Ploughing Champs success
Sean Leslie and Casey Tilson from Middlemarch, with horses Beau and Dough, took out the Rural News Horse Plough award at the Power Farming NZ Ploughing Championships at Horotiu, near Hamilton, on April 13-14.
Murray Grainger of Mosgiel was one of many competitors from the South Island at this year's national ploughing championships held at Rongotea in Manawatu.
The weather and ground conditions were perfect and large crowds came for the two days of competition.
Chairman of World Ploughing, Colin Millar says the local organisers and the owner of the land where the competition was held stepped up to the mark – in fact went over – because it was a beautiful site and the soil was well prepared.
He says no one could complain about it, the event was very well run.
"The soil conditions were amazing, the level of the grass and the stubble was exceptional. We told the competitors they could remove as much straw as they liked because there was no straw on the site."
Murray Grainger was placed third in the vintage class behind Paul Houghton and the winner John Stalker. Seven competitors contested the vintage class.
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford says the 2025 Fieldays has been one of more positive he has attended.
A fundraiser dinner held in conjunction with Fieldays raised over $300,000 for the Rural Support Trust.
Recent results from its 2024 financial year has seen global farm machinery player John Deere record a significant slump in the profits of its agricultural division over the last year, with a 64% drop in the last quarter of the year, compared to that of 2023.
An agribusiness, helping to turn a long-standing animal welfare and waste issue into a high-value protein stream for the dairy and red meat sector, has picked up a top innovation award at Fieldays.
The Fieldays Innovation Award winners have been announced with Auckland’s Ruminant Biotech taking out the Prototype Award.
Following twelve years of litigation, a conclusion could be in sight of Waikato’s controversial Plan Change 1 (PC1).
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