Tuesday, 18 March 2025 11:25

Dairy awards

Written by Milking It

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OPINION: Results of regional New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards (NZDIA) are trickling in but there's a worrying trend emerging.

Two of the first four regional results for the flagship Share Farmer of the Year competition - namely Auckland/Hauraki and Hawke's Bay/Wairarapa - noted that "due to the minimum number of finalists not being reached, entrant scores were benchmarked against the national average with data collated from the 10 other regions".

Taranak and Manawatu attracted enough finalists. Why is this happening?

Hats off though to the NZDIA Trust for introducing two new awards - Fonterra & ASB First Farm Award and the ASB Alumni of the Year Award.

The awards showcase the industry's best, and we know there's no shortage of award-winning young farmers in the industry.

However, we must keep the interest alive in young farmers to participate in the awards.

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