark Daniels General Manager – Farmlands Horticulture