Brooke Maddison

With The Collaborative Ltd • The Collaborative Ltd is a social enterprise working to support the modern workforce in navigating the 4th industrial/ technological revolution. • I worked part-time while studying, assisting with various projects including the Microsoft FarmBeats New Zealand project, Rural Innovation Lab Manawatu, and the establishment of the i4 Accelerator. My primary task was summarising themes and findings from project focus groups into reports.

With PlantTech Ltd • PlantTech was established in 2018 as an independent research institute, to accelerate innovation and find solutions to horticultural challenges through Artificial Intelligence technology. • I was hired for 10 weeks to research the value of digital crop estimation data to the horticultural industry. I collected qualitative data through cold calls and interviews and produced a report and value matrix to summarise my findings.

With Zespri International Ltd • I reported to the Innovation Manager for Orchard Productivity. The team managed various projects focused on addressing challenges faced by kiwifruit growers to increase the volume of quality kiwifruit supplied sustainably. • I gained a breadth of experience in this role, I spent most of my time assisting with project management tasks and the rest of my time managing the Innovation Team’s internship and scholarship function.

• This was a hybrid reporting role, reporting directly to the External Reporting Lead in the Group Finance team and matrix reporting to the Sustainability Manager. • Tasks involved reporting on Zespri’s corporate GHG emissions. Including establishing and documenting processes, collecting, cleansing and analysing data, and extracting insights for end-of-FY reporting and governance decision-making.

With Ballance Agri Nutrients • I worked within the Ballance Procurement team. The team was responsible for securing raw materials for fertiliser production and managing supplier relationships. • In this role I created an Excel database to document, centralise, and enable better access of supplier and product information to reduce the risk of knowledge being lost with the potential loss of team members.

With Massey University • I worked for the Massey University Soils lab on the ‘Opportunities of Shelterbelts in Pastoral Systems’ project. The project focused on how shelterbelts could help mitigate GHG emissions. • I helped collect on-farm data and process samples in the lab.