First Grand Finalist Confirmed In FMG Young Farmer Contest

1:01 PM (23 hours ago)

First Grand Finalist Confirmed In FMG Young Farmer of the Year

Jake Thomson is the first Grand Finalist to be named in the 2016 FMG Young Farmer of the Year.

The 27 year old from Whangarei who manages a Dairy Farm took first place at the Northern Regional Final in Pukekohe on Saturday 20 February.

Mr Thomson went home with a prize pack worth over $10,000 including cash, scholarships and products and services from FMG, Massey University, Ravensdown, Median Energy, AGMARDT, Silver Fern Farms, Honda, STIHL and Vodafone. He also won the AGMARDT Agri-Business Challenge, Meridian Energy Agri-Knowledge Challenge and the Ravensdown Agri-Skills Challenge

Jake has been competing in the FMG Young Farmer of the Year since 2014, this will be his second attempt at Grand Final level. Jake has been involved with Young Farmers for 2 years and won the Regional Fencing Competition in 2015 which was one of his strong points over the weekend.

Mr Thomson is off to the Grand Final in Timaru, 7 – 9 July, where he will battle it out for the Grand Champion’s title. This year's Grand Final prize pack is $162,200.

The Northern Regional Final featured a strong group of contestants with plenty of knowledge and talent on display. The eight contestants were put through their paces in a variety of challenging modules touching on all aspects of farming from practical hands-on tasks to theory and business components.

Second place went to Daniel Bradbury 26 from Bay of Islands Club. Daniel took home a cash reward of $700 from FMG a $250 account credit from Meridian Energy, a WB20 water pump from Honda, $1000 voucher for the purchase of outdoor power equipment from STIHL and products and services to the value of $600 from Vodafone.

Third place went to Tim McLeod 26 from Bay of Islands. Tim is a Technical Field Representative for PGG Wrightsons. This is Tim's first time competing in the contest.

Fourth place went to Andy Wards 30 from Auckland City Club; he also won the Massey University Agri-Growth challenge.

The Massey University Agri-growth Challenge was won by Andy Wards (30) of the Auckland City Club.

The Agri-sport Challenge was won by Jason Clotworthy (22) of the Bay of Islands Club.

Alongside the FMG Young Farmer of the Year Practical Day events New Zealand’s future farmers were in competition too in TeenAg and AgriKids competitions.

The top three teams from TeenAg and AgriKids competitions will compete at the Grand Final in Timaru, 7- 9 July.

The TeenAg competition was taken out by Grace Moscrip and Andrew Martin from Kamo High School. Second place went to Rebekah Te Rito and Jonty Morgan from Rosehill College and Okaihau College. Third place was awarded to Jackson Nichols and Hannah Nichols from Dargaville High School.

The AgriKids competition was won by Charlie Weston, Caleb Weston and Harry Thomas from Okaihau College and Kerikeri High School. Second place went to the Harrison brothers, Harry, Nick and Jake from Okaihau College. Third place went to Tre Seakens, Tamsin Jordan and Jaidan Titley from Kamo Intermediate.

The 2016 FMG Young Farmer of the Year features seven Regional Finals culminating in the Grand Final.

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