11 June  2009

A former Financial Times journalist who has become a business commentator and columnist in New Zealand with a special interest in the agricultural sector is this year’s Landcorp Agricultural Communicator of the Year.

Rod Oram immigrated to New Zealand from Britain in 1997, to take a position as business editor with the NZ Herald. He is now a columnist for the Sunday Star-Times and Good Magazine; a regular broadcaster on radio and television; and a frequent public speaker on business and economic issues. He is also an adjunct professor in the Business School at Unitec, Auckland’s technology tertiary institution.

The Landcorp Agricultural Communicator of the Year Award is administered by the New Zealand Guild of Agricultural Journalists and Communicators, and recognises excellence in communicating agricultural issues, events or information.   It is judged by a nation-wide panel of ten independent judges. 

Regarded as the premier award for agricultural communicators, it is also the most valuable prize on offer.  Landcorp provides a prize of $2500, which is part of a funding packing of $7500 in sponsorship for the Guild. The additional funding assists with administration costs, including the Award dinner

Guild President, Hugh Stringleman, said Rod has always appreciated the significant contribution of agriculture to New Zealand business and the economy, an attitude not always shared by his fellow business writers.

“For many years business editors and writers in metropolitan and provincial publications and in the broadcast media tended to regard non-farm or urban-based companies as legitimate topics for coverage in business pages and bulletins,” he said    “Coverage of agricultural business, however, was frequently reserved for specialist agricultural sections – apart from and different to ‘real business’.”

Stringleman said because he was fresh to the NZ business scene and the reporting of it, Rod simply appreciated the obvious -  agriculture was the biggest business in town and country.    “He has always given it the same rigorous examination as any and all other sectors of the economy.

The winner was announced at an Awards Dinner in Hamilton last night (Wednesday 10 June), an annual event held on the first evening of National Fieldays, which was attended by many members of the agricultural media, with invited guests from the agribusiness sector.

For more information:

Sue Miller

New Zealand Guild of Agricultural Journalists and Communicators

04 233 1842

Mobile 0274 510 339