Those hallmarks featured strongly among winners of many of the 12 awards presented last Thursday night at Christchurch Air Force Museum in front of an arable sector audience of more than 600.
As Federated Farmers Arable Chair David Birkett noted, that turnout to the awards was not far short of double the ticket sales of the inaugural event last year and was testament to the good spirit and progressiveness in the sector and eagerness to "celebrate our best and brightest".
Judges said the Drysdales, third-generation farmers at Balfour in northern Southland, had the courage to review their traditional arable and beef production systems and step into the world of hemp growing, processing, manufacturing and marketing. From early days when they would process hemp hand and body cream in a kitchen cake mixer, they had steadily upped production to now encompass a full range of hemp oils, balms and health capsules.
Arable Food Champion Award winners Rob and Toni Auld can tell a similar story. It was nearly 20 years ago that the Aulds decided to look beyond traditional farm income streams to start making a range of spirits from the wheat, oats and barley grown on their Southland farm. Auld Farm Distillery, last year’s innovation award winners, is now the third largest whisky producer in New Zealand.
The Arable farmer of the year, Hugh Ritchie, knows the value of perseverance. Running 880ha of crops and 1120ha in stock finishing in the Hawke’s Bay, his business took a huge hit from Cyclone Gabrielle. But judges noted he had built a diverse farm system to cope with change and adversity.
"He’s always looking to do better, always looking to see what he can learn from," the judging panel said.
"Hugh was proactive and supportive of the Cultivate Investments concept for the industry."
Three grower of the year awards were presented: maize — David and Adrienne Wordsworth from Northland; small seeds — Andy and Jo Innes from Rakaia; and grain — Sam and Hannah Grant from Ashburton. Strong yields, willingness to use new technology and strong connections/giving back to their industry are common denominators across these top growers.
The researcher of the year, Dr Richard Chynoweth from the Foundation for Arable Research, is credited with making an outstanding contribution to seed research, with his work on the mechanisms of ryegrass flowering revolutionising knowledge in this field.
Timaru’s Andrew and Amy Darling, Federated Farmers members who, in the words of the judges, "walk the talk" on the likes of soil health, minimum tillage and precision fertiliser use, took out the environmental and sustainability award.
Also passionate about the arable industry in New Zealand is the winner of the emerging talent award, James Abbiss of Silverton Pastoral. The operations manager on the family farm in Feilding, Mr Abiss has filled leadership and governance roles at the Foundation for Arable Research and earlier this year, led a study tour to the United Kingdom aimed at learning what overseas systems might tell us.
Arable winners:
Innovation award — Blair and Jody Drysdale of Hopefield Hemp, Balfour
Food champion award — Rob and Toni Auld, Auld Farm Distillery, Southland
Farmer of the year, Hugh Ritchie, Hawke’s Bay
Grower of the year (maize) David and Adrienne Wordsworth from Northland
Grower of the year (small seeds) Andy and Jo Innes from Rakaia
Grower of the year (grain) Sam and Hannah Grant from Ashburton
Environmental and sustainability award — Andrew and Amy Darling, Timaru
Emerging talent award — James Abbiss of Silverton Pastoral Feilding
Researcher of the year — Dr Richard Chynoweth from the Foundation for Arable Research
Agronomist of the year — Paul Johnston of Yara Fertilisers Ltd
Plant breeder/plant researcher of the year — The Barenbrug New Zealand plant breeding team
Arable employer of the year — PGG Wrightson Seeds
