48 Leading Thought Leaders in AU/NZ Agriculture

Introduction

The voices shaping agriculture in Australia and New Zealand have never mattered more. Both nations are at a critical inflection point: Australian agriculture is forecast to reach a historic high of $101.4 billion in gross production value in 2025-26, according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, while New Zealand's food and fibre exports hit a record $60.4 billion in the year to June 2025, according to the Ministry for Primary Industries. These are not abstract statistics. They represent the combined effort of millions of tonnes of grain, tens of millions of livestock, billions of litres of milk, and the labour and ingenuity of farming families who have built enterprises across some of the most demanding landscapes on earth.

Yet the sector faces pressures that are genuinely unprecedented in their complexity. Climate variability is reshaping which regions can produce what, and when. New markets are opening in Southeast Asia and the Middle East while longstanding trade relationships are being renegotiated. AgTech is advancing faster than most farm businesses can absorb, with robotics, AI-driven decision tools, and soil carbon platforms transforming what is technically possible within a single crop cycle. At the same time, the social contract around agriculture is shifting: communities, investors, and consumers are asking harder questions about environmental stewardship, animal welfare, water rights, and the sector's contribution to or detraction from national climate commitments.

Understanding who is leading these conversations is genuinely valuable for anyone in the sector. The forty-eight people on this list were selected on three criteria. First, they are making a substantive, documented contribution to their field, not just accumulating titles or media appearances. Second, they are actively engaged in public discourse, through writing, speaking, policy advocacy, research publication, or digital content, in ways that reach beyond their own organisations. Third, this list was built to move past the most prominent household names and surface voices the reader may not yet have encountered alongside those who have earned their standing through decades of practical impact.

The list draws from Australia and New Zealand, spans disciplines from farm policy to AgTech investment to regenerative agriculture to rural community wellbeing, and includes voices from the paddock, the boardroom, the research institution, and the venture capital firm. Jonno White works with leadership teams across organisations including schools, corporates, and nonprofits around the world, delivering workshops, keynotes, and facilitation that help teams have better conversations and make stronger decisions. For organisations in the agricultural sector looking to strengthen their leadership culture, team alignment, or executive cohesion, email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Why the Voices Shaping Australian and New Zealand Agriculture Matter

The decisions being made inside and around agriculture in Australia and New Zealand right now will shape both economies for the next quarter century. The productivity growth question alone is substantial: the ABARES Snapshot of Australian Agriculture 2025 reports that agricultural productivity growth slowed from an annual average of 2.18% in the 1980s and 1990s to just 0.72% since 2000. Reversing or even stabilising that trend requires not only better technology but better thinking, better leadership, and better policy frameworks.

In New Zealand, the primary sector's relationship with climate commitments has generated intense national debate. Agricultural emissions account for approximately 48% of New Zealand's total greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Ministry for Primary Industries, placing the sector at the centre of some of the most consequential policy conversations in the country's history. How that conversation resolves will determine not just farm economics but New Zealand's standing in premium global markets that increasingly reward verifiable sustainability credentials.

For organisations navigating this environment, having access to the right thinking matters. Book Jonno White to facilitate your next executive offsite, leadership workshop, or strategy session. Jonno is a Certified Working Genius Facilitator and the bestselling author of Step Up or Step Out, which has sold over 10,000 copies globally. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

How This List Was Compiled

Every person on this list was selected on three criteria. First, documented contribution: each person's role, organisation, and contribution are supported by primary sources. Second, active engagement: each person is participating in public discourse in ways that extend beyond their organisation's immediate stakeholder base. Third, deliberate inclusion of voices the reader may not yet have encountered, particularly practitioners, researchers, and mid-tier thought leaders doing consequential work without always making the front page of agricultural media. The list spans both Australia and New Zealand and deliberately includes perspectives from the paddock, the laboratory, the policy forum, and the capital markets. It deliberately moved past the most prominent household names to surface fresher voices alongside established leaders.

Category 1: Policy, Farmer Advocacy and Industry Leadership

The voices who represent farmers at the national and international level shape the rules of the game for everyone in agriculture. Their credibility, their advocacy effectiveness, and their strategic thinking determine whether agriculture's interests are heard in policy debates that will define the sector's operating environment for decades.

1. Hamish McIntyre

Hamish McIntyre was elected President of the National Farmers' Federation in late 2025, taking the reins from David Jochinke after serving as a director since October 2023. He runs McIntyre Agriculture, a family-owned farming and livestock enterprise covering 143,800 hectares across dryland farming, irrigation, and grazing in the St George, Dirranbandi, and Quilpie districts of Queensland. He previously served as Chair of Cotton Australia for three years, bringing deep irrigated agriculture expertise to the NFF's national leadership.

McIntyre's appointment comes at a moment of significant policy activity for Australian agriculture, with ongoing debates around freshwater rules, emissions frameworks, and farm business taxation all demanding strong industry coordination. He has been direct in stating that his priority is ensuring farmers are front and centre in Canberra's policy discussions, a posture the sector needs from a leader navigating both state federation politics and the federal government's evolving agricultural agenda.

2. David Jochinke

David Jochinke, known widely across the sector as DJ, served as President of the National Farmers' Federation from 2023 to late 2025 and as Vice President for the six years prior, making him one of the most enduring figures in Australian farm advocacy. A third-generation dryland mixed farmer from Murra Warra in Victoria's Wimmera, Jochinke brings a quiet credibility built on operational farming experience rather than political background, which has made him effective in speaking to both farmers and policymakers.

His term as NFF President coincided with significant reform activity, including the federal government's National Landcare Conference platform and the launch of AgXchange Australia, the NFF's flagship new conference format. He also serves on the federal government's Trade 2040 Advisory Committee and on the board of Nature Repair Australia, demonstrating the breadth of his policy engagement beyond the NFF presidency itself.

3. Fiona Simson

Fiona Simson is one of the most accomplished agricultural advocates Australia has produced in a generation. After seven years as President of the National Farmers' Federation, the longest tenure in the role, she departed in 2023 to pursue a portfolio of global leadership roles that includes Vice President of the World Farmers' Organisation, the first Australian to be elected at that level. She is also Chair of the Future Food Systems Cooperative Research Centre and a Commissioner and Chair of the Australian Commission for International Agricultural Research.

Simson was named Rabobank's Agricultural Leader of the Year in 2023 and received an honorary fellowship from the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2024. Her keynote at the 2025 National Landcare Conference demonstrated that she remains a highly sought voice on the intersection of farm productivity, environmental stewardship, and policy reform. For anyone who wants to understand the strategic context shaping Australian agriculture's international positioning, her public statements and advocacy work are essential reading.

