Competition boosts community spirit
The real winner of this year’s FMG Young Farmer Region-off have been the regional communities.
Erin Humm and Amelia Ridgen took home a whole raft of prizes, worth over $1,700 for their win, they also topped the points in the face off competition.
The win makes them the second ever all-female pair to win the coveted title.
The win was announced on Friday night at the awards ceremony at Semenoff Stadium, after two days of stiff competition and a final bid for points with the top four teams competing head-to-head in a buzzer style quiz.
Cameron Brans and Quinn Redpath from Napier Boys’ High School were named runners up.
Third place was awarded to another pair of young women, Tia Fowle and Renee Zwagerman, ex Southland Girls’ High School students.
14 teams of two from across the country travelled to Whangārei for the FMG Junior Young Farmer of the Year Grand Final, a contest for high school students.
Amelia and Erin say they were overwhelmed and humbled by the win and very proud that two young women beat all the boys to take the title.
“It’s pretty cool that we’re both girls,” says Erin, originally from Pigeon Bay.
“It’s really empowering, it’s a good boost to get into the industry and it’s really encouraging,” says Amelia, who hails from Greendale.
The duo are boarders at Christchurch Girls’ High and are both 17 years old. Leaving school next year, they both plan to do a bachelor of AgriScience at Lincoln University.
This year, they battled through a day of rain, bad weather and modules involving kumara – a Northland staple.
“I found parts of the farmlet generally the toughest for me, I had to rely on Erin for the practical side of it a lot so it was definitely a team effort,” says Amelia.
Their advice for other young women and girls was to just get into it.
“The competition is so much fun, we've done it every year and never placed before till last year. It's just so much fun and you learn so much and meet so many new people, it's great.”
