Ahuwhenua Trophy finalists announced
Farms from Northland and northern Hawke's Bay are the finalists in this year's Ahuwhenua Trophy competition for the top Māori sheep and beef farms.
The finalists in the inaugural Ahuwhenua Young Māori Grower Award have just been announced.
The finalists are:
• Twenty-four-year-old Brandon Darny Paora Ngamoki Cross, 24, works as trainee orchard manager for the large kiwifruit orchard management and post-harvest company Seeka.
• Maatutaera Tipoki Akonga, who is 26, works as a senior leading hand at Llewellyn Horticulture based in the Hastings area.
• Finnisha Nicola Letitia Tuhiwai, 25 who is a packhouse manager for Maungatapere Berries, located west of Whangarei.
The award, which was inaugurated in 2012, is designed to recognise up and coming young Māori in the farming and horticulture sectors. This year, the competition is for horticulture.
Long-time judge, Aaron Hunt, of Te Tumu Paeroa, speaking on behalf of the judging panel, says the standard of entrants in the inaugural competition for horticulture was very high and also reflects the number of young Māori who are making successful careers in horticulture. He says Māori have always been involved in the horticulture sector and, in recent years, they have been involved in significant new enterprises.
Sadly, due to current COVID-19 restrictions, it will not be possible to complete the finalist judging process and determine a winner for 2020 for a little while yet.
The Ahuwhenua Trophy Management Committee is monitoring advice from health officials and will keep everyone informed when it is safe to undertake this next part of the process – including the most appropriate way to celebrate the finalists and present the trophy to the ultimate winner.
There are calls for the Reserve Bank to drop its banking capital rules, which Federated Farmers says is costing farmers a fortune.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is calling on livestock farmers to take part in a survey measuring the financial impact of facial eczema (FE).
Soon farmers and working dog breeders will be able to have a dog that best suits their needs thanks to a team of researchers at Massey University.
OPINION: President Donald Trump's bizarre hard line approach to the world of what was once 'rules-based trade' has got New Zealand government officials, politicians and exporters on tenterhooks.
With wool prices steadily declining and shearing costs on the rise, a Waikato couple began looking for a solution for wool from their 80ha farm.
The Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ) team is looking forward to connecting with growers at the upcoming South Island Agricultural Field Days, says HortNZ chief executive Kate Scott.
OPINION: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon sometimes can't escape his own corporate instinct for evasion, and in what should have been…
OPINION: Shane 'Matua' Jones, crusader against all things woke, including "woke banks", couldn't have scripted it better when his NZ…