Top Young Farmers on show at CD Field Days

The National Bank Young Farmer Contest will be adding to the action at the Central Districts Field Days this week. Eight of Taranaki/Manawatu’s best Young Farmers will be fighting for the right to represent the Region at Grand Final in Masterton from June 29th to July 2nd.

The Practical Day runs from 8am on March 18th at the Field Days and is followed by the Evening Show at the Palmerston North Convention Centre from 6.30pm.

The Practical Day will consist of four Challenges designed to test on and off-farm skills. First up is the AGMARDT Agri-business Challenge; a written exam designed to test the Contestants theoretical business skills. During the morning contestants will complete a series of practical Challenges known as Ravensdown Agri-skills that will test all sorts of farming skills and disciplines. The Contestants will also be grilled by an interviewing panel during the Lincoln University Agri-growth Challenge and then to finish it all off there’s the Isuzu Agri-sports, a fast paced race made up of various agricultural tasks.

The Contestants then get a few hours to write a speech that will be presented at the Evening Show and from 6.30pm it will be all go at the Palmerston North Convention Centre. Here the winners from the Challenges will be announced and Contestants will have the chance to pick up more points during question buzzer rounds until finally the Taranaki/Manawatu Regional Final winner will be announced.

Some of the Contestants have a bit of extra pressure on them this year, with the cut-off age for Contest being 31. As a new Contestant this will be Andy Short’s first and final chance to make it through to Grand Final level. Thirty year old Andy is a brand new member of the Opiki Club and is a dairy farmer in the Manawatu. James Christensen is another Opiki Club Member and will be feeling the pressure too; this is his fourth time competing at this level and the 30 year old Rural Contract Manager will be hoping for his best outing yet.

Twenty Five year old Pete Fitz-Herbert is the only other returning Contestant at Regional Final level. This will be the sheep and beef farmer’s second time competing.

First time Contestant 23 year old Richard Ridd is a dairy farmer and belongs to the Marton Club. He’ll be joined by fellow Marton member James Rogers, a 25 year old sheep and beef stock manager.

Samuel Humphreys and Cam Brown are both 27 year old dairy farmers and this will be their first Regional Final. They’re members of the Central Taranaki and Fitzherbert Clubs respectively.

Rounding off the field is 24 year old Daniel Joho who is new to New Zealand Young Farmers and the Contest. Daniel is in the Fonterra Graduate Programme and recently started up the Alton NZYF Club in South Taranaki.

Not only will one of these eight be announced as Taranaki/Manawatu’s Grand Finalist they’ll also take home a generous prize pack worth $10,250 including a Honda XR125 two-wheeled farm bike valued at $4000, a $1500 Lincoln University Scholarship, $1000 cash and $500 towards a capability development programme from AGMARDT, a weekend hunting trip courtesy of Isuzu valued at $1000, Ravensdown quality fertiliser products worth $1000, a range of Swanndri clothing valued at $750 and The National Bank will provide $500 cash.

Since the Christchurch Earthquake, the Road to Recovery Auction has been run during the Evening Show. A two wheeler farm bike has been donated from Honda along with goods from The National Bank, Echo and Ravensdown. So far nearly $10,000 has been raised for the Earthquake Recovery Fund and that total is set to grow with the auction taking place on Friday night too.

AgriKidsNZ and the new TeenAg Competitions will also be taking place at the Field Days on the Saturday which gives spectators a chance to watch the big guys on Friday and the future farmers the next day. Preliminaries begin at 9am and later on in the morning the top seven teams from each Competition will be announced. These teams will then compete in the Race-offs at 1pm – all vying for a spot at Grand Final in Masterton from June 29th to July 2nd.

www.youngfarmercontest.co.nz