News
QCONZ Staff Conference 2023
Date: 9 June 2023
In June, the QCONZ team gathered in Hamilton for our biennial staff conference. We had a great time bringing our team together from all corners of New Zealand to celebrate, connect, and have fun!
Day one of the conference kicked off with a business update and group sessions where each business unit shared recent work and work in progress. We filled the afternoon with a fun and interactive team building activity, ‘building bridges’ facilitated by Clued-Up. In the evening, over a top-notch buffet style dinner, the team shared many laughs listening to stand-up comedian, Nick Rado.
Day two comprised of guest speakers from industry stakeholders. This provided great context for staff—setting the scene and future focus. The conference concluded with Mark Neal, our Acting Chair, introducing our Board, followed by a question-and-answer session.
We’re re-energised and rearing to go for next season. A big thank you to our guest speakers and the team at Clued-Up who helped make the conference a great success.
Other news
In late October Chris Leach led an MPI dairy development training programme for farmers and extension officers in Pak Chong, Thailand. Pak Chong is the central region of Thailand, approximately a 2 ½ hour drive north of Bangkok, and is at the centre of the developing Thai Dairy Industry.
We were thrilled to be a major sponsor of the New Zealand Association of Resource Management (NZARM) conference held in Christchurch in October.
We flew the QCONZ flag again this year at the annual Red Meat Sector Conference, jointly hosted by the Meat Industry Association and Beef + Lamb New Zealand Ltd.
As of 1 October, the QCONZ team will be delivering audits for the New Zealand Farm Assurance Programme (NZFAP). We have been working hard behind the scenes to get systems and processes in place, and from August farmers can expect to start hearing from us regarding audit bookings.
QCONZ proudly sponsored the Milk Quality Conference in Hamilton on the 4th and 5th July. Attended by 125, this was a great opportunity for engagement and collaboration between industry and service providers in the Dairy sector.
QCONZ was proud to be a sponsor of the recent Central Plateau and BOP Dairy Industry Awards, where we celebrated the successes of local farmers and connected with future industry leaders.
The Team at QCONZ is very proud, and excited, to announce that we’ve been chosen by New Zealand Farm Assurance Incorporated (NZFAI) and their Members to deliver audits and associated services for their programmes from 1 October 2023.
QCONZ has joined forces with DairyNZ to help deliver their ‘on-farm survey of workforce productivity.’ Our team will visit approximately 150 farms nationwide conducting a 60–90-minute survey with farm owners and managers by March 2023.
A big thumbs up to the organisers of the 2022 ITENZ conference which provided a great networking and learning opportunity for Tertiary Providers. This conference themes of courage, collaboration, capability, and creativity reflected the changing times and the new opportunities for the education sector.
In August, 9 of our QCONZ team members attended a 5-day, hands-on, self-paced ‘NZMPTA ‘ISO Milking Machine Testing’ course workshop covering 11 theoretical and practical modules.