Mr Holgate has been with Rabobank since 2013 as a specialist in environmental sustainability and he will continue to analyse the impact of impending environmental regulations on the agricultural sector.
Brought up on a farm, he studied law at the University of Otago and worked as an environmental lawyer in Dunedin for four years.
He then completed an MBA at Otago and, as part of those studies, he had to do a three-month consultancy.
Keen to get into agribusiness, he wrote a paper and was subsequently offered a job with Rabobank New Zealand as rural manager sustainable farm systems.
Rabobank New Zealand CEO Daryl Johnson said Mr Holgate was a valuable addition to the animal proteins team with his wide sector and industry knowledge and experience.
Having grown up on a sheep and beef property in South Otago, which he continued to run with his parents, he had an "intrinsic understanding" of the sector, Mr Johnson said.
Mr Holgate was excited to be expanding his research charter across the animal proteins sectors, primarily beef and sheepmeat but also pork, poultry and seafood.
"While I have a genuine passion for environmental sustainability, my heart also lies in the animal proteins space — I think from being off a sheep and beef farm myself — so when this opportunity came up, which allowed me to focus on both, I jumped at it," he said.
The broadening of his research portfolio also made sense as beef and sheep farmers were increasingly affected by changing environmental regulations.
"My ongoing analysis of current and future environmental regulations is increasingly pertinent for the animal proteins sector, as beef and sheep farmers need to continually weigh up the economic cost of carrying out some of these measures against the environmental benefit," he said.
Stricter environmental regulations had implications not only for farmers, with measures including stock exclusion from waterways and restrictions on intensification and associated nitrate use, but across the sector’s value chain.‘‘New Zealand’s red meat industry is increasingly looking at how it can brand itself to extract more value in the international marketplace and New Zealand’s sustainability story is becoming an increasingly important part of that.’’He was writing a research paper on the implications of China’s growing demand for animal proteins for the New Zealand sector, in conjunction with colleagues based in China.
