Ten entrepreneurs and business leaders from India’s agribusiness sector are arriving in New Zealand this week, with the Asia New Zealand Foundation bringing the group to Fieldays as part of efforts to turn the Free Trade Agreement into commercial relationships.

Tim McCready, Director of Business and Entrepreneurship at the Asia New Zealand Foundation, says Fieldays is the ideal setting.

“Fieldays is the perfect thing to bring these entrepreneurs to so they can really get a deep understanding of New Zealand,” he says.

This is the second year the Foundation has run the programme. The delegation spans farm technology, digital platforms, climate tech and apiculture, with one delegate from one of India’s largest agricultural machinery companies keen to explore farm data, livestock intelligence and automation.

“There’s this huge interest in what New Zealand technology could mean at scale in India.”

The week-long itinerary takes the group from Auckland, where they will visit the Bioeconomy Science Institute, to Tauranga and then the Waikato. A visit to a 600-head rotary dairy farm is among the stops, as is a supermarket.

“They’re also here to really understand what agribusiness here looks like, more generally.

“Fieldays will be great for that, but also things like popping into a Farmlands store just to see what a rural supply store looks like for a country like New Zealand.

“For all of these entrepreneurs, it’s their first time here – they know that we could be a great partner, but they want to learn about the people and the values as well.”

He says the visit is a two-way street.

“I think that they’re coming over here to learn from us, but I also think there’s so much that we can learn from these entrepreneurs over there.”

The visit comes off the back of the signing of the New Zealand-India Free Trade Agreement, which McCready says is a great signal.

“You’ve got to get up there, meet people, make relationships and make stuff happen, because it’s only people-to-people links that eventually culminate in things like increased trade.”

CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp is our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch/listen or download the CountryWide CONNECT mobile app, available on Apple iOS and Android.