Craigmore ‘collaborating with tech innovators’

Added 2 weeks ago

By Hawke's Bay Future Farming Trust

Craigmore ‘collaborating with tech innovators’

Craigmore Sustainables collaborates with emerging technology innovators in sustainability, encompassing areas like environmental conservation, social responsibility, and business management, to bolster New Zealand's dairy industry. Their investment in various programs aims to optimize opportunities and tackle sector-specific challenges. Their sustainability initiatives span improving water quality, curbing greenhouse gas emissions, and fostering biodiversity, including efforts to safeguard endangered species.

Stuart Taylor, Craigmore's GM Farming, emphasizes the company's duty to reinvest in the New Zealand dairy sector, leveraging its size, reach, and expertise. By embracing technological advancements early on, Craigmore aims to pave the way for other dairy farmers to adopt innovative solutions. With operations across 22 farms and partial ownership of others, they can spread the costs and risks associated with experimentation, all in pursuit of advancing the sector.

Craigmore is actively developing plans to disseminate their insights and experiences to fellow farmers, recognizing the importance of sharing knowledge for collective progress. Taylor, drawing from his fifth-generation dairy farming background, underscores the vital role of thriving agricultural businesses in contributing to the economy and local communities, while also striving for enhanced sustainability.

The company's environmental endeavors extend to tailored farm environment plans aimed at reducing their ecological footprint, such as native tree planting along waterways to bolster biodiversity and improve water quality. Craigmore's strategy encompasses trialing novel approaches to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, including exploring new feed options and nature-based solutions. Notably, they are pioneering EcoPond technology, in collaboration with Ravensdown and Lincoln University, to significantly reduce methane emissions from effluent ponds, marking a significant milestone for the New Zealand dairy industry.

Taylor's involvement in the Dairy Environment Leaders network underscores Craigmore's commitment to environmental stewardship, fostering leadership, and sharing best practices within the farming community. The company prioritizes investing in the professional growth and well-being of its farm managers and staff, aiming to cultivate empowered and fulfilled teams. Their approach to farm management emphasizes aligning the farmer's natural style with the farm's unique characteristics to ensure both farmer and farm success.

In terms of employment opportunities, Craigmore offers various arrangements, including manager roles, contract milkers, sharemilking partnerships, and joint ventures, tailored to attract top talent and support individuals in achieving their career and life aspirations. Founded in 2009 by Forbes Elworthy and Mark Cox, Craigmore was established on the belief that the dairy sector harbored considerable innovation potential, requiring capital investment to accelerate technological advancements and drive positive change.