Landcorp chief unveils vision

The state owned enterprise will focus on driving a lean commercial operation, benchmarked against the best farmers across the country, Carden said in his keynote address at the Agricultural Communicator of the Year Awards last night (June 12) in Hamilton.

"First and foremost, Landcorp must strive to be the best performing large-scale farming business in the country. Second, we are growing our connections with our customers and their customers. That means working with other farmers who are interested in supplying to particular customers in markets around the world," he says.

Plans include growing its number of farming partnerships through being the preferred partner for iwi farming interests and other investors. Landcorp will look to use existing partnerships with iwi in the Far North and the Hauraki as models for the future.

Farming new products such as sheep milk are also being explored, as will greater use of technology to drive precision farming. Landcorp's recent adoption of Farm IQ's farm management system throughout its 137 farms will help the company drive a new level of precision around animal performance. It will also be a key tool in minimising its environmental impact.

Carden said Landcorp would draw from its own proud history of transforming agricultural land to transform New Zealand farming. Landcorp has some incredible staff throughout the country and that his job is to tap into their passion for Landcorp to drive improvement in New Zealand farming.

"The whole company is full of energy to improve our performance by being safer, more efficient and more productive farmers. We want to demonstrate that profitable and environmentally responsible farming go hand in hand.

"We want all New Zealanders to see how good farming is for our country, and especially for young people to see farming as a career where they can be part of something vitally important to the future of New Zealand.

"Our goals are ambitious, and we won't always get it right, but we'll always front up and share with the industry and all New Zealanders the places we are finding success, as well as where we still need to do better," he said.