Nuffield Scholarship opens global opportunities

Landpro Ltd executive director Kate Scott, of Bannockburn, was awarded a Nuffield scholarship earlier this month. Photo: Supplied

Kate Scott, of Bannockburn was delighted when she was named as one of five Nuffield scholars at Parliament earlier this month.
However, the difficult part was keeping it quiet for a couple of weeks beforehand.

The even harder part will be leaving her family: husband Scott Levings, and their sons, George (7), Ted (3) and Henry (20 months) behind when she travels to the Netherlands for an eight-to-10 day global farming conference in March.

She will meet other scholars there and that will be followed by a six- or eight-week tour of another five or six countries to look at different farming systems and technologies.

''Leaving my three boys will be a challenge but I am only going to be away from them for eight weeks.''

Ms Scott is executive director of Landpro Limited, a planning and surveying company she jointly founded in 2007.

''I had thought about applying for a few years,'' Ms Scott said.

Her proposal for the scholarship application included looking at ways for New Zealand to reduce its agri-enviro footprint, and benchmarking its environmental performance with the rest of the world.

''I want to look at how we might utilise or combine both technology and policy for regulatory outcomes.

''It is an area of interest to me.''

Later next year she will spend another eight to 10 weeks overseas visiting countries and talking to experts and scientists.

She hopes to include Europe and America in her itinerary and explore environmental policy and new technologies such as nutrient sensors or mapping tools that could have applications for New Zealand.

''I am interested in exploring that and also comparing other agricultural nations that are heavily subsidised, with New Zealand, which is not.''

Although she will be on her own for the first trip, she is thinking of taking the family with her for the second.

She said she was excited to be given the opportunity through the scholarship programme.

Southern Rural Life