New judging coordinator appointed for farming awards

Media release
2 September 2015

New judging coordinator appointed for Canterbury sustainable farming awards

Farming journalist Sandra Taylor has recently been appointed Judging Coordinator for the Canterbury Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

The award application period is open and Sandra is encouraging farmers to show how important environmental management and enhancement is to the industry.

“Farmers take great pride in their farm environments and the Ballance Farm Environment Awards provides a fantastic opportunity to both benchmark and showcase all the great work that is being done on farms throughout the Canterbury region.”

She says entrants benefit from the wealth of experience and knowledge of the Ballance Farm Environment Award judges and will be sent a written report on their farm at the conclusion of the judging process.

Adverse or extreme climatic and market conditions are taken into consideration during judging as the judging team take a holistic and long-term view of the farm business of which environment management is a part.

Sandra believes the Ballance Farm Environment Awards are particularly relevant as farmers are increasingly being called upon to demonstrate environmental responsibility by local and central governments and overseas markets.

“The Awards are an ideal opportunity for farmers to seek feed-back on what they have been doing to maintain and enhance their environment as well as demonstrate best-practice management to their peers and the wider community.”

Sandra urges all farmers to consider entering the Awards to make use of the judges as a sounding board for future projects and to get feedback from some of the region’s best farmers and advisors.

Since 2002 the Canterbury Regional awards have involved more than 200 entrants, 80 trained judges, as well as two national winners, 12 Supreme and around 145 award winners.

Entries for the Canterbury Regional Ballance Farm Environment Awards are open until 1 October 2015. The annual awards evening will be held on 23 March 2016.

A Field Day will be held at Omarama Station on 6 November at the farm of Richard and Annabelle Subtil – winners of the 2015 Supreme Award. The 12000ha family owned farm winters 23,000 stock units, including 7500 Merino ewes and 310 Angus-Hereford cows.

The award judges described the property as a proven farm business demonstrating excellence in financial, environmental and social sustainability. They also noted the operation is run by an exceptional team that includes both family and staff, and its production and financial performance are industry leading.

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