As someone who has gone full circle from farming to finance and back again, Forbes Elworthy has seen plenty of change, in both industries.
And he is at the forefront of some pretty interesting innovation at Craigmore Sustainables, the Canterbury farming business he formed with his brother-in-law Mark Cox.
Craigmore is responsible for some $380 million worth of farming assets, which in New Zealand are owned through dozens of corporate entities and limited partnerships on a co-investment basis. Craigmore has about 120 mostly European investors.
The 15,000ha rural estate portfolio includes dairy, sheep/beef, horticultural and forestry with 35,000 stock units including a herd of 15,000 dairy cows.
Craigmore invests heavily in environmental farming practices as well as maintaining a comprehensive policy on pest control.
This enabled it to release about 4500 pheasants and partridge early this year for a commercial game shooting operation.
It also has about 50ha of exotic trees and 51ha of natives.
Farm manager David Bielski was recognised in February when he won the Canterbury Ballance Farm Environment Awards' predator-free farm award.
Forbes and his wife Bridget have moved back to the UK with their three children but he remains closely connected to the business here.
The group received a setback in May when the Overseas Investment Office rejected a Craigmore application to buy 11.44ha of land in Te Puke, most of which was in green Kiwifruit with some avocados.
Craigmore says it will continue to look for other opportunities in the sector.
Elworthy is an MBA graduate and was educated at both Oxford and Harvard Universities.
He had stints at Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch and previously tasted success in the IT sector, having founded the financial software company Credit Market Analysis, which was later sold to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for $US94 million. Elworthy owned about 40% of the company.
In 2021 he founded Map of Agriculture (Map of Ag), which aims to become a global provider of farming information and communication solutions.
Last year Forbes received Lincoln University’s Bledisloe Medal for outstanding contribution to agriculture.