4. Georgie Somerset

Georgie Somerset is one of the most experienced agribusiness governance leaders in Queensland, having served as General President of AgForce Queensland and continuing in national roles including as a Director of the National Farmers' Federation. She runs Somerset Trading, a beef enterprise in Queensland's South Burnett region, giving her the on-farm credibility that underpins her advocacy effectiveness. Somerset was named among the Financial Review's 100 Women of Influence in 2014 and was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2020 for her contribution to primary industry and to women.

Her work to strengthen agricultural industry organisations, expand women's participation in leadership roles across the sector, and build Queensland's rural leadership pipeline has made her one of the defining voices in Australian farm advocacy. She also serves as a Director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Chair of the Royal Flying Doctor Service's Queensland section, reflecting the breadth of her contribution to regional and rural Australia beyond the farm gate.

5. Wayne Langford

Wayne Langford is the President of Federated Farmers of New Zealand, elected in 2023 and leading the organisation through an ambitious growth and advocacy program. A dairy farmer from Golden Bay at the top of the South Island, Langford has led Federated Farmers through a highly active period of policy reform under New Zealand's current government, securing significant wins on freshwater rules, methane reduction targets, and the Resource Management Act rewrite that defined New Zealand farming's 2024 agenda.

His stated priority is membership growth, with the goal of expanding Federated Farmers from 13,000 to 20,000 member families to strengthen the organisation's political weight. His willingness to speak plainly about the gap between what the sector needs and what it currently has makes him an effective advocate, and his regular public commentary through media and the Federated Farmers podcast keeps him visible to both farmers and policymakers across New Zealand.

6. Mike Guerin

Mike Guerin was appointed CEO of the National Farmers' Federation in January 2026, becoming the organisation's new leader following a period of transition. He brings eight years of experience as CEO of AgForce Queensland and most recently served as Acting CEO of NSW Farmers, along with more than two decades in banking and agribusiness including as Managing Director of Elders Rural Services. NSW Farmers President Xavier Martin described Guerin as a leader with a rare combination of corporate, governance, and peak body expertise.

Guerin's appointment represents a return to deep agribusiness sector experience at the NFF's helm. His background bridging banking, large-scale agribusiness operations, and state farming organisations positions him well to navigate the complex federated membership structure and the significant policy agenda Australian agriculture faces over the next three to five years, including emissions frameworks, water policy, and the ongoing challenge of maintaining export market access.

7. Su McCluskey

Su McCluskey serves as Australia's Special Representative for Australian Agriculture, a unique role that operates at the intersection of federal government, industry, and international markets to represent Australia's agricultural interests in trade and diplomatic forums. A former NFF Senior Policy Advisor, she has participated in international delegations to discuss agricultural trade policy, environmental regulation, and farm productivity with government officials and industry stakeholders across Asia and Europe.

McCluskey spoke at the Crawford Fund for a Secure World Conference in 2021 and as a plenary speaker at the TropAg International Agriculture Conference in Brisbane in 2022. She has been recognised for her contribution to policy development through the Women in Agribusiness Award for outstanding contribution to policy, and her work sits at the critical interface between domestic farm interests and Australia's global agricultural trade relationships.

8. Victoria Anderson

Victoria Anderson was appointed Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in December 2025, bringing over 25 years of public policy and governance experience to the role, including 17 years working directly in the agriculture portfolio. She commenced in the Australian Public Service as a graduate in the Department of Agriculture in 2000 and has held senior executive roles across Treasury, the Department of Education, Skills and Employment, and the agriculture portfolio covering drought policy, agricultural trade policy, and industry assistance.

Her appointment to the Secretary role at a time when the department is managing Australia's Agriculture and Land Sector emissions plan, new sustainability reporting requirements, and biosecurity system modernisation makes her one of the most consequential figures in Australian agricultural policy. Her depth of institutional knowledge about both the domestic farm sector and the international trade architecture that surrounds it is rare at the senior leadership level.

Category 2: Sustainability, Regenerative Agriculture and Natural Capital

No part of the agribusiness conversation has moved faster in the past three years than the intersection of farming, climate, and investment. These are the practitioners and thinkers building the frameworks and field evidence for nature-positive agriculture at scale, demonstrating that sustainability and profitability can be designed to reinforce each other rather than compete.

9. Hugh Killen

Hugh Killen is the Managing Director of Impact Ag Australia, an Armidale-based asset management company with over A$1 billion in assets under management across approximately 250,000 hectares in Australia and the United States. A former CEO of the Australian Agricultural Company, one of Australia's largest cattle enterprises, Killen brings both large-scale operational experience and sophisticated capital markets understanding to his current focus on mobilising global investment into regenerative agriculture and natural capital development.

Killen has been a prominent speaker at AgriFutures evokeAG 2025 and 2026, articulating a vision of agriculture with two balance sheets: one valuing commodity production and one valuing the ecosystem services flowing from how that production is managed. He has pointed to a minimum US$250 billion annual funding gap between current agricultural investment patterns and the capital needed to transition global farming to regenerative systems, positioning Impact Ag's model as a practical bridge between ambition and real-world farm economics.

10. Melinee Leather

Melinee Leather is the Co-Owner and Managing Director of Leather Cattle Co, a progressive family-owned beef cattle operation in Central Queensland recognised for its commitment to sustainability, food security, and climate action. With over 37 years of agricultural experience, the business has been awarded the 2019 Farm Biosecurity Producer of the Year and reached the finals of the 34th National Banksia Sustainability Award, and Leather served as a member of the evokeAG 2025 Steering Committee, helping shape Australia's most significant agrifood tech event.

She is pursuing a PhD at the University of Western Australia supported by the Zero Net Emissions Agriculture CRC, focused on the intersection of carbon farming, livestock management, and the credibility frameworks that allow producers to participate in emerging environmental markets. Her combination of practitioner credibility and active research engagement makes her an important voice in the agricultural emissions reduction conversation, particularly for the beef sector.

11. Olympia Yarger

Olympia Yarger is the CEO of Goterra and the Founder of the Insect Protein Association of Australia, and was named 2023 ACT Australian of the Year for her work transforming food waste into a circular economy solution at scale. Her Modular Infrastructure for Biological Services uses robots to house and manage black soldier fly larvae that process food waste into high-quality protein and fertiliser, with clients including Woolworths. The CSIRO named a soldier fly species after her, Hermetia Olympea, in recognition of her contribution to the field of insect science and sustainable agriculture.

Goterra's system has prevented more than one million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from being released into the atmosphere. Yarger's work sits at the intersection of waste reduction, alternative protein development, and circular agricultural systems, and her ability to articulate complex biological systems for general audiences has made her one of the most distinctive voices in Australian agrifood innovation. She spoke at evokeAG 2025 on the power of challenging conventional thinking in agricultural systems.

