In this RaboTalk, Growing Our Future episode, Blake Holgate sits down with experienced governance leader, current AgriZeroNZ Chair, former Silver Fern Farms Chair and sixth-generation South Otago farmer Rob Hewett to discuss what resilient, future-focused farming looks like inside the farm gate.
Drawing on his farming background alongside his senior executive roles at Shell and directorships across major agribusinesses, Rob shares practical insights on applying boardroom discipline to farm decision-making, matching land classes to their highest-value use, managing market and climate risk, and positioning New Zealand’s premium protein for discerning global consumers.
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Show Notes
Applying Governance Principles to the Farm Floor
Rob outlines how farm-level governance centres on systematic risk management. Whether evaluating weather cycles, interest rate movements, or debt structures, farmers constantly implement risk mitigation strategies. Moving toward a formal governance structure helps producers evaluate their balance sheet capacity, make deliberate capital allocation choices, and run their properties with boardroom discipline.
Aligning Land Class with Highest Value Use
Successful long-term planning requires assessing each land class across a property to determine its highest and best use. Rob shares his simple farm philosophy: setting up efficient paddock and lane layouts while establishing trees on country that is too steep for tractors. Balancing hill-country forestry, carbon, wind generation, and intensive livestock systems diversifies income and optimises overall land utility.
Serving the Discerning Protein Consumer
Rob highlights the stark efficiency gap between poultry and sheep production. A single hen can yield 400 kilograms of meat per year, whereas a high-performing ewe produces roughly 25 kilograms. Because New Zealand red meat cannot compete as a low-cost, high-volume commodity, producers must treat it as a premium product. Farm practices around emissions, animal welfare, and water quality must align directly with the expectations of high-end international consumers.
Mitigating Climate Risk Through Integrated Feed Systems
To build drought resilience and protect soil structure during wet southern winters, Rob implemented a fodder beet and Raphno forage system paired with a techno-finishing design. By moving small cattle mobs across rotational grazing wedges, the farm achieves high feed utilisation and finishes all cattle by 18 months. This eliminates the expense and land impact of carrying stock through a second winter.
Unlocking Precision Productivity with Smart Tech
Agri-tech provides substantial bottom-line gains when paired with clear operational goals. Rob highlights how utilising smart shepherd collaring systems on 7,000 ewes tracks individual mother-to-lamb relationships as accurately as a DNA test. By measuring actual lambing performance through to weaning, the farm achieved a 15% compounding growth rate between its elite and commercial flocks.
Final Advice: The Process Drives Execution
Rob shares a central governance rule for every business owner: the process of reaching an end result is just as important as the result itself. High-value strategies fail without total buy-in. To execute plans effectively, particularly during intergenerational farm succession, business leaders must actively communicate, listen to new ideas, and build genuine engagement with everyone involved.
