In this edition:
New Fund Manager Appointed
We are pleased to announce that Dr Craig Grant has been
appointed as Manager of the Sustainable Farming Fund. Craig
will be taking up this role in late July when he returns from
the UK. In the meantime Helen Percy will continue as Acting
Manager.
By way of introduction, Craig has sent us all the following
information about himself:
Dear all,
I am delighted to have the opportunity to take up the role
of managing the Sustainable Farming Fund and am looking
forward to soon being back in New Zealand after a two year
stint in the UK.
I hope I'll get the chance to meet many of you in person in
the near future, however, in the meantime here is a summary of
my professional background.
I have always been closely involved with New Zealand's
primary industries. After my postgraduate studies into
nitrogen metabolism in legumes at Otago University, I worked
for the Foundation for Research, Science & Technology setting
research priorities and managing funding into NZ's Food &
Fibre and biotechnology sectors. This also included a
secondment to the New Zealand Forest Industries Council to
develop a research strategy for the forestry and farm forestry
sectors.
I then joined MeatNZ as part of their R&D team. Our focus
was on developing and transferring new knowledge and
technologies to farmers and processors. After this, I worked
as an independent consultant and as an adviser within the New
Zealand Tertiary Education Commission's Strategy Team. A key
aspect of this role was working with sector groups to better
align future skills and training needs.
I am currently working at the University of Surrey, leading
a 'Knowledge Sharing' team that acts to encourage university
staff and students to work more closely with business. In
addition, we help companies identify and access the
specialised expertise they require.
I am keen to learn more about you and the projects you may
be working on, or planning, when our paths cross in the near
future. In the meantime, I hope the winter is a kind one, and
look forward to meeting you soon as part of the MAF SFF team.
All the best,
Craig Grant
Update on current funding round
Twenty-three new projects receiving SFF funding of $20,000
or less have been approved, and are currently being
contracted. As usual, we have a wide range of topics in this
category: many dealing with regional issues, new crops and
emerging technology.
Click here to view the projects funded in the under
$20,000 category (subject to contract negotiation).
Sixty-two applicants for funding of over $20,000 were asked
to provide more detailed proposals for the Phase 2 round.
These full proposals have now been received and will be
assessed by an external panel. The results will be available
in late June.
The SFF held four workshops in April to help new applicants
prepare their Phase 2 applications. At the workshops, Ian
Brown and Ron Sutherland (independent reviewers for the SFF
validation process) gave presentations on project management.
They emphasised the importance of setting good milestones and
budgeting.
We would also like to thank the four project managers who
spoke on their "real life" experiences of managing an SFF
project team.
For those of you who missed the workshop, copies of the
workshop presentations are available from the SFF website by
clicking here.
These presentations are in powerpoint format, so if you have
problems downloading them, please contact
Amanda Hall (phone
0800 100 087) for hard copies.
SFF logo, branding and
acknowledgement
A reminder to use the SFF logo (click
here to download) on all written material associated with
SFF projects (including field day flyers, manuals, brochures
etc). The MAF Sustainable Farming Fund should also be
acknowledged in any media publicity associated with your
project. We can lend you banners to use at field days and
meetings.
Funder acknowledgement is an important way of promoting the
fund and demonstrating the benefits from it. It takes very
little effort on your behalf to include a logo and/or
acknowledgement.
Ending
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Kind regards
Hai kona ra
Amanda, Barrie, Fiona, Katherine and Helen
