Hamish to represent CHB hopes
Central Hawke’sBay will be wellrepresented at theFMGYoung Farmer of the Year Grand Final in July.
After winning the East Coast regional final in Waipukurau onApril 1, Tikokino farmer Hamish Best, 27, will be flying the flag forCHBwhen he goes head-to-head against six other regional champions at the grand final at Manawatu from July 5-7.
He will also be joined at the grand final by three pupils from Onga Onga School— Leah Bibby, Abbey Strang, and Luke Posthumus— who have also made it through to the grand final of the AgriKids competition after finishing runners-up at Waipukurau.
Hamish, a technical field representative forPPGWrightson in Waipukurau, is no stranger to the Young Farmer of the Year competition. He entered last year and progressed to the East Coast final, finishing runner-up.
But determined to go one better this year, Hamish’s hard work paid off as he took out four of the five different Agrichallenges, which included tasks such as hanging a gate and shearing three sheep, on hisway to a commanding victory over runner-up, 24-year-oldDaniel Tarbottom from Tararua.
“These tasks aren’t normally too difficult but when put under time pressure interesting things happen,” said Hamish.
“You can never be confident in this game because there is always seven other highly talented people out there trying to do the same thing. I had done a lot of preparation and felt like Iwas doingwell in the modules, but it wasn’t until after the night show and quiz that I thought Iwould go close to winning.
“Initially it was a relief to havemy name called out, since it had been a 12-month project trying towin it, and Iwas coming into the finalwith the pressure of a local crowd pressure and the favourite tag. But then I felt proud of what I had achieved,” he said.
After his victory, Hamish said he had already pushed the “re-set” button ahead of the national grand final.
“The grand final will be amassive challenge as there are six other extremely competitive and competent people trying to do the same thing.
“It is the most sought-after prize for rural youth inNew Zealand. It has a long history and there is no doubt that getting through to this stage will open doors forme and winning the grand final would open more,” said Hamish, whose career goals not only include being crowned the national Young Farmer of the Year but also owning a sheep and beef farming operation of his own and to become involved in rural governance to try and give back to the industry.
Hamish won more than $12,000 in prizes as EastCoast champion, including a new Honda motorbike, $1000 cash and an entrepreneurial scholarship to Massey. The prize package for the national final is $270,000 and includes aNew Holland Boomer 25 tractor for the national champion.
Agrikids champions
The Onga Onga Milkyways teammates qualified for the national AgriKids grand final after finishing second out of 42 teams that tackled eight farming-oriented modules in the regional final atWaipukurau.
Like Hamish, the trio from Onga Onga entered the competition last year and recorded a Top 10 finish.
This year they were among the top seven teams that moved through to the race-off event, which theywon.
Teacher Amy McIlroy explained that after a countback from the earlier session, they were awarded second place behind The Redbands from Tinui School.
“The kids were extremely excited that they had qualified for grand finals, they were stoked that they had improved so much from last year.
One of their first questions was, “Will you comewith us too?” Iwas very proud,” Amy said. The team had been working closely with the Ashley Clinton/ Norsewood Young Farmers group who visited the school to run farming workshops and share their knowledge and skills with the students.
Amy said it would be more of the same ahead of the grand final in July and she had very high hopes for her students in the competition.
“They are competitive, have good problem-solving skills, have a great range of farming knowledge across the three of them but, best of all, they can work effectively as a team,” she said.