12. Renee Farrow

Renee Farrow grew up on a family farm in South Australia and built a consulting career that now spans sustainability strategy, leadership development, and systems change across multiple industries. The Founder of Troubridge and Mars Consulting, she has previously worked with Xynteo, Climate Edge, and Ernst and Young, giving her an unusually broad perspective on the intersection of corporate sustainability, agricultural practice, and the leadership culture required to implement genuine change.

Farrow served as a Board Director at WoTL and played a significant role in designing the evokeAG 2025 program, which positioned her at the centre of the most current thinking in Australian agrifood innovation. Her writing and speaking focus on what systems change actually requires inside organisations and industries built around different assumptions, and her grounding in both on-farm reality and corporate strategy makes her contributions particularly useful for agribusiness leaders navigating the sustainability transition.

13. Richard Heath

Richard Heath is the inaugural CEO of the Zero Net Emissions Agriculture Cooperative Research Centre, a $300 million collaborative venture supporting Australian agriculture's transition to a low-emissions future. He brings a career spanning senior leadership at the Australian Farm Institute, academic roles as Associate Professor of Agronomy and Farm Management at the University of Sydney, and the Directorship of Nuffield Australia Farming Scholars. His understanding of both the research community and the farm business community makes him an effective bridge between science and practice.

Heath spoke at ABARES Outlook 2026 on how data and technology are reshaping agriculture's climate story, and at evokeAG 2026 on the challenge of bringing Australian agriculture's sustainability narrative to an international investment audience. The ZNE-Ag CRC's work is central to whether Australian agriculture meets its 2030 and 2050 emissions commitments while maintaining the productivity and profitability that give the sector its economic significance.

14. Dr Victoria Hatton

Dr Victoria Hatton is the Chief Executive of FoodHQ Innovation in New Zealand, a leading hub of food and food production scientists, and the founder of E Tipu, the New Zealand Future Food and Fibre Summit. She launched a ten-year plan to tackle the food industry's most significant challenges, including the Future of Food thought leadership publication that has attracted international attention, and convened E Tipu in 2025 as a flagship forum for the sector's strategic agenda.

Hatton also serves as Vice President of the British New Zealand Business Association and has moderated major export market access panels on behalf of New Zealand's food and beverage exporters. Her combination of scientific grounding, strategic leadership, and international market fluency makes her one of the most distinctive voices in New Zealand's food and fibre innovation ecosystem, particularly in connecting domestic primary production with the standards and expectations of premium export markets.

15. Dr John Roche

Dr John Roche is a Principal Scientist at DairyNZ, New Zealand's dairy industry research body, where his work focuses on animal nutrition, farm systems, and pasture management. His expertise in the intersection of dairy farm profitability and the environmental performance metrics that are increasingly defining market access for New Zealand's dairy sector has made him a trusted advisor in both scientific and policy circles.

Roche's work sits at the practical intersection of farm system science and the commercial reality of dairy farming in a country where $27.4 billion NZD in dairy export revenue is forecast for the year to June 2026. His engagement with both the research community and practitioner community, and his willingness to translate complex nutritional science into farm management decisions that real businesses can act on, makes him an important voice for the sector's technical credibility.

Category 3: AgTech, Innovation and Digital Agriculture

Australia and New Zealand are home to over 2,500 agritech and foodtech enterprises. The people driving innovation in this space are redefining what is possible in farm management, livestock monitoring, sustainable inputs, and supply chain transparency. Many organisations find that international engagement costs less than expected. Whether virtual or face to face, reach out to jonno@consultclarity.org for leadership support for your agricultural organisation.

16. Luke Chaplain

Luke Chaplain is the Founder of SkyKelpie, a world-leading drone mustering and aerial stockmanship company based in Queensland that has transformed how cattle producers manage livestock across vast pastoral properties. At evokeAG 2025 in Brisbane, Chaplain staged a live remote mustering demonstration on the event stage, showcasing a technology that reduces the cost, labour, and animal stress associated with traditional ground-based mustering operations on large pastoral properties.

SkyKelpie's work represents the application of aerial drone technology to one of the most fundamental and labour-intensive operations in the Australian beef industry. Chaplain's ability to demonstrate practical commercial outcomes rather than theoretical capability has helped move drone adoption from novelty to operational tool for progressive producers, and his presence at major agricultural innovation events keeps him visible to both the early adopter and the early majority segments of the Australian cattle industry.

17. Kylie Frazer

Kylie Frazer is a Co-founder and Partner of Flying Fox Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm that has invested in over 55 Australian and New Zealand startups including agtech companies such as Goterra. With a background as a corporate lawyer and twenty years in technology capital raising and mergers and acquisitions, Frazer brings a rigorous commercial lens to the evaluation of agtech innovation, and has participated as an investment committee member for Beanstalk AgTech's Drought Venture Studio.

Her regular participation in evokeAG events, SXSW Sydney agtech panels, and investor education programs positions her at the intersection of capital, innovation, and agriculture. In her public advocacy for Australian agtech, Frazer has consistently argued that Australia has a genuine competitive advantage in the sector because its farms are large enough to generate real return on technology investment, making the country a natural testing and commercial proving ground for solutions with global relevance.

18. Dr Robert Van Barneveld

Dr Robert Van Barneveld is the CEO of the Sunpork Group, Australia's significant pork producer, which accounts for approximately 20% of Australia's pork supply. He spoke at evokeAG 2025 in Brisbane, where the event brought together the most innovative minds in agrifood technology and supply chain leadership from across Australia and internationally. His leadership of the Sunpork Group represents the commercially sophisticated integration of modern production systems, food safety management, and market development that defines best practice in intensive livestock production.

The Australian pork industry navigates a complex competitive environment, managing production costs against competition from imported product while advancing sustainability credentials and animal welfare standards. Van Barneveld's profile at evokeAG reflects the sector's engagement with both the technical and leadership dimensions of that challenge, and his voice in industry forums contributes to the conversation about how intensive livestock production meets the expectations of a market increasingly attentive to provenance, welfare, and sustainability.

19. Oli Le Lievre

Oli Le Lievre is the founder and host of the Humans of Agriculture podcast and platform, which has built one of the agricultural sector's most engaged online communities by focusing on the stories and perspectives of the people behind the food system. He served as emcee for evokeAG 2025, demonstrating his ability to hold complex multi-speaker formats together while maintaining the energy and accessibility that makes the event compelling for diverse audiences that range from farmers to investors to policymakers.

Le Lievre's platform reaches audiences who are interested in agriculture but not always captured by traditional industry media, and his approach to storytelling has helped build a broader public appreciation for the sector's diversity and dynamism. His work is built around the belief that the most important conversations about the future of agriculture are the ones that connect people across disciplinary and geographic boundaries, and his platform consistently surfaces voices that deserve a wider audience.

