Lydia Goodman named Central Otago Young Grower of the Year 2025
Lydia Goodman has been crowned the Central Otago 2025 Young Grower of the Year regional winner.
Gregoire Durand of Cherri Global in Clyde has been named the 2023 Central Otago Young Grower of the Year at a regional final event held in Bannockburn late last week.
Five entrants competed in the competition, covering modules such as irrigation, first aid, tractor and machinery work, pest and disease, spraying and weed management, and biosecurity.
Originally from France, Durand, age 28, was a young backpacker when he first came to New Zealand, picking fruit in the Teviot Valley.
He then moved to Clyde to work for Cherri Global, where today he works as their Clyde-Roxburgh sector manager, overseeing a 50ha block of cherries, in a role he has been in since 2017.
“I put in a lot of study in the lead-up to the competition, because you just don’t know what you’re going to get,” he says. “Having a strong mathematics background really helped me in the irrigation section.”
Durans says he entered the competition this year because he enjoyed his experience in the 2022 competition.
“It was fun. The competition was different this year with different questions,” he says. “I learnt a lot about myself, and I met plenty of people I would have spoken to otherwise.”
Kris Robb, chair of the Central Otago Growers’ Association (COGA), says he’s proud of all the competitors for putting themselves forward.
“I’m also appreciative of all the work that took place in the background to this significant industry event,” he says. “COGA is passionate about this young grower event and is encouraged by the talent coming up through the Central Otago region.”
Durand will compete at the national Young Grower of the Year final in Pukekohe on 4-5 October. He will compete against five other regional finalists and says he hopes to gain a lot from competing in the national final.
A technical lab manager for Apata, Phoebe Scherer, has won the Bay of Plenty 2025 Young Grower regional title.
Following heavy rain which caused flooding in parts of Nelson-Tasman and sewerage overflows in Marlborough, the Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme (IFSO Scheme) is urging homeowners and tenants to be cautious when cleaning up and to take the right steps to support claims.
Newly elected Federated Farmers meat and wool group chair Richard Dawkins says he will continue the great work done his predecessor Toby Williams.
Hosted by ginger dynamo Te Radar, the Fieldays Innovation Award Winners Event put the spotlight on the agricultural industry's most promising ideas.
According to DairyNZ's latest Econ Tracker update, there has been a rise in the forecast breakeven milk price for the 2025/26 season.
Despite the rain and a liberal coating of mud, engines roared, and the 50th Fieldays Tractor Pull Competition drew crowds of spectators across the four days of the annual event.
OPINION: ACT MP Mark Cameron isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but he certainly calls it how he sees it, holding…
OPINION: Did former PM Jacinda Ardern get fawning reviews for her book?