An opportunity to visit European counterparts on their farms, the tour also provided insights into the supply chain dynamics influencing global trade, with visits to grain processing operations, major European ports, agri-chemical suppliers, machinery manufacturers and grain marketers in the Netherlands, Germany and Ukraine.
Drawing on Rabobank’s local EU client and industry networks, the tour – which started in Amsterdam and wrapped up 13 days later in Kiev – was the second international grains tour led by the bank, following a trip last year through America’s mid-west grain belt.
The New Zealand farmers who took part in the trip were Eric Watson (MidCanterbury), Steven Bierema and his partner Frederika Noordam (also MidCanterbury) and James Roy (Southland).
The Western European leg of the trip saw tour participants visit Amsterdam and Utrecht in the Netherlands before travelling through Cologne, Zweibrucken, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Berlin in Germany.
Mr Watson said the intensification of crop growing in the Netherlands was mind blowing as was the high cost of land.
“There’s only small areas available for crop growing and the cost of land is pretty high as well. The land they do have is mainly focused on growing a small number of vegetable crops like potatoes, onions and carrots, which to me appeared to be quite hard on soil structure,” he said.
“It just made me realise that in New Zealand, and on my own operation, we’re very fortunate to have larger areas of land available so we can run a diverse crop rotation and maintain the quality of our soils.”
Highlights of the German segment of the tour, Mr Watson said, were the visits to the John Deere factory in Manheim, the Bayer CropScience Headquarter in Monheim and the port tour in Hamburg.
“We had a really great tour of Hamburg port which included fantastic access to the loading facilities and the big container ships,” he said.
“The size and scale of the export facilities was phenomenal with huge tonnages moving through the port. At times we were within five metres of some of the container ships loading grains. You wouldn’t get that type of access here in New Zealand and it was really interesting to watch this close up.”
Rabobank New Zealand CEO, Todd Charteris, said the grains study tour came about due to the rising influence of the Black Sea region in global markets – from comprising less than 10 per cent of global wheat trade in the early 2000s to around 40 per cent today.
“We wanted to provide arable farmers in New Zealand and Australia with a chance to see for themselves the potential of Ukraine,” Mr Charteris said. “With plenty of top quality arable land, a good climate and improving farming practices, it’s not hard to see why Ukraine is becoming an increasingly dominant player in the global grains and oilseeds market.”
Following the success of the international grains study tours and recent sheep and wool tour through southern Australia, Mr Charteris said, Rabobank will run study tours next year to various countries as well as hosting tours here in New Zealand.
“The main aim of these tours is provide a platform for like-minded farmers to share knowledge, and compare farming practices to improve their own farming operations,” he said.
“Having now run a number of these tours, it’s very clear to the bank that there is a strong desire among farmers to take part in these types of tours so they can connect with others, gain knowledge and share innovative farming practices,” he said.
For more information:
David Johnston
Phone: +64 4 819 2711
Email: david.johnston@rabobank.com