Southland farmer Lynsey Stratford is one of five recipients of the 2021 Nuffield NZ Farming Scholarship, a prestigious award given each year to emerging leaders in New Zealand’s primary sector.

Nuffield Farming Scholarships have been awarded to New Zealand farmers since 1950 and are designed to provide innovative Kiwi farmers with an opportunity to explore the best agricultural practice at home and around the world so they can lead the charge in the positive development of agriculture.

This year’s five scholarships were awarded by the Minister of Agriculture Damien O'Connor at Parliament on November 3.

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Mrs Stratford is an equity partner in a 420-cow dairy farm in Curio Bay, Southland.

She and her husband Chris are share milkers on the property, where they live with their two children.

Mrs Stratford intends to study farming health, safety and wellbeing during her scholarship, as she’s noticed New Zealand has concerningly high rates of work-related accidents in the agriculture sector.

“We don’t have a great record of health and safety on farms, we have higher rates of injury than other sectors.”

“Other sectors have shown that if you improve health and safety then you also improve productivity, profitability and people get more engaged in their work,” she said.

“So, I want to look at what the wider benefits are of improving health and safety and how we can realise some of those on farm and also just improve how we look after people.”

Mrs Stratford said she was very surprised but excited to find out she had won the scholarship, given the volume of applicants that apply each year.

Originally from England, she graduated from the university of Kent with a Bachelor of Law and practiced law in the UK and Finland before moving to New Zealand with her Kiwi husband in 2005.

Her husband had worked in the United Kingdom farming industry but it wasn’t until they moved to New Zealand that they began farming together and she fell in love with the industry for the freedom and opportunities that it gives her and her family. 

“I love being outside and working with animals and it’s quite special to be able to work alongside your family… well most of the time,” she laughed.

Mrs Stratford also loves acting as “good steward” for the land they own, so they are not just maintaining the land but endeavouring to improve it. 

“We’ve done heaps of fencing and planting, and retired bits of land that are best suited to trees rather than farming.”

“So that’s the real big driver, trying to be good stewards of not just the land but the people and the animals that we’re looking after.”

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The Nuffield scholarship programme begins in February next year.

Usually scholars go overseas but due to travel restriction from COVID-19, they will do an extensive three-week tour of New Zealand instead, starting at the top of the north and ending in the deep south.

“It’s looking at not just agriculture but all different sectors [and] people who are leading or doing things a bit differently, to see what we can learn from other sectors and apply to the primary industries,” Mrs Stratford said.

Hopefully, some international travel will follow to learn from overseas industry leaders but for now the group are patiently waiting to “see what happens.”

Mrs Stratford also works part-time as a consultant with PeopleMAD and provides people management and development consultancy services and training with a focus on the primary sector. 

She is a certified people management consultant and diary environment leader with the New Zealand Institute of Primary Industry Management.