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Ravensdown chief executive Garry Diack.
Ravensdown has launched a new commercialisation entity named Agnition to try and drive innovations needed by farmers and growers.
It aims to build, grow and invest in Ag-IP and innovations, such as EcoPond and ClearTech, turning them into valued products and solutions that can be used on-farm to combat climate change, and create enhanced productivity.
Ravensdown chief executive Garry Diack says Agnition is a response to the co-operative’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 precision-based performance with long-term sustainability,” he says.
“The focus is now on taking innovations to market faster, getting them on-farm and providing a return on investment for our shareholders.”
Diack says that supplying nutrients to New Zealand farmers is still 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.”
Jasper van Halder, previously a strategy consultant for McKinsey & Company, has been appointed as Agnition’s chief executive.
He will have responsibility for a portfolio of existing Ravensdown investments, including C-Dax Agricultural Solutions, Cropmark Seeds, Southstar Technologies and Analytical Research Laboratory (ARL).
Hawke's Bay's loss is Canterbury's gain with the opening of a new state-of-the-art soil testing laboratory for the Ravensdown subsidiary ARL (Analytical Research Laboratories) at Rolleston.
Fertiliser co-operative Ravensdown is working on delivering a rebate for its farmer shareholders next year - the first in four years.
Farming is changing fast, and future-focused leaders are needed in New Zealand’s boardrooms.
The work Fonterra has done with Ballance Agri-Nutrients Ltd, LIC and Ravensdown to save farmers time through better data connections has been recognised with a national award.
Sheep and beef farmers Matt and Kristin Churchward say using artificial intelligence (AI) to spread fertiliser on their sprawling 630ha farm is a game changer for their business.
Two large milk processing plants in New Zealand are changing hands.
Sheep and beef farmers are urging the Government to do more to stop productive farmland overrun by pine trees.
Auckland’s Eventfinda Stadium saw New Zealand’s top butchers recognized at the National Butchery Awards.
According to the latest Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) Stock Number Survey, sheep numbers have fallen by 1% while beef cattle numbers rose by 4.4%.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand says it is seeing strong farmer interest in its newly launched nProve Beef genetics tool, with early feedback and usage insights confirming its value in helping farmers make better breeding decisions and drive genetic improvement in New Zealand's beef herd.
The Innovation Awards at June's National Fieldays showcased several new ideas, alongside previous entries that had reached commercial reality.
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