Study Tour finalists announced

11 June 2015

Study Tour finalists announced

Federated Farmers, in conjunction with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), is pleased to announce the finalists who will attend the 2015 Global Research Alliance (GRA) - World Farmer Organisation (WFO) Study Tour in Argentina in September.

The Hon Nathan Guy and other panellists selected the participants because of their ability to look at new things and communicate what they’ve learnt back to other farmers in New Zealand.

Finalists Zach Mounsey and Doug Avery will join the international delegates in Argentina for a week long study tour in September. The tour is about global information sharing between farmers about agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and how to mitigate them.

Federated Farmers Climate Change Spokesperson, Anders Crofoot, says “Federated Farmers is thrilled to see such high calibre farmers enter the competition, resulting in two outstanding farmers to participate in the Study Tour.”

“This trip is about increasing our global understanding on agricultural greenhouse gas research and engaging with farmers through the World Farmers Organisation on environmental management practices that support sustainable productivity.”

“Farmers are the ones on the ground to test and implement different methods to improve their footprint, so they are the best ones to be a part of this global learning opportunity,” he said.

Study Tour delegate, Doug Avery, said he sees himself as a teacher but also has a lot more to learn.

“We are each given two hands one to help ourselves and one to help others. This Study Tour is a part of the journey to continue learning and growing and I’m absolutely thrilled to be attending this tour”

Study Tour delegate, Zach Mounsey, said he wasn’t expecting to get through but is very passionate about agriculture and its environmental and social responsibilities.

“I see these issues as the next generation’s issues and I think we need to act now and get the next generation involved to look for solutions and develop leadership. This tour will help me develop my knowledge on greenhouse gasses and give me a global perspective on a significant part of the industry that I think needs addressing.”

Host country Argentina’s, Santiago Del Solar, Board Member of the Argentine Association of Regional Consortiums for Agricultural Experimentation (CREA ) says they have some exciting farms lined up for the delegation to see.

“In Argentina we are measuring the impact of pesticides residues, which is our main concern, and we have data about the evolution of agriculture and how we have managed to reduce environmental impacts over the years, which our CREA President, Dr. Alejandro Blacker, is looking forward to sharing with the delegation.”

“That’s what our farmers association, CREA , is all about. We share experiences between farmers and farmer groups researching how to improve our environmental footprint. We say that ‘The best guarded secret of Argentinean farmers, is that we don’t have secrets between farmers’ and when we say ‘farmers’, we mean farmers across the world”.

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