Move over ham, here comes lamb
It’s official, lamb will take centre stage on Kiwi Christmas tables this year.
New Zealand teenagers will be transforming typical, run-of the-mill burgers into healthy, gourmet masterpieces to impress culinary judges in the annual secondary school burger competition.
Encouraging teenagers to develop creative cooking skills is one of the aims of the competition, run by Beef + Lamb New Zealand.
The competition requires students to take a base product of beef or lamb and turn it into an appetising burger, taking into account nutritional value, appearance and flavour harmonies.
"The competition is now in its ninth year and the thought, skill and preparation shown by the young competitors every year is always impressive", says Lisa Moloney, Beef + Lamb New Zealand.
Eight regional competitions will be held around the country over the next three weeks, with more than 100 students entering nationwide.
Competitors are given one hour to cook their gourmet burger from scratch. Chef tutors from local Polytechs judge the students on their preparation and working methods during the hour then score the final product on degree of cooking, dish composition and flavour.
The regional winners in both the junior and senior section will go on to compete in the national final in Auckland in September, with prizes of $750 for the senior winner and $500 for the junior, with $1,000 going to each winning school.
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.
Āta Regenerative is bringing international expertise to New Zealand to help farmers respond to growing soil and water challenges, as environmental monitoring identifies declining ecosystem function and reduced water-holding capacity across farms.
Yili's New Zealand businesses have reported record profits following a major organisational and strategic transformation.
Owners and lessees of certain Hino Trucks New Zealand diesel vehicles have just 10 days remaining to register or opt out of a proposed $10.9 million class action settlement.
Silver Fern Farms has successfully produced and delivered 90 tonnes of premium chilled New Zealand lamb and beef to the United Arab Emirates via airfreight.
For the first three months of 2026, new tractor deliveries saw an increase over the previous two months, resulting in year-to-date deliveries climbing to 649 units - around 5% ahead of the same period in 2025.

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