Jacqui and I were delighted to receive the first Agritech NZ Lifetime Achievement Award in Auckland last week.
The Award had actually been announced at a Ministerial Dinner hosted at NZ Parliament back in August. Unfortunately, Jacqui and I were on a 2-month tour of Europe meeting different agrifoodtech players in the region. It’s a huge honour and we are both deeply grateful for it.
When we first launched Agritech NZ back in 2018, I don’t think either of us imagined just how big and influential a voice it would become for the sector. Securing the Agritech Industry Transformation Plan support from government back in 2020 was a key milestone for us. We believe it’s a key foundation piece as to where the sector is today.
In 2019, we co-founded the Australia New Zealand Agritech Council. I remain a founding member of AgriFuture’s Australia evokeAG steering committee and am deeply honoured by that role. It began our global path. In June this year, we co-hosted the 2023 Salinas Biological Summit with our US partners, Western Growers. We are already planning the 2024 Summit, slated for 25-26 June 2024.
We continue to apply a global lens to everything we do. We believe that continues to support our original decision to help grow New Zealand’s agritech sector. If we attempt to do that in isolation, we will fail. We strongly believe that it is only through collaborating with international partners that New Zealand’s agritech sector will reach its true potential.