25 years on - where are they now?
To celebrate 25 years of the Hugh Williams Memorial Scholarship, Ravensdown caught up with past recipients to see where their careers have taken them, and what the future holds for the industry.
Chief executive Jasper van Halder told Rural News this will not just be profits but how well New Zealand farmers meet the challenge of the coming years.
Ravensdown recently announced the establishment of Agnition – the name a nod to its mission to “ignite the industry with the innovations that farmers and growers need”.
Its brief is to build, grow and invest in worldleading Ag-IP and innovations, like EcoPond and ClearTech, and turn them into valued products and solutions that can be practically used on farm to combat climate change and enhance productivity.
Named as its inaugural chief executive, van Halder told Rural News he has taken on the role because of the challenge farming faces over the coming few years. He says the company will be the “buffer” between all the innovations coming down the track and what actually works on farm.
Van Halder explains that Agnition has three strands – skills, start (the incubation of existing ideas), and thirdly a venture capital function identifying promising new technologies.
However, the company is not starting completely from scratch, as it has taken over Ravensdown’s existing ClearTech and EcoPond technologies as well as Ravensdown’s interests in its existing fully- or partially-owned subsidiaries – C-Dax Agricultural Solutions, Cropmark Seeds, Southstar Technologies and Analytical Research Laboratory (ARL).
It already has 55 people on staff.
Ravensdown chief executive Garry Diack says Agnition is a structural response to Ravensdown’s strategy – Smarter farming for a better New Zealand.
“Ravensdown has an impressive track-record of recognising, researching, and bringing to fruition technologies and services that enhance our shareholders’ abilities to interconnect precisionbased performance with long-term sustainability,” he told Rural News. “The focus is now on taking innovations to market faster, getting them onfarm and providing a return on investment for our shareholders.”
Diack says supplying nutrients to New Zealand farmers remains core to the Ravensdown business.
“While Agnition will have the agility and expertise of a venture capital type company, it will have an important advantage of farmer insight when it comes to developing and launching on-farm innovation.”
Originally from a farming family in the Netherlands, van Halder brings a wealth of commercial experience to the role. As a strategy consultant for McKinsey & Company, he has international business experience across multiple industries, including agriculture, advanced technology and retail.
In New Zealand, he supported companies such as Fonterra, Synlait, and Ravensdown with innovation and growth.
