Amanda Currie now works with microbes as part of her professional role, a change from her previous career in financial oversight. For years, she examined financial spreadsheets before shifting to soil science, an unplanned transition that reshaped her views on agriculture.
During a session at WiT Queenstown, she said, “I found myself looking at soil under a microscope. And when I did that, I realised the soil was really alive. That changed my entire perspective around farming.”
The observation stood out in a conference where artificial intelligence and sector trends dominated discussions. Yet resilience—a concept far broader than technological solutions—emerged as the most recurring theme.
Currie and her husband, Adrian, left corporate careers, he previously led Asia Pacific operations for Booking.com, to establish Tinwald Farm in Central Otago. The 745-hectare regenerative property raises cattle, sheep, horses, and produces a single-vineyard Pinot Noir. Adrian manages the winemaking, while Jason oversees grazing systems, rotating 250 Angus cattle and 1,500 sheep to maintain soil integrity. Rob handles vine pruning, aiming for precision in each cut.
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Currie’s focus remains on microbial life in the topsoil, which she describes as “the invisible layer that, she says, ‘is protecting the whole planet, not just running the farming system.’” The wine production, grazing animals, and even horse-drawn carriage rides for visitors all rely on this hidden foundation. Without it, the visible elements of the farm would fail.
Resilience here is not a buzzword but a tangible base, visible only upon close examination. The same principle appeared in discussions about aviation during the conference.
Two industries, one unseen foundation
Nikhil Ravishankar, CEO of Air New Zealand, outlined the airline’s challenges bluntly: a fifth of its fleet remained grounded for years due to engine failures, $2 billion in idle aircraft, and projected losses in the hundreds of millions. “When you are in New Zealand and you have only 115 planes and your competitors have 1,500, 1,600 planes, you just have to be smarter,” he said.
His proposed solution centers on technology, specifically, breaking down what he called the “fuel silos” that isolate airline operations. Fleet planning, network scheduling, crew rostering, and maintenance currently operate on separate systems, each with six-month planning cycles because they lack integration. Ravishankar argued that AI could function as “an almost universal optimiser,” connecting these divisions much like microbes sustain soil health.
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Paul Scurrah, CEO of Fiji Airways, presented a different approach to resilience. His aim is to make his airline the “world’s happiest,” a philosophy shaped by his leadership of Virgin Australia during COVID and its subsequent voluntary administration. “It teaches you that you should have an aspiration for being as happy as you can in the circumstances you’re in,” he said. “It’s back to optimism… at the core of happiness there’s a level of gratitude.”
Some might argue that gratitude and optimism form the core of resilience, not just in aviation but across sectors. However, James Thornton, CEO of Intrepid Travel, rejected the idea that technology alone builds resilience. “Technology does enable a degree of resilience, but ours comes from our people,” he explained. “We’re a people-driven company, 4,000 employees globally, with hundreds of combined years of travel experience.”
When asked how to rethink travel’s purpose for greater resilience, Thornton responded directly: “It would be that travel was designed to benefit communities, not just customers.” He criticized the industry’s current model, where experiences prioritize visitors, yielding high Net Promoter Scores but neglecting local communities. “The way we’ve all grown up designing travel is for the benefit of the traveller, give them a wonderful time, they come back, that’s an NPS of 83. But travel doesn’t have the equilibrium right now. Communities aren’t sufficiently benefiting, and when they are, it’s too infrequent, and it goes to too few people.”
During a separate session, attendees explored how aviation and agriculture share this hidden reliance. Ravishankar’s focus on integrating fragmented systems mirrored Currie’s emphasis on soil microbes. Both industries face challenges when these invisible supports weaken. For airlines, the consequences include stranded fleets and financial losses. For farms, the result is degraded land and lost productivity.