To thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, New Zealand’s primary sector must constantly innovate and reinvent itself to meet the rapidly-changing needs of consumers.

Ian Proudfoot, KPMG’s Global Head of Agribusiness, says New Zealand’s primary sector must be prepared to completely transform itself – because the future will look radically different within 5-10 years. 

In preparing the Agenda, KPMG sought input from over 150 primary sector leaders during a series of roundtable discussions. Ian Proudfoot says the current dairy downturn has challenged leaders to think more deeply about their future.

Boosting the sector’s innovation capability was a key priority identified by sector leaders. 

Another important topic was the role of governance in our primary sector organisations. There is a concern that many boards have a disproportionate focus on risk and compliance, at the expense of growth strategies.

The new era of disruption will also require people with fresh thinking and mission-critical skills – which may require some companies to rebalance the mix of skills available to the board.

The Priority Results

Please click here, to view the 2016 priority survey results.

The survey results highlight a number of priorities that continue to rank in a similar way to previous years. While the issues remain important to many leaders because of the impact they have on their organisations (and industry), they received limited airtime during our conversations.

Additional key findings from the 2016 Agribusiness Agenda:

• There is a growing recognition among leaders that doing what is right by the environment is the only responsible course of action. Some industry leaders suggesting it is untenable for agriculture to remain outside the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in the medium term.
• For the sixth Agenda in a row, biosecurity was again ranked as the number one priority by industry leaders, with leaders highlighting the need to focus on preventing risks from reaching our borders.
• Industry leaders were in favour of the increased market access opportunities provided under the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement; and voiced concern over Labour’s apparent shift away from the long-held bipartisan approach to trade.
• The Agenda calls for the creation of an independent body that will facilitate the ‘hard conversations’ the country needs to have. Such topics include New Zealand’s policy on genetic modification, future land use, the role of foreign investment, and intensification of farming.