“We’ve just celebrated our 50th anniversary, which is an amazing achievement,” Hinds dairy farmer and contest board member Cole Groves said.
“However, if we don’t make some major changes now this contest won’t be relevant in another 50 years,” he said.
Contest board chairwoman and Dannevirke banker Rebecca Brown said “There will still be a strong practical side to the contest but our modules and challenges need to use technology more.
“In future, contestants might have to use GPS technology to mark out and erect a fence around riparian planting.”
Contest organisers are keen to tap into innovation and technology being used and developed by sponsors.
“We’d like to inject a bit of excitement and unpredictability into the contest through the use of innovation,” Groves said.
Awards for the highest-scoring competitor in each of the five challenges from agri-business to agri-skills are being scrapped.
They’ll be replaced with new awards assessing contestants’ skills and knowledge across innovation, food, people, environment and technology.
“We’re hoping the changes encourage more women to give the contest a go,” Groves said.
“We want to expand contestants’ knowledge beyond just fencing and identifying different types of fertiliser.”
And the board hopes the strategy will instill some passion in the hard-working volunteers who organise the contest.
“This gives us a clear direction, which I think has been lacking until now,” Brown said.
“The changes won’t happen overnight at regional level but we’ve set the ball rolling.”
The contest will also be used to better tell New Zealand’s paddock-to-plate food story.
“I think that can often get forgotten.
“There is a huge amount of public pressure on the primary industries at the moment.
“We’re all food producers and showcasing what we do is vital,” Groves said.
The two competitions designed to get school students excited about opportunities in the agri-food sector are also changing.
“The AgriKidsNZ and TeenAg competitors idolise the FMG Young Farmer of the Year contestants.
“Having AgriKidsNZ, the FMG Junior Young Farmer of the Year and FMG Young Farmer of the Year all part of the same event will help lift the prestige of the students’ contests,” Groves said.
Napier Boys’ High School student Matthew Halford was named the TeenAg Competitor of the Year in July. He’s stoked with the changes.
“This is awesome news.
“Learning the skills required to operate and use technology to its full potential is vital for the future of our industry.
“But the practical modules are a highlight for many TeenAg members so it’s important there’s a good mix between them and the theoretical challenges.”
TeenAg competitors will still compete in teams of two.
The changes will start rolling out at regional finals early next year.
The 2019 FMG Young Farmer of the Year grand final is in Hawke’s Bay in July.