20. Dr Angeline Achariya

Dr Angeline Achariya is an internationally recognised food and agriculture innovation leader who was named in the 2025 Victorian Honour Roll of Women as a Trailblazer for her work advancing Australia's agricultural innovation and sustainable food systems across global markets. With over 20 years driving transformative change in multinationals including Mars, Fonterra, Mondelez, and Yum!, she brings a commercial food systems perspective that bridges farm production, food manufacturing, and retail market dynamics.

Achariya has been a speaker at E Tipu, the New Zealand Future Food and Fibre Summit, and participates regularly in the agrifood innovation community across both countries. Her ability to translate academic and scientific insight into commercially actionable strategy for food and agriculture businesses makes her a valued contributor to the innovation conversation at the frontier of Australian and New Zealand food systems, particularly in the intersection of nutrition science, consumer trends, and sustainable production.

21. Dr Sophia Duan

Dr Sophia Duan is Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Research and Industry Engagement at La Trobe Business School, recognised among Australia's Top 25 Analytics Leaders in 2022 and as a finalist for AI Academic/Researcher of the Year at the 2025 Australian AI Awards. Her research focuses on responsible, human-centred AI adoption and digital transformation in agrifood, transport, retail, and public sectors, with particular attention to how AI innovation can support regenerative agriculture, strengthen supply chains, and advance climate resilience.

Duan has spoken at evokeAG on the application of AI to Australian agribusiness, focusing on how data-driven decision support tools can be co-designed with farmers and rural communities to generate value rather than extracting it. Her commitment to data sovereignty for rural and First Nations communities, and her focus on ethical AI adoption that serves people and places rather than merely optimising metrics, gives her perspective a dimension that purely technical voices often lack.

22. Will Evans

Will Evans was appointed CEO of Cattle Australia in July 2025, having previously served as CEO of the Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association and held positions in policy development with the former Cattle Council of Australia and the Northern Territory Live Exporters Association. Cattle Australia is the representative body for Australia's grass-fed cattle industry, and Evans brings extensive leadership, advocacy, and policy experience to the role at a pivotal moment for the sector.

Evans joined Cattle Australia when the grass-fed cattle sector is managing simultaneous pressures from record-high cattle prices, shifting production volumes, and growing sustainability certification requirements from major export markets including Japan, South Korea, China, and the United States. His background in the Northern Territory's live export industry, which has been through its own profound transformation, gives him a perspective on change management in agricultural advocacy that is particularly relevant to the challenges ahead.

23. Michael Crowley

Michael Crowley is the Managing Director of Meat and Livestock Australia, appointed in 2025 and previously CEO of Herefords Australia and a long-term executive in MLA's Research, Development and Adoption division. He brings deep knowledge of red meat industry dynamics, research and development funding models, and the export marketing infrastructure that positions Australian beef and lamb as premium products in markets across Asia, North America, and Europe.

MLA generated revenue of over $284 million in 2025 and manages research and marketing programs that touch every aspect of the Australian red meat industry from genetics and pasture management to retail presentation and export market development. Crowley's appointment brings hands-on seedstock and supply chain experience to the managing director role at a time when the beef sector is managing record cattle prices, shifting slaughter volumes, and growing sustainability certification demands from major export markets.

Category 4: Research, Science and Academic Leadership

The research community feeding Australia and New Zealand's agricultural systems with long-term knowledge is essential to the sector's future. These voices are not always the loudest in the room, but their work underpins the technical capacity for genuine transformation in production systems, environmental outcomes, and food quality. Engaging with their thinking is essential for anyone who wants to understand what agriculture can become, not just what it currently is.

24. Mark Allison

Mark Allison served as Managing Director and CEO of Elders from 2014, presiding over what was described as one of the most remarkable corporate turnarounds in Australian business history: taking the company from a market capitalisation of $50 million to a peak of $2.2 billion. Elders generated total revenue of over $3.2 billion in 2025 across livestock agency, farm supplies, real estate, and financial services, making it one of the most significant agribusiness service organisations in the country.

Allison received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Adelaide in 2023 for his lifelong contribution to agriculture and agribusiness. His four Elders Eight Point Plans transformed the company from a diversified conglomerate with significant debt into a pure-play agribusiness with a clear strategic identity. His tenure represents one of the most studied examples of long-term agribusiness strategy and disciplined execution in the sector's recent history.

25. Prof. Mark Howden

Professor Mark Howden is the Director of the ANU Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions and one of Australia's most cited scientists working at the intersection of climate change, food systems, and agricultural adaptation. He has made major contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment reports and is recognised internationally for his work on how agricultural systems can adapt to changing temperature and precipitation patterns while maintaining productivity.

Howden's research has direct relevance for Australian and New Zealand grain, livestock, and horticulture producers navigating the practical decisions of what to plant, where, and under what management system given a climate that is changing faster than most farm business models have planned for. His willingness to engage with practical farm management implications of climate science, rather than remaining purely at the policy level, makes him one of the most useful voices for agricultural practitioners.

26. Prof. Amy Cosby

Professor Amy Cosby is the Interim Director of the CQUniversity Institute for Future Farming Systems, a research centre focused on developing farm systems that are productive, profitable, and resilient under Australian conditions. She spoke at AgXchange Australia 2025, demonstrating her active engagement with both the research and industry communities that need to work together to translate future farming systems science into practical adoption on working farms.

Cosby's work spans the practical challenges of farm system redesign for different Australian environments, including the tropical and subtropical farming systems of Queensland that are often underrepresented in national agricultural research programs. Her focus on implementation, asking not only what could work but what will actually be adopted by farming families managing real enterprises under real financial and climate pressures, gives her research a practical dimension that is particularly valuable for extension workers and industry bodies.

27. Andrew Watene

Andrew Watene is a Director and Head of KPMG Propagate at KPMG New Zealand, with a background as Ngai Tuhoe and a focus on Maori agri-food systems and geopolitical dimensions of New Zealand's primary sector. He is part of the KPMG Agribusiness team alongside Ian Proudfoot and contributes to the Agribusiness Agenda with a perspective that integrates Maori land stewardship, indigenous food systems knowledge, and the policy frameworks shaping how New Zealand agriculture manages its relationship with its original inhabitants.

Watene's work reflects the growing importance of indigenous perspectives in New Zealand's agricultural policy conversation, where the Treaty relationship between the Crown and iwi has direct implications for land use, water rights, and the governance of natural resources that underpin farming. His role at KPMG positions him at the intersection of commercial strategy, cultural competency, and the policy frameworks that are redefining sustainable land management in New Zealand.

28. Dr Ros Harvey

Dr Ros Harvey is the co-founder of The Yield, an Australian agtech company now part of the Syngenta Group, that developed precision agriculture decision support tools using hyperlocal weather and environmental data to help growers make better planting, irrigation, spraying, and harvesting decisions. The Yield raised significant venture capital and became one of the most recognised examples of Australian agtech building commercially viable farm-scale intelligence tools from a base of deep scientific methodology applied to practical farm management challenges.

