Should soil health be our #1 sustainability goal?
Richard has more than 25 years’ experience across orchard management, industry extension, consulting, and governance in New Zealand’s horticulture sector.
He completed an eight-year tenure as Regional Manager for Ngāi Tukairangi Trust in Hawke’s Bay, leading high value kiwifruit and pipfruit orchards through significant productivity and profitability gains, improved business resilience, and guided the transition to regenerative practices while maintaining strong commercial performance. Earlier roles with Zespri and AgFirst focused on orchard productivity, grower extension, and applied research, translating science and data into practical decision making at scale.
Richard is a Trustee of the Hawke’s Bay Future Farming Trust and operates Boost Horticulture, where regenerative practices are applied and tested in a commercial kiwifruit system, strengthening his focus on soils, and long-term orchard resilience.
Session synopsis:
Soil health is widely recognised as important, yet it is rarely treated as a primary measure of sustainability. Drawing on his Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme research, Richard explores why soil health continues to sit on the periphery of decision‑making, despite being central to long‑term orchard and farm performance.
Based on interviews with growers, researchers, industry bodies, and policy stakeholders, this session examines the key barriers limiting progress – including knowledge gaps, mindset, short‑term business pressures, and weak links between science, extension, and on‑orchard/farm practice.
Richard will discuss how soil health is currently measured (and mis‑measured), why growers often struggle to quantify benefits, and where low‑risk opportunities exist to improve soil function without compromising productivity.
The session focuses on practical insights from applied research and commercial experience, highlighting why healthy soils underpin resilience, profitability, and future‑proofing modern growing systems.
