The competition, first held in 2012, recognises talented, up-and-coming young Māori farmers, encourages them to choose farming and and showcases them to prospective employers.
The competition alternates yearly between sheep and beef and dairy; this year it’s dairy.
The finalists are Mathew Pooley (25), Ngāi Tahu, Koukourārata, farm manager on Ngāi Tahu Farming Ltd’s Maungatere dairy farm near Oxford in Canterbury; Cheyenne Wilson (25), Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Arawa, an assistant manager on Lochan Mor farm, near Ashburton; and Harepaora Ngaheu (26), Ngāti Awa, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, from Bay of Plenty, acting manager on a dairy farm, near Te Teko; he plans to contract milk for the same farmer in the new season.
Since its inception the event has created interest within and outside Māoridom and has given finalists and winners a huge sense of pride and achievement. All have gone on to greater things since winning.
The award runs in tandem with the annual Ahuwhenua Trophy competition for the top Māori sheep and beef or dairy farm of the year. The winner of the Young Māori Farmer will be announced in Christchurch on May 25.
Lead judge Peter Little says all three finalists this year are exceptional young people who have set career goals and worked hard to achieve these. All three plan to go further in the dairy industry.
“It is great to see young people reaping the rewards of their hard work and acting as role models for other young Māori who may be seeking a future in the dairy industry or who are looking at ways to move up the employment ladder in the sector,” Little told Rural News.
“All three have undertaken Primary Industry Training Organisation courses and the value of these is shown in the progress that all of them have made in a few years in the dairy sector.”
Little says it was no easy task to select three finalists.
Harepaora Ngaheu
Harepaora Ngaheu is having his second go at the competition.
Inexperience cost him the win last time, but this time he feels he has the necessary attitude and skills to be a positive role model for young Māori.
He was born in Porirua, but his family soon moved north to Te Teko, near Whakatane. He says he didn’t make as much of school as he would have liked.
For many years he drifted around, then came his 21st birthday, which he remembers was the day he cupped a dairy cow during a training course. He found the dairy industry and it found him.
His break came when a local farmer, Colin Wilson, offered him a permanent job; this proved life-changing for him and his young family.
After a year working with Wilson, Ngaheu worked with another dairy farmer, there learning more about farm management.
The following year he got a manager’s position where he could put all his skills and knowledge into practice.
He now manages one of Colin Wilson’s farms, but in the 2018-19 season plans to go contract milking, and with Wilson’s help look into stock ownership.
He aspires to becoming a 50/50 sharemilker in five years, and to help young Māori get off the streets and into work, either farming or running their own businesses.
Cheyenne Wilson
Cheyenne Wilson comes from Southland and has spent all her life on farms. Her parents worked on farms in Southland and when she left school she worked in shearing sheds and as a cook.
About five years ago she stumbled upon dairying and hasn’t looked back. It started when a local dairy farmer noticed her rearing calves and offered her a full time role.
After three years on this farm she moved to Canterbury and is now working for Nathan and Erin Christian on Lochan Mor farm near Ashburton as the assistant manager.
In June she will move to Culverden, North Canterbury, to manage a 600-cow farm for Emlyn Francis.
Wilson is involved in Young Farmers and the Dairy Womens’ Network. Last year she entered the Dairy Industry Awards and was the runner-up Trainee of the Year in Canterbury/North Otago.
She aspires to being a woman leader in the dairy industry.
Mathew Pooley
Mathew Pooley went straight into the dairy industry from school aged 15. A decade on he now manages one of Ngāi Tahu’s dairy farms, Maungatere, near Oxford, a finalist in the 2016 Ahuwhenua Trophy competition.
His rise to farm manager saw him work for two years on the Kerr Brothers farm, near Lincoln, before he went to the Cook Islands for two years working on a longline fishing boat. He realised then that his real passion lay with the dairy industry, so he came back to NZ.
He worked two years for the Kerrs then decided he was ready for another challenge, moving to a dairy farm in Burnham, before taking up a position with Ngāi Tahu Farms.
Pooley has a passion for the land and caring for animals, which he developed growing up on sheep and beef farms.
Off-farm he likes the outdoor life: hunting and fishing and he plays rugby and supports the Crusaders.
