March 9, 2026 • 6 mins
A leading agribusiness entrepreneur explains his talk at the Impact Summit, as one of this morning’s keynote speakers.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to the country from the Impact Summit. Shadow
on the park. Gee, this this place used to be well,
I suppose it is still kind of super flash. It
was around in my Lincoln days. I think another man
who was there at Lincoln College round about the same
time as me. In fact, Richard Green, you were one
of the keynotes speakers this morning, and I got three
(00:24):
quarters of your speech after I got in from Dunedin,
and I was very informed and entertained by what you
had to say. And you and I go way back
to the early two thousands when you were agricom and
I was running Holkanui Radio and you were a regular contributor.
Great to catch you again.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
For all these years, I think I was a roving agronomus,
was roving agronomous. I used to talk technical things about
flaring dates and in the fight flaring dates of rye
grasses and in the fights and legumes and liam growth
rates and things I don't actually talk much about now.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Well, end of fights. I remember that when I was
at Lincoln, we were worried about the arch Argentinean stem
weavil and we had to get high end to fight
newly and the only problem with that grass was status. Well,
I was going to say the Argentine stem weavel didn't
like it, ether did the sheep and cattle. No, So
you've since gone on to bigger and better things and
(01:17):
your story or you talk all about this morning was
recognizing business and how to expand your business and the
rule of seventy two. Talk to us about that.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, Well, I think that the theme of the summit
is actually all about strong foundations because hence the earthquake
and how how do you build a foundation that you
can then grow in times of how do you get
resilience and how can you grow away from that strong foundation?
So what I was asked to speak about is what
do I think the business fundamentals are that build it?
What are the key foundations of business? And so I
(01:51):
started by talking about the eighty twenty year ull and
the Preto principle, about how there's twenty percent of the
businesses generate eighty percent of the profit the industry, and
how I've always wanted to be one of the twenty percent,
not one of the eighty percent. And then I also
talked about the power of compounding if you keep reinvesting
in your business and there's someone wise guy once told
(02:11):
me about the rule of seventy two, and it simply goes,
whatever return you can make out of your business, divide
that into seventy two. So if it's a ten percent return,
it'll take seven point two years to double your capital
orir equity. And so I thought, yes, that's interesting. But
imagine if you could do fifteen percent returns and that
(02:34):
would then take you five years to double your capital.
So I've been quite focused on that throughout my career
and businesses. Actually, how do I double every five years?
And it used to be relatively easy. It's got a
lot harder.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Well, it was pretty easy in the days of big
capital gains, especially for dairy farming. And I think of
all those North Islanders who came south to the God's
Own farming province Southland and to be fair at Canterbury,
and they bought land at lower values, they ramped up
their production, they did very well.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, but now it's actually the models different, isn't it.
Although we've had very good capital gain in the last
eighteen months in Canterbury, but the ten years prior to
that we had none, and so we've had to focus
on cash and that's been really positive, I think, and
it's meant that we've actually brought a lot of disciplines
into that business that we've focused on profit and we've
actually got quite efficient and driven out some of our
(03:25):
cost structures lower to achieve that. I think from it
a cannabury lens.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
So, are you're personally invested in dairy farming yourself?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah, no, I am.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
You talked about the sweet spot for the size of
your operation you reckoned. I think you quoted six to
eight hundred cows is a good place to be? Is
that enough scale?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Well, the question came from the floor for the context
was as you keep growing your businesses, how do you
keep reinvesting because you get to a point where the
marginal return gets lower, so your total return drops. And
I was talking about, well, you almost need to develop
hubs so you don't grow a business beyond its sweet spot.
And I know, and I'm no expert in this, but
(04:05):
people tell me that once you get beyond for staff
and beyond one heard, things get more complex in a
dairy farm and a consultant idea that always tells me
that six hundred and eight hundred cours is the sweet spot. Now.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
You also talked about time in the business, know when
to call it a day, and you talked about five
year increments of reviewing your time in a business. Yeah,
which is a foreign concept for a lot of farmers.
But what I talked about is in business, when you
go into a business, I find it really powerful to
say I'm going to write on a bit of paper
(04:41):
that I'm going to exit this business in five years,
because that forces you to do the things you have
to do to create value. Now, in five years time,
you make another decision and you may choose not to exit.
That's fine, but least you've made a conscious decision and
put KPIs and actions in place to drive valuepreciation, appreciation. Hey,
(05:01):
just finally for you, because we've got two celebrity guests
lining up to chat to us, the twenty twenty four
winners of the Xander McDonald Awards. What do you make
of the world at the moment? It's a messy place.
You and I are of a similar generation Lincoln College.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
But younger than you.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Chambers, Well you might, but we were both at Lincoln
and the eighties at the beginning. You were at the end,
and I flirted with Otago University. So I might have
ten on you, but what's ten amongst friends? What about
the state of the world.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yes, well, I mean I guess what. I've got no
idea how it's going to evolve, but what I actually
know there will be opportunities in it too. There'll be
some stresses and strains, and I'm watching the oil price
and wondering when that does inflation and interest rates. But
I also know there's a good positive correlation with milk
price with oil prices, with oil. Yeah, correct, I thought
(05:52):
you said wool I talked to Connor English about I mean,
could Trump be a good thing for New Zealand dairy
farmersyn help us?
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
And interesting, I actually have just come back from the
US and the whole train round g LP one, the
weight loss stroke and what that's doing for increasing protein
And you know, I think that's a tailwind for us
at the moment too. So yes, through our challenge is
no question, but I think there's also as always, there's
also some tailwinds and some bright spots too.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Okay, Richard Green, great to catch up again after all
these years, and fantastic presentation this morning.