Harvey has been an influential voice in building Australia's agtech ecosystem, articulating a vision of data-driven agriculture that empowers growers with actionable decision support rather than simply generating more data to manage. Her journey from farm research background through technology entrepreneurship to strategic leadership in a global agricultural input company gives her an unusually complete perspective on the pathway from innovation to commercial adoption at genuine farm scale.

29. Sarah Nolet

Sarah Nolet is the co-founder of Tenacious Ventures, Australia's dedicated agrifood technology venture fund, and of AgThentic, a consulting firm that has advised dozens of agtech startups, agribusinesses, universities, and government agencies on food system innovation strategy. She also hosts the AgTech...So What? podcast, one of the most widely followed resources for agricultural technology innovation in Australia, which combines rigorous analysis with accessible storytelling for a broad practitioner audience.

Nolet holds a Masters in System Design and Management from MIT and has been a central figure in building Australia's early-stage agtech ecosystem, from advising individual startups through designing accelerator programs to contributing to national food systems strategy for industry bodies and government. Her ability to think across the full arc from technology invention to commercial adoption at farm scale, and to communicate that thinking for audiences who are not technical specialists, makes her one of the most valuable voices in Australian agricultural innovation.

30. Callum Taylor

Callum Taylor is the co-founder of AgX, an Australian agtech company that combines on-farm livestock management expertise with artificial intelligence to help farmers make better feeding, pasture, and animal health decisions under variable conditions. Taylor is a fifth-generation farmer from the Jamberoo dairy community who is also an engineering student at Harvard, representing the generation of agricultural entrepreneurs who combine deep practical farming knowledge with world-class technical education.

AgX is building tools specifically designed to help livestock farmers manage feed and pasture decisions during drought and dry periods, addressing one of the most costly and stressful management challenges in Australian grazing systems. Taylor's ability to translate the complexity of livestock nutrition into AI-driven decision support reflects the kind of founder profile that Australia's agtech ecosystem needs: people who have lived the problem they are solving, built their credibility through on-farm experience, and brought in the technical expertise to build a scalable solution.

Category 5: Food Systems, Exports and Industry Peak Bodies

The organisations and individuals managing Australia and New Zealand's relationships with global food markets are working at the intersection of commercial strategy, geopolitical risk, and supply chain complexity. Their decisions shape which markets Australian and New Zealand produce can access and at what terms, making them as consequential for farm economics as any production or technology decision.

31. Todd McClay

Todd McClay is New Zealand's Minister for Trade, Agriculture, and Forestry, and one of the most active ministerial voices on the economic potential of New Zealand's food and fibre sector. He announced at Fieldays in June 2025 that New Zealand's food and fibre exports were on track to break records, with the Ministry for Primary Industries' SOPI report subsequently confirming exports of $60.4 billion in the year to June 2025. He has set a target of reaching $106 billion by 2034, backed by an eight-pillar government growth strategy.

McClay's leadership of New Zealand's agricultural trade portfolio at a time of significant global trade disruption makes him one of the most consequential people in the sector's near-term economic trajectory. His willingness to set ambitious, quantified targets for primary sector growth and to publicly track progress against them brings a useful accountability to the policy discussion that is often absent in agricultural strategy documents that favour aspiration over measurement.

32. Nathan Hancock

Nathan Hancock is the CEO of Cotton Australia, the peak industry body representing Australian cotton growers, which produces one of Australia's most efficient and technologically sophisticated agricultural commodities. Australian cotton is an approximately A$3 billion export industry that has dramatically reduced its water and pesticide footprint over the past three decades, making it a global benchmark for resource efficiency in irrigated cotton production and a case study in how a high-value crop can meet rising sustainability expectations.

Hancock navigates the perpetual tension between advocating for the water access rights that cotton production requires and managing the sector's public positioning in an environment where water allocation debates are intensely contested in the Murray-Darling Basin. His leadership of Cotton Australia has maintained the sector's capacity to demonstrate its environmental performance credentials through the MyBMP best management practice certification program, which provides independent verification of sustainability claims to export market partners.

33. Stevi Lange

Stevi Lange is the CEO of Farmsafe Australia, the national body responsible for promoting farm health and safety across Australia's most hazardous working environment. Agriculture, fishing, and forestry consistently record among the highest occupational fatality rates of any sector in Australia, and Farmsafe's work to change the culture, the practices, and the regulatory environment around on-farm safety has genuine life-and-death consequences.

Lange led Farmsafe through a three-year rebranding and structural reform, modernising the organisation and redefining its position as a genuine advocacy body with real influence. She travels extensively across Australia listening to lived experiences of farmers and building the evidence base for practical policy interventions. Her integration of mental health, psychosocial risk, and physical safety into a holistic farm wellbeing framework represents the most current thinking in rural occupational health and worker protection.

34. Jamie Mackay

Jamie Mackay is one of New Zealand's most respected rural broadcasters and thought leaders, hosting The Country on radio for over three decades and building a platform that has made him a trusted interpreter of agricultural issues for both farm audiences and the general New Zealand public. His daily engagement with farmers, industry leaders, scientists, and politicians across New Zealand's primary sector gives him an insight into sentiment and emerging issues that no single research report can replicate.

Mackay's willingness to ask pointed questions of political leaders about agricultural policy, his commitment to presenting farming perspectives fairly and without apology, and his long institutional memory of New Zealand's agricultural cycles make him a distinctive voice in the sector's public discourse. His platform reaches farming families who engage with few other forms of agricultural thought leadership, making him a critical node in the information network that shapes how New Zealand's primary sector understands itself.

35. David Harris

David Harris is the CEO of the Australian Agricultural Company, Australia's largest beef cattle company with more than 400,000 head of cattle and 7.2 million hectares across northern Australia. AACo's operations span station management, feedlotting, processing, and branded beef marketing under the Westholme and other premium brands, making it one of the most vertically integrated beef enterprises in the country.

Harris spoke at evokeAG 2025 as a representative of large-scale pastoral enterprise management at a time when the sector is navigating the intersection of premium market development, biosecurity management, and climate adaptation. His strategy for AACo explicitly positions it around premium branded beef and high-value export market development, making him a central voice in the conversation about how Australian beef builds long-term price premiums in Asian and domestic markets that justify the investment premium enterprises require.

36. Cynthia Mahoney

Cynthia Mahoney specialises in leadership workshops and coaching for agriculture, rural, and regional Australia, and is the author of Cultivate: How Neuroscience and Well-being Support Rural Leaders to Thrive, a book that draws on neuroscience research to address the unique pressures facing agricultural leaders. Her practice addresses isolation, drought stress, multi-generational family business dynamics, and the physical and psychological demands of farm life in ways that generic leadership development programs do not.

