Coby Warmington wins 2025 Ahuwhenua Young Māori Farmer Award
Coby Warmington, 29, a farm manager at Waima Topu Beef near Hokianga was named at the winner of the 2025 Ahuwhenua Young Maori Farmer Award for sheep and beef.
The East Coast of the North Island features prominently in this year’s Ahuwhenua Young Māori Farmer Award for Sheep and Beef.
Two of the three men work on farms on the East Coast, the others in the South Island.
The three finalists were selected from entrants NZ-wide:
Kristy Maria Roa, a shepherd on Iwinui Station near Tolaga Bay on the North Island East Coast; Tumoanakotore-I-Whakairioratia (Tu) Harrison-Boyd, a shepherd at Whareopaia Station near Tolaga Bay on the East Coast; and Taane-nui-a-Rangi Rotoatara Hubbard a shepherd on Caberfeidh Station in the Hakataramea Valley near Kurow, northwest of Oamaru.
The Ahuwhenua Young Māori Farmer Award, first held in 2012, is designed to recognise talented up-and-coming young Māori farmers, to encourage young Māori to make farming a career, and to showcase to prospective employers the talent among Māori.
The awards have always created interest within and outside te ao Māori and has given finalists and winners a huge sense of pride and achievement. All have gone on to greater things since winning.
This award runs in tandem with the senior Ahuwhenua Trophy competition whose winner is announced during the Ahuwhenua Trophy Awards dinner, to be held in Gisborne on Friday 24.
Lead judge Peter Little says it is never easy to select finalists given the pool of young Māori who, in a short time, have been making great progress in their farming careers.
Little says the finalists’ training has helped them establish themselves in good jobs and provided an excellent platform to progress them to senior positions in the industry.
He says the farming sector needs talented, motivated young people and this award recognises their achievements and shows other young people the career opportunities in the primary sector.
Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.
Within the next 10 years, New Zealand agriculture will need to manage its largest-ever intergenerational transfer of wealth, conservatively valued at $150 billion in farming assets.
Boutique Waikato cheese producer Meyer Cheese is investing in a new $3.5 million facility, designed to boost capacity and enhance the company's sustainability credentials.
OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.
Compensation assistance for farmers impacted by Mycoplama bovis is being wound up.
Selecting the reverse gear quicker than a lovestruck boyfriend who has met the in-laws for the first time, the Coalition Government has confirmed that the proposal to amend Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) charged against farm utes has been canned.