National convenor Chris Keeping said March was always a highlight in the awards calendar, as 33 winners from 11 regional competitions were announced.
“Our teams of judges have an interesting time as they meet our entrants and learn where their strengths and skills lie, as well as gain a sense of their enthusiasm for the industry and their future within it.”
The first regional winners in the Sharemilker-Equity Farmer of the Year, Farm Manager of the Year and New Zealand Dairy Trainee of the Year competitions will be named in Rotorua on March 2, while entrants in the Southland-Otago region are being judged and will be the last to learn their fate on March 28.
Waikato judge and Te Awamutu dairy farmer Jenny Sinclair said an aspect that emerged while judging a group of this year’s sharemilker-equity farmer entrants was they all had different starts in the industry.
“There are no prerequisites for entering the dairy industry.”
Sinclair said some of the entrants had university qualifications, while others had switched careers to dairying and some were training on the job.
“One of the fantastic things about our industry is there’s so much information sharing. Most entrants were young and demonstrated that there were considerable opportunities to get ahead in the industry.”
Central Plateau judge and Waikato dairy farmer Dave Davis said there was a large variation in the aspirations of those he judged in the farm manager competition.
“There are people that are motivated to progress up the ladder fast and to go through to farm ownership, but there are also people that are happy with what they are doing and to make a career out of it.
“The one constant was that they all enjoy it and are passionate about it,” he said.