Mahoney's work fills a genuine gap in the agricultural leadership development landscape. The particular stressors of farm leadership, including isolation, climate risk, financial pressure, and the blurring of work and family life, require frameworks that understand the context, not just the leadership principles. Her focus on sustainable high performance for people who manage enterprises in genuinely difficult environments makes her one of the most practically relevant voices in rural leadership development.

37. Adam Fennessy PSM

Adam Fennessy PSM was appointed Secretary of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water in Australia, making him one of the most senior public servants at the intersection of agricultural sustainability, water policy, and climate commitments. His department's work directly shapes the environmental framework within which Australian agriculture operates, including the design of nature repair markets, the management of the Murray-Darling Basin, and the carbon farming policy that determines whether on-farm sequestration can generate revenue for producers.

Fennessy spoke at evokeAG 2025, demonstrating his active engagement with the agricultural innovation community's thinking about sustainable production systems. His presence at the sector's leading innovation event reflects an understanding that environmental policy frameworks need to be grounded in the practical realities of farm business management, not developed in isolation from the people who will be expected to implement them across diverse farming systems and regions.

Category 6: Investment, Finance and Agribusiness Strategy

The capital flowing into Australian and New Zealand agriculture is reshaping the sector's ownership structure, its sustainability practices, and its capacity to invest in technology. The people managing that capital and advising on its deployment are shaping the sector's future as much as any policy or research program, making the investment community's engagement with agricultural challenges central to the sector's transformation.

38. Ian Proudfoot

Ian Proudfoot is the Global Head of Agribusiness at KPMG New Zealand and has been the lead author of the KPMG Agribusiness Agenda since 2010, making it one of the most continuously sustained thought leadership publications in the Australasian primary sector. Now in its sixteenth year, the Agenda draws on insights from almost 200 industry leaders annually and is used by senior decision-makers to understand the priorities and pressures shaping New Zealand's food and fibre economy.

Proudfoot has been appointed to multiple Ministerial advisory groups on the food and fibre sector and led the secretariat of the Mana Kai Initiative, a major cross-sector project exploring the foundations for a resilient and inclusive New Zealand food system. He joined the board of the New Zealand Food Network in September 2025. His sustained engagement across governance, strategy, and policy over more than three decades gives him one of the deepest integrated perspectives on New Zealand agribusiness of anyone currently active in the sector.

39. David Hegarty

David Hegarty is a Portfolio Manager at Warakirri Asset Management, one of Australia's leading agricultural investment managers with diversified agriculture portfolios across Australian farmland. He represented Warakirri at the AGIS Summit 2025, Australia's dedicated summit at the intersection of agriculture, investment, and sustainability, and is actively engaged in the conversation about how institutional capital can be deployed into Australian agriculture to generate both financial returns and sustainability outcomes.

Warakirri's approach to agricultural investment reflects a broader shift in how institutional capital thinks about farmland: not purely as a commodity asset but as an asset class where sustainability management, technology adoption, and long-term soil health are integral to return generation. Hegarty's engagement in this evolving conversation makes him an important voice in the Australian agricultural investment community as the sector navigates the transition from conventional to more sustainable production systems.

40. Mike Casey

Mike Casey is the CEO of Rewiring Aotearoa, a New Zealand organisation building the case and the roadmap for a fully electric farm. He was featured at evokeAG 2025 as the leader of what was described as the world's first fully electric farm, positioned as a demonstration project for what farm energy transition can look like at a practical operational level rather than as a theoretical aspiration or a marketing claim.

Casey's work sits at the intersection of energy systems, agricultural operations, and the climate commitments that are reshaping how New Zealand's primary sector is evaluated by international markets. His ability to move from the conceptual to the demonstrably operational makes Rewiring Aotearoa's work particularly valuable for an industry that is tired of hearing what should theoretically be possible and is looking for examples of what has actually been achieved in working farm conditions.

41. Bindi Turner

Bindi Turner is the Head of Portfolio and Investment Management at Impact Ag Australia, overseeing investment into regenerative agriculture and natural capital development across a portfolio of over 250,000 hectares under management. She has written and spoken extensively on why sophisticated capital is moving decisively toward ecosystem regeneration, framing natural systems as critical economic infrastructure whose degradation creates investment risk and whose restoration drives long-term value.

Turner's work in unpacking the financial logic of regenerative agriculture investment, going beyond the narrative to explain the mechanisms by which improved soil health, reduced input costs, and diversified revenue from carbon, biodiversity, and water markets translate into improved farm economics, has made her a distinctive voice in the Australian agricultural investment community. Her combination of portfolio management expertise and clear public communication about natural capital accounting is genuinely rare in the sector.

42. Tony Mahar

Tony Mahar served as CEO of the National Farmers' Federation for almost nine years before stepping down in December 2024 to become Australia's Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner, an independent statutory role reporting to the Minister for Climate and Energy. His near-decade at the NFF helm made him one of the most significant figures in Australian agricultural advocacy, overseeing the development of the NFF's 2030 Blueprint for Australian Agriculture and navigating the sector through complex negotiations on water, carbon, biosecurity, and market access.

Mahar's transition to the Energy Infrastructure Commissioner role reflects the growing significance of energy infrastructure for regional and agricultural Australia, where the transition to renewable energy creates both challenges for the reliability of farm power supply and significant opportunities for landholders as hosts of wind, solar, and grid infrastructure. His deep agricultural background gives him a perspective on that transition that is grounded in the practical realities of rural business management.

Category 7: Rural Communities, Next Generation Leadership and Wellbeing

Agriculture is ultimately a human enterprise. The voices working on who gets to participate in the sector, how next-generation leaders are developed, and what support structures exist for farming communities are addressing questions that are as consequential as any technology or policy debate. Without a strong pipeline of capable, committed people, the most sophisticated technology and the most well-designed policy will fall short.

43. Caitlin Crowe

Caitlin Crowe is a Head of Department for Agriculture, Technologies and the Arts at St George State High School in Queensland, and a 2026 Zanda McDonald Award finalist, Australasia's most prestigious recognition for emerging agricultural leaders. At 27 years old, she represents the next generation of agricultural educators who are building the pipeline of talent the sector needs, young people who understand not just the science and business of farming but the why that will attract the next generation to commit their careers to the land.

Her work in agricultural education in a regional Queensland community that is directly shaped by the health of the agricultural sector reflects the critical importance of high-quality agricultural education in maintaining the sector's talent pipeline. Her recognition as a Zanda McDonald Award finalist acknowledges both her professional achievement and her potential to be a significant voice in Australian agricultural education and community leadership over the coming decades.

44. Dr Lynne Macdonald

Dr Lynne Macdonald is a soil scientist at CSIRO who currently leads the Grains Research and Development Corporation's low-emissions initiative, working to help Australian grain producers reduce their emissions footprint while maintaining the productivity that defines the economic viability of their businesses. She blends soil science expertise with farming systems approaches to build practical tools that translate scientific findings into decisions grain farmers can actually make within their real enterprise constraints.

