Sheryl Brown winner of 2018 Congress Travel Grant

Posted: 08-Feb-2018

Sheryl Brown, deputy editor for NZ Dairy Exporter, has been selected to receive this year’s Congress Travel Grant.   The grant is made available every year, from the surplus the guild made from Congress 2015, and helps a member travel to the annual IFAJ Congress, this year being held in The Netherlands.

Sheryl says the dairy industry in The Netherlands is facing similar issues to New Zealand with rising pressure over sustainability issues and public perception.  She says NZ can learn a lot from what their industry and farmers are doing to respond. The research and innovation in Netherlands from reaching phosphate targets, to techonology around biogas, as well as the industry’s approach to markets and public perception will be of great interest to New Zealand's readers, farmers, rural professionals and industry leaders alike.

“The issue of ageing farmers and succession is also very topical in NZ and is a theme of the congress I am highly interested in,” she says.  “With high land values and farmer debt levels in NZ, alongside decreasing sharemilking opportunities, it is becoming more difficult for the younger generation to progress in the industry. It would be great to get an insight into the issues an ageing farming population presents globally and hear how other countries are looking to deal with succession.”

Congress 2018, 'DutchRoots 2018', is being held in July in Wageningen University and Research, which is celebrating its centennial this year  


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