New Zealand National Fieldays Society has made the move for major change with a 15-year master plan to improve the Mystery Creek event site. Work on the master plan is currently underway along with a number of initiatives still in the pipeline to help the next generation of agricultural leaders step into the industry and possibly onto the world stage.
The man at the forefront of this major change is Jon Calder (Hall 1987-1991) who took up the role of CEO for NZ National Fieldays Society in 2012. Since then he has helped the Board’s vision of a 15-year master plan come to life with two stages of building developments complete and a third underway.
Jon says that NZ National Fieldays Society are also investing in the future of the agriculture industry. A new focus for the 2015 Fieldays, and future events, will be to help young innovators fast track their products to the commercial market.
The Fieldays Innovation Accelerator initiative will be launched this year as part of the Innovation Centre that is expected to attract more than 70 entrants.
“Innovation and technology is a real core and key feature of Fieldays. For the past three years we have been working on making the Innovation Centre more than just putting products on display to win a prize,” Jon said.
“Innovation Accelerator is for companies that have participated in the Innovation Centre previously and have come back with a product ready to market. Our goal is to help them shorten up the path to market.”
Fieldays plans to build an eco-system where other companies can help support young innovators to take their product to the next step whether it’s redesigning and refining, commercialising the product or taking a commercialised product and helping it grow in new markets.
“Last year we saw everything from a gumboot warmer to a revolutionary snap chiller that will take milk from cow temperature to four degrees in a few seconds and effluent management systems that strip waste from animal effluent to become clean water.
“We also saw a prototype design of a battery powered farm bike that won an innovation award and one of the prizes that they won was working with a research and design company called Locus Research.”
“They helped these guys rebuild their product so it was reliable and easy to manufacture. It’s in production and will be on sale for the first time at Fieldays this year.”
The Innovation Centre has been expanded by a third to nurture New Zealand’s young inventors.
Other changes that event-goers can expect to see at this year’s Fieldays is the addition of 100 new exhibition sites which forms part of stage two of Fieldays 15-year master plan.
“We just finished a 90 square cubic metre land moving project to realign, raconteur and level the site to give us more options and flexibility. We have created about 100 new sites that are ready for this year, 34 of which are in front of the Main Pavilion right in the heart of the event.”
The major earthworks and expansion project follows the $4m build of the Mystery Creek headquarters in 2014, bringing the investment total of site improvements to $5.6 million.
Another $6m, jointly funded by NZ National Fieldays Society and partners, will be invested over the next five years. Part of this investment includes a new set of buildings to be constructed and in place for 2016.
Jon says the buildings will house three key customers for Fieldays and says the new facilities will be key to providing more opportunities for collaboration throughout the year; extending the relationship with Fieldays to more than four days in June.
“It’s about creating more opportunities throughout the year outside of Fieldays, whether it’s agriculture related events or some of the other events we own like Equidays, these buildings will provide us with the opportunity to do a lot more and we are quite excited about that.”
The NZ National Fieldays Society are also investing in the future of the primary industries, coming on board with an industry-led agribusiness programme that is being pioneered by St Paul’s Collegiate School in collaboration with DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb.
The two-year agribusiness programme is a New Zealand first and has been designed to expose and inspire tertiary capable students to the wide range of career opportunities available in pastoral agriculture.
“When we took the proposal to our Board it was a five minute conversation, there was that much support and enthusiasm for the project.”
“It’s going to be an absolute game changer in terms of opening young people’s eyes and showing them the depth and breadth of career opportunities available in the ag industry.”
Jon says the programme offers students more than what just happens behind the farm gate and believes what St Paul’s is doing with the Agribusiness programme is going to make a significant difference to the rural sector.
“You only have to look at the level of support and the people that the programme has drawn in to see that it’s really impressive.”
Anyone would think Jon, who’s been at the forefront of major change for Fieldays over the past three years, has deep heritage of agriculture but the driven CEO has only just made the switch to New Zealand’s largest export industry.
Jon spent more than 15 years working in senior management roles in the transport sector, for Air New Zealand and NZ Bus in Auckland, and after finishing his MBA he decided to make the move back to the Waikato.
“I was fortunate enough that during my 12 years with Air New Zealand the company put me through an MBA and like anyone who goes through an intensive period of education you are always looking at how you can apply those skills.”
“It was a role that took a little convincing to get me to throw my hat in the ring but now I genuinely tell people that I have one of the best jobs in New Zealand because of the people I get to interact with – from the prime minister to some of our hard working famers who are making it happen. It’s a pretty cool job.”
