Photo: RNZ/Susan Murray
KPMG released its Agri-Business Agenda 2019 on the opening morning of the 51st National Agricultural Fieldays at Mystery Creek.
The document's put together by a small team of four, lead by KPMG's global head of agribusiness Ian Proudfoot.
They started compiling the agenda in December 2018 and talked to approximately 100 agri-business industry leaders over the following few months.
The leaders sere asked what their ten "top of mind" issues were: what changes need to be made heading towards 2030.
Proudfoot says newer trends include the importance of provenance and telling our stories to the world. Animal health and welfare appeared on the top ten list for the first time.
He says social views and morals are changing quickly and driving the changes.
"It's not because what you're doing is necessarily any better or worse than before, it's people's views have changed about it. We've got to get our minds around the person driving the thing is the consumer, and understanding what they want."
Another core theme which Proudfoot labels as 'bold' is to start talking about 'volume to wellness', not 'volume to value'.
In the past the agriculture industry thought riches would come from producing high volumes of product, cheaply, but he says now a top priority is to feed our five million people properly first before thinking about exporting the first tonne.
" We can't be a country that ranks highly for obesity and diabetes and heart disease if we want to tell the world we produce good food. Nutritious food. The government and the rest of society need to make sure good food is accessible to New Zealanders and that they know how to use that food properly," says Proudfoot.
