Tony Dowman just edged out runner-up Duncan Brown during the Evening Show at the East Coast Regional Final for The National Bank Young Farmer Contest.
It was so close after the final question buzzer round that even Tony and the other contestants did not know who had won.
"At the end I looked at Duncan; he asked who won and I said it was him by two points – turns out it was the other way round," says Dowman.
The 26-year old performed well across the board taking out three of the challenges during the practical day at the Clareville A&P Showgrounds. He won the Lincoln University Agri-growth, Silver Fern Farms Agri-sport and the Ravensdown Agri-skills Challenges before going on to claim the East Coast spot in the 2012 Grand Final.
As a farm business manager Dowman oversees the financial and physical performance of several farming units which include dairy farms, run off blocks, sheep and beef units along with a cropping farm too. He also sharefarms a 60ha finishing hill block just out of Masterton.
He believes that the variety of his day-to-day job helped to give him a bit of an edge, but said he had been putting in some extra work too.
"I've also been putting in a fair bit of study and practice and the experience of entering a few times helps too."
Dowman has always been keen on the contest and originally entered in 2003 and 2004 mainly for the challenge it presented.
Over $20,000 worth of prizes were awarded on Saturday night and a further $100,000 will be up for grabs at the grand Final.