Macdonald spoke at the Agricultural Sustainability Australia Exchange in September 2025, demonstrating her active engagement with the broad sustainability community beyond the grains sector. Her focus on converting complex soil science data into practical tools for farmers, rather than producing knowledge that remains within the research community, reflects the critical importance of extension capacity in realising the potential of Australia's agricultural research investment and bridging the gap between science and paddock.

45. Andrew Watene

Ben Bennett is the President of Australian Dairy Farmers and Chair of the Australian Dairy Industry Council, the peak governance bodies for dairy farmer representation in Australia. A Victorian dairy farmer with over 30 years of agricultural experience, Bennett advocates for farmers and processors in policy, trade, and sustainability forums, representing a sector that generates over $14 billion in gross farm gate value and exports dairy products to markets across Asia, the Middle East, and beyond.

Bennett's leadership of Australian Dairy Farmers at a time when the sector is navigating rising input costs, climate variability in key dairy regions, and the sustainability certification demands of export markets requires both commercial understanding and policy sophistication. His commitment to evidence-based reform and regional resilience reflects the kind of grounded, practical leadership that agricultural advocacy at its best requires, and his presence on the NFF Board strengthens coordination across the sector.

46. Andrew Norris

Andrew Norris is the CEO of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation, the national organisation responsible for building leadership capacity across Australia's rural, regional, and agricultural communities. The ARLF's programs develop leaders from farming, agribusiness, rural communities, and government through structured experiences that build the skills and networks needed to address complex challenges in regional Australia, including the agricultural challenges that are reshaping communities and industries.

The ARLF's alumni network spans every sector of Australian agricultural and rural life, and Norris's leadership of the foundation positions him as a connector of talent and a builder of the social capital that is essential to collective agricultural progress. If the sector is going to navigate the complexity ahead, it needs leaders at every level who have been intentionally developed. His organisation does that work across the length and breadth of rural Australia. Bring Jonno White in to complement your organisation's leadership development journey. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

47. Patti Chiu

Patti Chiu is a Partner at Silverstrand Capital, an Asian-focused venture capital firm that invests in food, agriculture, and sustainability ventures, and participates as an investment committee member for Beanstalk AgTech's Drought Venture Studio in Australia. Her perspective bridges the Australian agtech ecosystem and the Asian capital and food market environment, making her a distinctive voice in the conversation about how Australian agricultural innovation reaches international markets and scales commercially.

Chiu's involvement in the Drought Venture Studio, which supports early-stage innovators building solutions to prepare Australian farmers for drought conditions, reflects increasing international investment interest in Australian agricultural resilience technology. Her network across Asian capital markets and food companies provides Australian agtech founders with market access and capital connections that would be difficult to develop independently, accelerating commercialisation pathways for innovations that address genuine farm-level needs.

48. David Angus

David Angus is the General Manager of Signature Beef in Central Queensland and a 2026 Zanda McDonald Award finalist, selected at 24 years old as one of the five most outstanding emerging agricultural leaders in Australia for that year. His inclusion on the Zanda McDonald shortlist reflects the depth of talent entering the agricultural sector from a new generation that combines traditional farming knowledge with formal business education and a commitment to sustainable enterprise.

Angus represents the kind of next-generation agricultural leadership that the sector's long-term performance depends on: young people with the commercial skills to manage complex agribusinesses, the environmental awareness to navigate sustainability requirements, and the connection to farming communities that keeps their leadership grounded in the practical reality of what producers actually need. His emergence as a recognised leader while still in his mid-twenties positions him as a voice worth following over the coming decades.

Notable Voices We Almost Included

Several voices were seriously considered for this list and deserve recognition. Roger Fletcher, Executive Chair of Fletcher International Exports, has been a powerful voice in the Australian sheep meat and wool industry for decades. Emma Germano, a Victorian mixed farmer and policy advocate, has built a strong platform on farm family business sustainability and succession. Dr Jackie Newby at CSIRO has contributed important work on pollinator health and agricultural biodiversity. Voices like these, along with Nuffield scholars, rural journalists, and the many extension officers doing consequential work in less visible roles, represent the deep talent across the sector.

Some well-known names across Australian and New Zealand agriculture with significant household recognition were deliberately moved past in favour of voices whose contributions deserve wider attention. The purpose of this list is discovery as much as confirmation, and the most valuable investment a reader can make is in finding the voices they had not previously encountered and engaging seriously with what those voices have to say about the future of the sector.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Following Agricultural Thought Leaders

The first mistake is confusing media presence with genuine expertise. Agricultural media in both Australia and New Zealand has become increasingly social, and it is easy to mistake volume of output for depth of insight. The people with the most important things to say are not always the most prolific posters. When assessing a voice, ask what evidence underlies the claim, not just how confidently it is stated.

The second mistake is treating any single discipline as the complete picture. Agricultural change is systemic: a technology solution that ignores farmer adoption behaviour will fail. A sustainability framework that ignores farm economics will not be adopted. A policy position that ignores the science will create unintended consequences. The most valuable thought leaders are those who have been humbled by the complexity and have developed the habit of seeking out the perspectives they do not already hold.

The third mistake is ignoring geography. Australia and New Zealand farm in different policy environments, different climatic conditions, and different market relationships with the rest of the world. What works in New Zealand's relatively small, intensively farmed landscape does not automatically translate to the vast, extensive pastoral systems of northern Australia. Voices that acknowledge this geographic specificity are more reliable than those who speak about agriculture as if it were a single thing.

The fourth mistake is dismissing practitioner voices in favour of academic or policy voices, or vice versa. The evidence base for better farming comes from research, but the implementation capacity comes from experienced practitioners. The most powerful contributions often come from people who move fluently between both registers. The fifth mistake is following only the optimistic voices. Agriculture in Australia and New Zealand faces genuinely difficult challenges, and the thought leaders worth following are those who engage honestly with the difficulty alongside the opportunity.

Implementation Guide: Building Your Agricultural Thought Leadership Diet

Start by identifying which part of the agricultural challenge you most need to understand. If you are a farm business owner or manager, your most urgent reading is probably in the sustainability transition, climate adaptation, and technology adoption categories. If you are an agribusiness executive, the investment, market access, and policy voices are most relevant. If you are in agricultural education or research, the next-generation leadership and digital agriculture thinkers deserve your attention first.

Follow these forty-eight people across their most active channels. Several publish regular newsletters or podcasts, including Ian Proudfoot's KPMG Agribusiness Agenda, Oli Le Lievre's Humans of Agriculture platform, and Sarah Nolet's AgTech...So What? podcast. These are among the best sustained resources for current thinking across the sector and represent a practical starting point for building a regular reading and listening practice that keeps you connected to the frontier of agricultural thinking.

