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2018 Share Farmers of the Year Dan and Gina Duncan.
A total of 393 entries are in for the 2019 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards.
“It’s a great result and we are thrilled with the response,” says Chris Keeping, the awards general manager.
“Changing the visa entry criteria has also seen an increase overall in entry numbers in the dairy manager and dairy trainee categories.”
The Canterbury-North Otago region fielded the most entries (59); 17 are for Share Farmer of the Year, 30 for Dairy Manager of the Year and 12 for Dairy Trainee of the Year.
Nationally, 106 entries were received in the share farmer category, 166 entered the dairy manager category and 121 entered for Dairy Trainee of the Year.
Keeping says this means strong competition in each of the 11 regions -- great for the entrants, categories and organisers.
The Central Plateau region topped the entry numbers (47), Southland-Otago fielded 46 entries, and Hawkes Bay, West Coast-Top of the South, Auckland-Hauraki and Waikato fielded 38, 37, 36 and 34 entries respectively.
Keeping says the regions worked hard to attract entries and she is rapt that all three categories will be contested in all 11 regions.
“Previous awards winners continue to make an impact in the industry and many are clear leaders,” she says. “All entrants can give themselves a huge pat on the back as they’ve taken an important step in enhancing their career and farm business just by entering the awards.”
Judging will begin in the new year for the 11 regional categories, with winners announced at dinners nationwide in March next year.
The 33 winners of those categories will then contest the national finals in Wellington next May.
Signing up to a benchmarking tool is not about competition, but about improving collectively, says Ximena Puig and Alvaro Luzardo who are 50-50 sharemilkers at a 164-hectare (effective) dairy farm in Eketāhuna in the Lower North Island.
Milking cows in the environmentally sensitive Lake Ellesemere/Te Waihora catchment in Canterbury has kept Tony Dodunski on his toes.
More than 640 dairy farmers and industry leaders gathered together at Rotorua's Energy Events Centre on Saturday night to celebrate the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards where Southland couple Scott and Stacey Mackereth were named Share Farmers of the Year.
Braden and Brigitte Barnes have taken the leap into farm ownership to purchase their first farm with support from the Fonterra & ASB First Farm Award.
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Potatoes New Zealand has congratulated Peter Reynolds of TA Reynolds Ltd in Pukekohe on being awarded the Horticulture New Zealand Bledisloe Cup, recognising a lifetime of service and contribution to New Zealand horticulture.
Signing up to a benchmarking tool is not about competition, but about improving collectively, says Ximena Puig and Alvaro Luzardo who are 50-50 sharemilkers at a 164-hectare (effective) dairy farm in Eketāhuna in the Lower North Island.
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