Professor Claire Massey is an agribusiness academic and Director of Agrifood at Massey University.
Claire started her presentation by explaining that pictures distract from the talk so she let us know there were no slides and as it happens she did not need them the contact was very full and fruitful. Claire is a 5th generation NZer who asked us if we can imagine what the world will be like in 100 years, because what we do now will have an impact on the what the world will be like in 100 years!
Claire talked about the value chain and the input/output model in relation to the world economy and in particular to dairy farming, which is the environment she grew up in. The focus then was on value for goods, today the focus is on beliefs, culture and values. The question is how did we get here! We are in the age of geographical sciences an era that mankind has made and shaped. In the past the shape of NZ was about what we have made and exported.
Climate change, alternative protein, bio-diversity and population are all connected and have had an impact on the world economy. International connectedness is strong we can keep up with news on a blow by blow basis via technology! Being so connected makes it really hard to focus on what is important or meaningful. We have moved to oversharing from under-sharing.
Claire directed us to three themes based on three important people and their ideas:
- Hans Rosling who had a passion for data and his book Factfullness uses data to look at how our world has improved.
- A consultant to governments on nation branding. His name is Simon Anholt but the focus is on analysing data points on how we feel in order to have countries know how to do good for the world.
- Louise Fresco whose focus is on recycling and moving from a linear economy of take, make and waste to a circular economy of keep using and reusing.
The upshot is that we need to think about 5 generations into the future and try to be an example to the rest of the world as a country (NZ is currently 5th on the Good Country Index). Claire encourages transformations for the good of the world by working toward a circular economy and meeting our values; examples given were mixed use farming and looking at developments out of a company such as Synlait.
New ways of thinking about economies is certainly enlightening and testing at the same time. Thank you Claire for such an inspiring talk.
Anne Hare
Club Reporter