LeaderBrand Leads with AI Innovation
Major New Zealand fresh produce grower is tapping AI to manage weeds on one of its farms.
Mourners were told the fingerprints from his last four decades of work in the sector would remain for many years to come. He was 66.
As LeaderBrand's sustainability manager he was awarded the Bledisloe Cup in 2024, recognising his outstanding contribution of over 35 years to the horticultural sector. In July last year he was awarded a Horticulture New Zealand life membership, with board chair Bernardine Guilleaux saying his influence on the industry had been immense. He already held a similar honour from Vegetables NZ, awarded at its conference several years previously.
He started his career in the Wattie's group working in Gisborne, Hawke's Bay and the Manawatu. In the 1980s he pioneered the commercial use of mathematical crop prediction models for sweetcorn and other vegetable crops in collaboration with Crop & Food Research and NIWA, creating the foundation for a closer partnership between science and the vegetable industry.
He later moved to LeaderBrand in Gisborne then to Sutherland Produce at Bombay, before returning to LeaderBrand in Pukekohe. He managed many projects which spanned regenerative farming, riparian planting, biodiversity, emissions, nitrogen, and water efficiency.
He championed the use of science, technology and innovation to enhance sustainable vegetable production. He was a director of Vegetables NZ for 10 years, chair of the Vegetable Research and Innovation Board (VRI) and held many leading roles in industry projects, particularly those concentrated on integrated pest and disease management.
Most recently he was the Industry Stakeholder Advisory Group chair for A Lighter Touch, concentrating on how their use could help reduce chemical inputs into vegetable cropping. His last project was an initiative he'd championed for many years, the Makauri aquifer recharge in Gisborne to ensure water security for the area.
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Murray McPhail, LeaderBrand's founder, knew him for 40 years, meeting him first when he joined Watties' agricultural teams, where the company's research farm manager had to tow his two-wheel drive station wagon out of the water table.
"They were usually operational people but he had a degree," he said.
Davis progressed up the chain at the company, championing the use of science, technology and innovation to enhance sustainable vegetable production. He oversaw the introduction of self-propelled harvesters and early growing of organic sweetcorn which found a ready market with a Japanese buyer.
McPhail said there was nothing Davis didn't know about growing, telling him that if the LeaderBrand knew when crops flowered they could predict when they would be ready for harvest.
"We're very thankful for what he brought to us."
Mike Arnold, from LeaderBrand's South Island farm, said he's worked with Davis on several projects where he made an invaluable contribution. On the day he died from Motor Neuron Disease he had emailed him asking if he could keep his company laptop and phone for further work.
"He called a spade a shovel but transferred his knowledge to anyone who asked."
His two brothers and three sisters said they all looked to him.
"He was someone worth looking up to," youngest sister, Heather said.
"His knowledge was incredible, and he was passionate about sustainability."
His sons, Simon and Michael, said that right to the end he was busy working on projects which he knew he would never see come to a conclusion. Beneath his stoic, scientific exterior there was a man who loved his family along with poetry, music and cricket.
"And we're happy to report and vegetables continue to grow without him."
