Conference 2023

The taranaki branch was proud to host the 65th annual Groundspread conference

Navigating Change

Sunday 2nd July to Tuesday 4th 2023 at The Devon Hotel and Conference Centre

The 65th Annual Groundspread Conference “Navigating Change” held this year in New Plymouth and hosted by the Awesome Taranaki Branch Team, they did a fantastic job to organize this great 3-day event with a small branch and committee, Well done team, you rocked it 😊

There was some great speakers, panel presentations and business workshops over the 3 days, some to mention below were:

  • Nigel Latta- Spoke about scammers and moving forward in the chaos. He touched base on strategy only working when a good culture is established; making the team feel good and appreciated has greater outcomes.
  • Rt Hon Sir Bill English – Spoke about Precision
  • Kane Barrett – Spoke about his Rugby Career and life after Rugby
  • Dame Catherine Healy – Spoke about the work done to decriminalize prostitution which was achieved in 2003 and how NZ is at the forefront of rights for the Sex Worker Industry.
  • Barbara Kuriger MP for National – Spoke about the environment and the economy. She is a great advocate for the Groundspreading Industry.
  • Our very own Groundspread NZ EO Rose Hyslop – Spoke on her participation in the prestigious Kellogg rural leaders programme, as an industry always actively seeking opportunities to do better and be part of change. Great job to all the panel that came to support Rose and answer questions from the members. This exceptional panel included Nick Hyslop (Groundspread NZ), Kylie Stenton (Groundspread NZ), Allister Holmes (Lincoln Agritech), Graeme Martin (Groundspread NZ), Tony Michelle (NZAAA), Ant Boyles (Ravensdown) and Jonny Reay (Ballance).
  • Jonny Reay Ballance – Spoke about Ballance , their mission – Care/Trust/Value /Safety and how they will get there.
  • Andy Anderson and Debra Long -Waka Kotahi – Spoke about Compliance Assessments and a breakdown of how the initial  assessments are done. They also took questions from the floor, some questions couldn’t be answered e.g question on LT400s , Andy wrote down the questions and said he would do a follow up and find out the answers and get the answers back to Groundspread NZ.
  • Alfons Reitsma and Darek Koper – Scania The insight of Hydrogen and Electric. A great discussion was had on this and what the future will look like in regards to Electrification and Hydrogen in heavy motor Vehicles, Scania are working on this, working on making batteries last longer but also watching the weight balance on a truck.

    A few Implications for Heavy Vehicles were discussed, expect some challenges in the early stage of transition pathways, roadblocks are being removed, hydrogen vehicles are lighter then electric, the technology is ready, need greater access to hydrogen (this is increasing).

  • Panel Presentations – Taranaki Reginal Council changes ahead for the Agriculture sector/ NZI- Lumley – Fleet risk & Fit for duty /Parininihi Ki Waitotara speaking on their history, Diversity & Direction.

Workshops:
Environmental Compliance (kindly sponsored by Ravensdown)
Answered attendees questions about N caps and changes to legislation. Facilitated by Anna Wilkes and Rangi Holland (Ravensdown) who joined us in Wellington last year, this workshop extended that conversation and helped keep attendees up to date with implementation of new legislation impacting our industry and rural communities.
Everchanging Realities of Employment (kindly sponsored by Ballance)
This workshop was facilitated by Max Whitehead (Whitehead Group) and focused on the everchanging HR environment in which we operate. It gave attendees a greater understanding of to ‘do’s ‘and ‘do not’s’ when dealing with teams and generated loads of conversation.
Wellbeing – Supporting our People (kindly sponsored by Graymont)
A focus on looking after your people was the foundation of this workshop. Facilitated by Marcia Paurini from Rural Support, this workshop helped fill the toolkit of attendees to be better able to support themselves, their families, and their workmates.

A heartfelt THANK YOU to our generous sponsors of the 2023 Groundspread Conference....