Agmardt role about making a difference

• Published date: 27 October 2021
• Publication title: Central Rural Life

New Agmardt chairman Nick Pyke can thank ferrets for learning early that agri-business should always be market-first.

The son of two veterinarian parents grew up on a small sheep and beef farm in the King Country. This supported a Coopworth and horse stud, and when his father wanted to make use of a few farm buildings he filled them up with ferrets.

It was a fleeting distraction.

Mr Pyke says they can laugh now, but it should have been obvious that the fur trade was on the way out.

‘‘That was one of those hypes at the times of alpacas and all those things that were going to make farmers lots of money. It didn’t last. The lesson was start from the market and that market wasn’t defined. Somebody said there was a market for fur and that was in the late 1970s and early 1980s when there wasn’t a market because fur wasn’t seen as ethical.’’

Mr Pyke says he put his hand up to lead Agmardt because he thinks it can make a difference in the agri-food and fibre industry.

Unlike many other funders, the Agricultural and Marketing Research and Development Trust is willing to invest in higher risk initiatives and get money to projects faster.

Agmardt’s main thrust is in innovation, leadership and in-market projects.

The not-for-profit trust was an early funder of sheep milking before other backers arrived. More recently, Cropsy has been in the spotlight for using cameras in vineyards to reduce chemical spraying to only where it is needed.

Mr Pyke says they are working to develop less of a back role for the trust, as its work can go under the radar.

There’s a risk of becoming too public-facing and being swamped with applications so it’s a matter of getting the balance right to attract the best, he says.

‘‘We don’t want to be in a position where we are not well enough known that we’ve got surplus money, but we do want to make sure we get really good applications.’’

The trust was set up by the Government in 1987 with funds of $32million, which has grown to about $100million, and boosted lately by a booming sharemarket. That generates in the order of $5million each year to invest in grants.

Mr Pyke replaces former chairman Richard Green, who is stepping down.

He has only high praise for the businessman, investor, and adviser for large-scale farming operations, who is the chairman of Headwaters NZ and AbacusBio.

‘‘He’s phenomenal, so entrepreneurial, so innovative in his thinking and he’s so clear and concise and can cut through the ... [nonsense] to get the outcomes you...