Biography

Gerard has spent more than 20 years designing and implementing social good programmes.  This has involved various leadership roles, including Project Lead for Farmstrong (since 2013), National Manager for the “Like Minds” mental health campaign involving well-known New Zealander John Kirwan (2001 – 2006), and Chief Executive of the Alcohol Advisory Council (2007 – 2012).

Presentation Outline

In the first half of 2021 following conversations the previous year on how we could work more closely together, Hort NZ and Farmstrong completed a piece of research to better understand the challenges to the wellbeing of those working in horticulture and viticulture. Qualitative face to face interviews were held with 50 business owners and workers, along with an online survey completed by 349 people. Gerard from Farmstrong will share top line insights and results from this work. Just as important he will share ways that Farmstrong propose to use these findings to continue to work with Hort NZ and the other sector groups to help owners and their teams improve their wellbeing.