Ashley Greenwood

Ashley’s focus is on enabling her teams to do their best work for farmers by supporting collaboration across DairyNZ and the wider sector, so information and solutions are relevant, practical and useful.

“Farmers are balancing business performance, environmental expectations, animal wellbeing and changing market conditions. By making trusted information easier to access and apply, we can help farmers make confident decisions that support the long-term success of their farm businesses.”

Collaboration is central to Ashley Greenwood’s work, connecting people and knowledge from across the sector.

“The best outcomes come when farmers, researchers, rural professionals and industry organisations work together. Farmers’ experience and feedback help us understand what will be useful on real farms and where we need to do better.”

One unusual project brought that thinking to life. Instead of relying on surveys alone, the team used buckets containing different amounts of mud to explore what farmers considered acceptable levels of paddock damage.

“It highlighted that people can interpret the same situation quite differently. It was a practical reminder that if we want to support change, we first need to understand how farmers see the world.”

That practical, people-focused approach has been a thread throughout Ashley’s career. Growing up in Southland, she has always enjoyed bringing people together to solve problems. Outside work, she enjoys time with family and friends, riding her horses and playing netball.

• Find out more about DairyNZ’s other specialist team members.
• Check out our research team and our regional teams.