What are the big challenges coming over the horizon and how are we, as the leader in training for the agriculture and water industries, placed to meet them?
Our ability to anticipate and respond to these challenges is critical to the ongoing success of our industry. We must be at the ready.
That’s why I am very excited about the Futures Research project that we have launched this year. This project is all about identifying key trends and drivers in New Zealand’s water and agriculture industries over the next 20 years.
This research will inform all areas of our business – strategy, programmes, how we approach our customers and our channels to market. It focuses on trends both in New Zealand and internationally.
How does Futures Research work?
It involves two groups – ‘scanners’ and ‘weavers’.
The scanners scan the local and global environment. They identify ideas and trends that might impact on the industry over the next 10 to 20 years, assemble relevant articles and material, write summaries and enter them into a database – around 700 summaries so far.
The weavers analyse the material, explore themes in more depth and write up their findings in a quarterly report – two of these have been completed to date.
I have found the report information so far fascinating. In my next Outlook, I’ll tell you about some of the scenarios.