Welcome back to the country from the Impact Summit. Shadow
on the park. Gee, this this place used to be well,
I suppose it is still kind of super flash. It
was around in my Lincoln days. I think another man
who was there at Lincoln College round about the same
time as me. In fact, Richard Green, you were one
of the keynotes speakers this morning, and I got three
(00:24):
quarters of your speech after I got in from Dunedin,
and I was very informed and entertained by what you
had to say. And you and I go way back
to the early two thousands when you were agricom and
I was running Holkanui Radio and you were a regular contributor.
Great to catch you again.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
For all these years, I think I was a roving agronomus,
was roving agronomous. I used to talk technical things about
flaring dates and in the fight flaring dates of rye
grasses and in the fights and legumes and liam growth
rates and things I don't actually talk much about now.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Well, end of fights. I remember that when I was
at Lincoln, we were worried about the arch Argentinean stem
weavil and we had to get high end to fight
newly and the only problem with that grass was status. Well,
I was going to say the Argentine stem weavel didn't
like it, ether did the sheep and cattle. No, So
you've since gone on to bigger and better things and
(01:17):
your story or you talk all about this morning was
recognizing business and how to expand your business and the
rule of seventy two. Talk to us about that.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, Well, I think that the theme of the summit
is actually all about strong foundations because hence the earthquake
and how how do you build a foundation that you
can then grow in times of how do you get
resilience and how can you grow away from that strong foundation?
So what I was asked to speak about is what
do I think the business fundamentals are that build it?
What are the key foundations of business? And so I
(01:51):
started by talking about the eighty twenty year ull and
the Preto principle, about how there's twenty percent of the
businesses generate eighty percent of the profit the industry, and
how I've always wanted to be one of the twenty percent,
not one of the eighty percent. And then I also
talked about the power of compounding if you keep reinvesting
in your business and there's someone wise guy once told
(02:11):
me about the rule of seventy two, and it simply goes,
whatever return you can make out of your business, divide
that into seventy two. So if it's a ten percent return,
it'll take seven point two years to double your capital
orir equity. And so I thought, yes, that's interesting. But
imagine if you could do fifteen percent returns and that
(02:34):
would then take you five years to double your capital.
So I've been quite focused on that throughout my career
and businesses. Actually, how do I double every five years?
And it used to be relatively easy. It's got a
lot harder.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Well, it was pretty easy in the days of big
capital gains, especially for dairy farming. And I think of
all those North Islanders who came south to the God's
Own farming province Southland and to be fair at Canterbury,
and they bought land at lower values, they ramped up
their production, they did very well.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, but now it's actually the models different, isn't it.
Although we've had very good capital gain in the last
eighteen months in Canterbury, but the ten years prior to
that we had none, and so we've had to focus
on cash and that's been really positive, I think, and
it's meant that we've actually brought a lot of disciplines
into that business that we've focused on profit and we've
actually got quite efficient and driven out some of our
(03:25):
cost structures lower to achieve that. I think from it
a cannabury lens.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
So, are you're personally invested in dairy farming yourself?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah, no, I am.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
You talked about the sweet spot for the size of
your operation you reckoned. I think you quoted six to
eight hundred cows is a good place to be? Is
that enough scale?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Well, the question came from the floor for the context
was as you keep growing your businesses, how do you
keep reinvesting because you get to a point where the
marginal return gets lower, so your total return drops. And
I was talking about, well, you almost need to develop
hubs so you don't grow a business beyond its sweet spot.
And I know, and I'm no expert in this, but
(04:05):
people tell me that once you get beyond for staff
and beyond one heard, things get more complex in a
dairy farm and a consultant idea that always tells me
that six hundred and eight hundred cours is the sweet spot. Now.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
You also talked about time in the business, know when
to call it a day, and you talked about five
year increments of reviewing your time in a business. Yeah,
which is a foreign concept for a lot of farmers.
But what I talked about is in business, when you
go into a business, I find it really powerful to
say I'm going to write on a bit of paper
(04:41):
that I'm going to exit this business in five years,
because that forces you to do the things you have
to do to create value. Now, in five years time,
you make another decision and you may choose not to exit.
That's fine, but least you've made a conscious decision and
put KPIs and actions in place to drive valuepreciation, appreciation. Hey,
(05:01):
just finally for you, because we've got two celebrity guests
lining up to chat to us, the twenty twenty four
winners of the Xander McDonald Awards. What do you make
of the world at the moment? It's a messy place.
You and I are of a similar generation Lincoln College.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
But younger than you.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Chambers, Well you might, but we were both at Lincoln
and the eighties at the beginning. You were at the end,
and I flirted with Otago University. So I might have
ten on you, but what's ten amongst friends? What about
the state of the world.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yes, well, I mean I guess what. I've got no
idea how it's going to evolve, but what I actually
know there will be opportunities in it too. There'll be
some stresses and strains, and I'm watching the oil price
and wondering when that does inflation and interest rates. But
I also know there's a good positive correlation with milk
price with oil prices, with oil. Yeah, correct, I thought
(05:52):
you said wool I talked to Connor English about I mean,
could Trump be a good thing for New Zealand dairy
farmersyn help us?
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
And interesting, I actually have just come back from the
US and the whole train round g LP one, the
weight loss stroke and what that's doing for increasing protein
And you know, I think that's a tailwind for us
at the moment too. So yes, through our challenge is
no question, but I think there's also as always, there's
also some tailwinds and some bright spots too.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Okay, Richard Green, great to catch up again after all
these years, and fantastic presentation this morning.
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