Statement of Corporate Intent (2011-2016)

Foreword

This is a guiding document setting out how we, in AgResearch, will respond to the needs of the pastoral sector and related food and textile industry stakeholders. This includes how we will work with such stakeholders to create tangible and valuable benefits. The document further states what we will do, how we will do it and how our contribution will be measured such that it will inspire confidence that our institute is making a real
difference to the economic, environmental and social well-being of our country and its most important export sector.

We have not created this document in isolation. What is presented is the culmination of more than nine months of concerted effort with our sector by management and staff, including numerous staff workshops, with guidance by the Board. The process began in 2010 in response to the timely Crown Research Institute (CRI) Taskforce recommendations and led to a determined effort to build more enduring relationships with key stakeholders. This initiative then gave rise to more than 40 executive-level meetings with pastoral sector stakeholders, including Maori and central and regional Government as well as processors and industry bodies. This series of conversations focused on gaining shared understanding of the priorities and needs of stakeholders and, from that, developing shared goals to deliver to those needs. We were pleased with how well these discussions went and have been heartened by feedback that affirmed the need for AgResearch’s thought leadership, particularly in carrying out strategic research. It was further recognised that AgResearch has a significant role to play in helping bring together the various sector players who are active and
investing in R&D, to ensure that our collective efforts add up to a healthy innovation pipeline. The important role AgResearch plays in providing independence and objectivity to help to bridge areas where there are multiple parties with differing drivers (e.g. environmental policy) was also noted. In short, the clear alignment of our strategic goals with those of our core sector provides the joint ownership needed to create the outcomes for New Zealand that we seek.

This strategy is not business as usual for AgResearch. For us, it represents a significant change from the past in how we will work. Within AgResearch, we are moving to a partnership-based business model (and operating structure), while externally we are looking at how best to work with our stakeholders towards long-term impacts. Transitioning AgResearch to this new model will require time,
but we are committed to the journey. One of AgResearch’s opportunities in this move is to use Core Funding to effectively support our strategy and deliver value to our core sector. This gives us the opportunity to show leadership by investing in emerging science (science-push), as well as responding to stakeholder needs (market-pull). Importantly, Core Funding enables AgResearch to become
a true and reliable partner and co-investor with industry, Mãori and Government. Through this leveraging and the partnerships it enables, this will contribute significantly to achieving stability and long-term business sustainability.

Business sustainability is the challenge we all face in this economic downturn and time of fiscal constraint. Limited resources, capability and infrastructure mean that we have had to make, and will continue to confront, hard choices about what we cannot do and what we will need to divest in over time, freeing resources to be redeployed elsewhere to most effectively deliver to our Core
Purpose. During this five-year plan, such redeployment is fundamental to achieving our strategy.

So, we invite you to join us in the start of a new future for AgResearch. If we were to sum up our vision of this future in a single word, it would be “interdependency”. We – our partners, stakeholders, management and staff – must work together to make the difference for all New Zealand to grow the pastoral and related sectors in a sustainable way to underpin the economic prosperity of New Zealand.

Sam Robinson
Chair, AgResearch

Dr Tom Richardson
Chief Executive, AgResearch

Download the full document (PDF, 13MB)