Sharon's Scholarship travels

Tea Time: Sharon Morrell at a tea plantation in Kenya. Photo/supplied

DairyNZ Bay of Plenty regional leader and Nuffield Scholar Sharon Morrell will leave for the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, France, Ireland and Canada next month as part of her scholarship.

She talked to The Land about scholarship travels earlier this year that took her to an international conference and on a whirlwind visit through several countries.
Only five Nuffield scholarships were given out in 2014 and they were regarded as one of rural New Zealand's most valuable and prestigious awards.

What places did you visit?
France for conference, Pennsylvania (USA), Germany, Czech Rep, Poland, Kenya and South Africa

What was the biggest highlight of your trip?
My time in Kenya. It so very different to our experience of agriculture, the constraints are different but essentially farmers are the same the world over. Watching a herd of 220 cows being milked in a paddock by hand was a highlight.

The best piece of advice you learnt on your travels?
Gain different perspectives on everything - another light may show up something unexpected.

In terms of the latest developments did you see anything that the NZ dairy industry could benefit from and what was it?
I guess the key message I picked up was to understand your own context very well and be sure whatever you do fits well within that. For us that means optimising our use of pasture before we think of making other changes - pasture management is a keystone to the success of our dairy farmers. I realised when I got home I had hardly seen any pasture on my travels.

Where do you think the NZ dairy industry sits in the world after your trip and why?
I guess my initial thought is it has reinforced the fact that we do have a strong dairy industry. As Kiwis we pride ourselves on the whole number-8 wire creativity, however I have observed other people do that as well so we shouldn't be complacent. We need to focus on what we do well. It wasn't until I came home that I realised I had hardly seen any grazed pasture in all of my travels. I saw lots of crops and barn animals, here we have pasture and can graze it so, how do we do that the best we can?

Sharon Morrell milking in Kenya. Photo/supplied

Where to now?
I leave on August 11 to pursue my personal study topic, it's "Overcoming Limits: Producer Group Transformations". I'm keen to learn personal insights into how producers have coped with the compulsory change that arises when a resource that is critical to their business becomes limited.

Did it change your life and how?
Still in progress - this next piece of travel requires much more of my own organisation and initiative.
It will give me more one-on-one time with the people I'll get to meet and I'm sure will have a deeper impact as a result.

Follow Sharon on: Sharonmmorrell.blogspot.com.au