Culverden's Dan Shand farms Island Hills Station in North Canterbury with his wife Amanda and two young children.
The Shands farm sheep and beef and run a beekeeping and honey operation known as Everything NZ Ltd.
Mr Shand said as well as looking at the future economic contribution of bees he also wanted to look into opportunities mobile technology offered as a data collection tool in the honey and red meat sectors.
Nuffield New Zealand announced the names of this year's five scholars at a function in Wellington earlier this month.
Other successful candidates were Marlborough Garlic general manager and vineyard owner John Murphy; of Blenheim, Masterton sales and marketing entrepreneur Lucy Cruickshank, Palmerston North potato grower Paul Olsen, and Beef and Lamb New Zealand western North Island extension manager Mel Poulton, of Woodville.
Each scholar embarks on a year of study and research on a topic of their choice, which includes four months of overseas travel, and produces a report at the end of their term.
The five new scholars join more than 140 others who have been awarded Nuffield Scholarships in the past 60 years.