Attend the events where these voices converge. AgriFutures evokeAG, held annually in Brisbane, brings together AgTech innovators, sustainability leaders, and farm practitioners in a format that is more intellectually generous than most industry conferences. AgXchange Australia, the NFF's new flagship conference, is building a similar role for policy and industry advocacy. In New Zealand, E Tipu and the Fieldays conference at Mystery Creek in Hamilton are the key annual gathering points for the most important thinking in the primary sector.

Look for the connections between the voices on this list. Hugh Killen and Bindi Turner at Impact Ag Australia are thinking about agricultural investment in ways that connect directly with what David Hegarty at Warakirri is doing with institutional capital. Kylie Frazer at Flying Fox Ventures is funding the kind of startups that Sarah Nolet at Tenacious Ventures and AgThentic is accelerating and advising. The richest insight comes from understanding how these voices connect, not just from following each in isolation.

For agricultural organisations looking to develop the leadership culture and team alignment needed to implement the innovations these voices are describing, Jonno White offers Working Genius facilitation, DISC workshops, executive team offsites, and keynote presentations. Jonno is the bestselling author of Step Up or Step Out, which has sold over 10,000 copies globally, and the host of The Leadership Conversations Podcast, which has produced over 230 episodes reaching listeners in 150 countries. International travel is often far more affordable than clients expect, and many organisations find that flying Jonno in costs less than engaging high-profile local providers. Email jonno@consultclarity.org or visit consultclarity.org.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who are the most influential agricultural thought leaders in Australia and New Zealand?

The most influential voices depend on which part of the agricultural system matters most to you. For farm policy and advocacy, Hamish McIntyre, Fiona Simson, and Wayne Langford are among the most consequential. For sustainability and regenerative agriculture, Hugh Killen and Melinee Leather are building genuinely new thinking at commercial scale. For AgTech and innovation, Olympia Yarger and Kylie Frazer are at the frontier of what is commercially possible. Ian Proudfoot at KPMG New Zealand has produced the most sustained and comprehensive strategic analysis of the New Zealand primary sector of anyone currently active.

How was this list compiled?

Every person on this list was selected on three criteria: documented contribution to their field supported by primary sources; active engagement in public discourse that extends beyond their organisation's immediate stakeholder base; and a deliberate focus on including voices the reader may not yet have encountered alongside established leaders. The list spans both Australia and New Zealand and includes perspectives from farming, research, investment, advocacy, and innovation across a range of disciplines and geographies.

What is the difference between AgTech and agricultural innovation?

AgTech refers specifically to technology solutions applied to agricultural problems, including robotics, precision agriculture software, sensor systems, and data analytics platforms. Agricultural innovation is a broader category that includes AgTech but also encompasses new business models, new management practices, new supply chain structures, and new approaches to the relationships between farmers, investors, consumers, and communities. The most transformative changes in agriculture usually combine technological possibility with business model innovation and management practice change.

Can I hire someone to facilitate leadership development workshops or team sessions for my agribusiness organisation?

Yes. Jonno White is a Certified Working Genius Facilitator, Certified DISC trainer, and the bestselling author of Step Up or Step Out, with experience facilitating executive team offsites, leadership workshops, and keynote presentations for agricultural organisations including at the ASBA 2025 National Conference, where he achieved a 93.75% satisfaction rating. His Working Genius facilitation helps agricultural teams understand how their individual members' working styles contribute to or detract from collective performance. Whether your organisation needs a half-day workshop, a multi-day executive offsite, or a conference keynote, email jonno@consultclarity.org.

What are the biggest challenges facing agricultural leadership in Australia and New Zealand right now?

Three challenges stand out. First, the sustainability transition: both sectors are under growing pressure to demonstrate verifiable environmental performance, and the leadership task of managing that transition without sacrificing farm business viability is genuinely complex. Second, technology adoption: the gap between what AgTech can do and what farm businesses are actually using it for remains substantial, and closing it requires cultural as much as technical change. Third, leadership succession: as the average age of farm owners increases, maintaining the sector's human leadership quality is a pressing concern.

Which resources are best for following developments in Australian and New Zealand agriculture?

Among regularly published resources, the KPMG Agribusiness Agenda provides the most comprehensive annual analysis of the New Zealand primary sector. The ABARES Agricultural Commodities Reports provide the most reliable quantitative picture of Australian agricultural production and trade. The AgriFutures growAG platform and evokeAG program provide the best window into agricultural innovation. The Humans of Agriculture platform and Nuffield scholar reports provide the most practitioner-grounded perspectives.

Final Thoughts

The forty-eight voices on this list represent a fraction of the talent, dedication, and intellectual energy being applied to the future of agriculture in Australia and New Zealand. What they have in common is not a single worldview or a single discipline, but a shared willingness to engage seriously with the complexity of building food and fibre systems that are productive, profitable, sustainable, and fair.

The conversations they are having, about how to mobilise capital for regenerative agriculture, how to build agricultural technology that actually gets adopted, how to develop the next generation of rural leaders, and how to navigate the politics of sustainability commitments without undermining the viability of the farming families expected to deliver them, are among the most consequential conversations in two nations whose economic health, regional communities, and environmental futures are deeply tied to what happens on the farm.

If you work in or around agriculture in Australia or New Zealand, engaging with these voices is not optional background reading. It is professional necessity. The field is moving too fast, and the stakes are too high, for anyone to rely on the assumptions and frameworks they arrived with.

For organisations navigating these challenges, Jonno White delivers practical, engaging leadership experiences that help teams have better conversations and make stronger decisions. Jonno is the author of Step Up or Step Out, available at amazon.com.au, and has been trusted by organisations across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, USA, Singapore, Canada, and India. Whether virtual or face to face, reach out to jonno@consultclarity.org.

For more insights on building high-performing teams, read our blog post "50 Top Leadership Consultants for Agribusiness (2026)".

About the Author

Jonno White is a Certified Working Genius Facilitator, bestselling author, and leadership consultant who has worked with schools, corporates, and nonprofits around the world. His book Step Up or Step Out has sold over 10,000 copies globally, and his podcast The Leadership Conversations has featured 230+ episodes reaching listeners in 150+ countries. Jonno founded The 7 Questions Movement with 6,000+ participating leaders and achieved a 93.75% satisfaction rating for his Working Genius masterclass at the ASBA 2025 National Conference. Based in Brisbane, Australia, Jonno works globally and regularly travels for speaking and facilitation engagements. Organisations consistently find that international travel is far more affordable than expected.

To book Jonno for your next keynote, workshop, or facilitation session, email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Next Read

For our complete guide to the best leadership consultants serving the agribusiness sector globally, read "50 Top Leadership Consultants for Agribusiness (2026)". That blog profiles the organisations and individuals helping agricultural businesses build leadership capacity, improve team performance, and navigate strategic change.