Rural Professionals Louis Batley And Dan Smith Win Top Industry Awards

Agricultural and environmental consultant, Louis Batley, has been named as the FarmIQ Systems Emerging Rural Professional of the Year for 2024, the top contender in a field of highly impressive and talented nominees.

Louis is a consultant at AgFirst, based in the Manawatū-Whanganui region, with expertise in climate change modelling, carbon accounting and farm systems analysis. He works alongside farmers, industry bodies and local and central government, and is very passionate about furthering the success of New Zealand's agricultural industry.

Louis has experienced and achieved a lot throughout his short career so far, having won the IFAMA Global Student Case Study Competition in Costa Rica in 2021 and recently completing the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, where his research looked at ideas for furthering leadership skills in early career professionals within the New Zealand primary sector.

In making their final decision, the judges noted that Louis had an impressive breadth and depth of knowledge, was highly articulate and has strong farm systems understanding. His integrity and willingness to collaborate with others, combined with his international experience and global insights, means that he’s capable of adding value widely across the primary sector.

Winning the award was a pleasant surprise for Louis:

“It was a real surprise to win the award, especially given the talent of other finalists. I am proud to be working in the rural professional space in the primary sector and am lucky that my employer, AgFirst, has given me opportunities to develop, as well as help from NZIPIM and the MPI Career Pathways Scheme. It is great to know that I am heading in the right direction to make a positive impact on the sector.”

Dan Smith of Lincoln University was announced as the Rural Professional of the Year for 2024.

Dan is an agribusiness and farm management lecturer and head of the agricultural diplomas programme at Lincoln. He works alongside Farmstrong as a mental health champion for his students and is eager to inspire and nurture students’ affinity for the primary industries.

Dan has picked up a wealth of knowledge through his agribusiness career, including at Ravensdown as an agri-manager and ANZ bank as a senior business banking manager, and he is now passing his wisdom onto the next generation.

The judges recognised Dan’s deep understanding and incredible perspective of the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s primary sector. They said his passion for our industry rubs off onto both his students and colleagues, and his broad career has set him up perfectly to play a strategic role in preparing our future primary industry professionals.

Dan was thrilled to win the award:

“The New Zealand farming industry is surrounded by excellence! We have excellent farm input businesses, excellent on farm support and service businesses and excellent post farm-gate business. To me the NZIPIM represents all of that excellence so to receive this award means a whole lot to me.”

The winners were announced during the New Zealand Institute of Primary Industry Management’s (NZIPIM) National Conference Awards Dinner in Hamilton on 19 August 2024.

The Emerging Rural Professional Award celebrates innovative young people who have industry experience of five years or less, while the Rural Professional Award recognises those at the peak of their careers, with more than five years spent in the agricultural industry.

The prize for each award includes money to the value of $3,000 towards professional development, such as a research project, an overseas study tour, professional development programmes/qualifications or research equipment.

FarmIQ executive general manager, Gavin McEwen, says the holistic agricultural knowledge that the award winners have is hugely impressive:

“Every year it is great to see the high calibre of young professionals applying for the award, but this year it was extremely apparent to see the long-term and wide lens view that these rural professionals are applying in their everyday jobs. Not only can Dan and Louis support farmers one-on-one, but they deeply understand the New Zealand ag industry as a whole and how that plays out on the world stage, which is very important in these complex times.

“Congrats to Louis – definitely someone to watch as he applies his skills to enhance our industry, and to Dan whose work inspiring the next generation of rural professionals is to be commended,” says Gavin.

Jo Finer, chief executive of NZIPIM, says, “once again, we’ve been thrilled to partner with FarmIQ to recognise emerging and established talent in our sector and support their professional development.

“The integrity, collaborative approach and innovation shown by both Dan and Louis prove just how strong our industry is, especially when it is supported by rural professionals who are striving for and achieving excellence themselves.”

The judges were highly impressed with the calibre of all the candidates for both awards and congratulated three highly commended individuals.

Laura Cookson of Fonterra, and Imogen Brankin of Silver Fern Farms were highly commended for the Emerging Rural Professional Award. The judges commented that Laura is a highly capable emerging leader, who is passionate about guiding dairy farmers towards a profitable and sustainable future by finding practical and scalable solutions.

Imogen impressed the judges as an excellent communicator who is making a real difference in the red meat sector to help New Zealand produce world leading, nature positive food.

Ginny Dodunski of Wormwise (Beef + Lamb New Zealand) and Sheep Geek was highly commended for the Rural Professional Award, recognised for her strong dedication and passion for the future success of our livestock sector, and her exceptional talent in combining science and extension to meet one of New Zealand’s most significant animal production challenges.

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