The competition was hot on Saturday as 50 teams went head-to-head in a bid to take out the Aorangi AgriKidsNZ and FMG Junior Young Farmer of the Year titles.

James Clark and Jack Foster from Mount Hutt College were named as the Aorangi FMG Junior Young Farmers of the Year, meanwhile, the Longbeach Farmwise team (Edward Pottinger, Liam Lash, and Edward White) from Longbeach School took out the title of the Aorangi AgriKidsNZ winners.

The FMG Junior Young Farmer of the Year contestants were challenged to a range of practical and theoretical modules, with Jack and James enjoying the challenge of the Face-Off, where the top five teams compete through a quiz format competition. They also enjoyed the MPI module, where contestants had to identify ways to protect apiculture in New Zealand, “we almost got 100% of questions correct on the bee-keeping module,” said James.

The Aorangi FMG Young Farmer of the Year contest was held on Saturday (26th February) at the Mackenzie A&P Showgrounds in Fairlie.

Under the red light covid protection framework, each event was held separately with entries capped at 35 teams on rotation to comply with the 100-person capacity limits.

In second place for Aorangi FMG Junior Young Farmer of the Year were Anna Barrie and Grady Hopkirk from Geraldine High School. The AgriKidsNZ runner-up and third-place spots were taken out by Ashburton Intermediate School teams, the AIS Contractors made up of Alice Johnson, Kaira Wright, and Laura Hyde, followed by the AIS Harvesters made up by Callum Tait, James Lansdown, Ethan Graham.

The top two FMG Junior Young Farmer of the Year teams and top three AgriKidsNZ teams have been invited to the FMG Young Farmer of the Year Grand Final in Whangarei this July.

The FMG Young Farmer of the Year Contest Series would not be possible without support from its family of sponsors: FMG, Ravensdown, Worksafe, Ministry for Primary Industries, Environmental Protection Authority, Honda, STIHL, Massey University, Lincoln University, New Holland, and PTS Logistics.

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