New Zealand Young Farmers (NZYF) is a national agricultural organisation with clubs throughout the country. It was formed in 1927 in the town of Feilding. The organisation acts as a social network for rural youth around the country and is actively involved in the education and promotion of personal skills for its members. There are over 1500 members in over 60 clubs around the country, all backed by the national organisation, which has its headquarters in Templeton, Canterbury. The organisation's current board chair is Chloe Belfield.
History The first Young Farmers clubs started in Feilding in 1927 and in Auckland in 1932, but much of the organisation's early growth came in the south. By the early 1930s there were eight clubs in the Otago region alone, and they formed New Zealand's first Young Farmers Federation. The federation rapidly expanded, containing 40 clubs by 1935, over half of them from Otago and with only two in the North Island.Smith, W., & Kelly, S. "Farmer and grower organisations – Young farmers", Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 1 March 2009. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
In 1936 the young organisation moved its headquarters to the government's Department of Agriculture in Wellington and adopted a new constitution. This promoted the club's national nature, encouraging more growth in the North Island. By 1937 the federation included nearly 120 clubs, evenly distributed between the two islands. The organisation's membership dropped during World War II, but quickly recovered ground after 1945, rising to a peak of 306 clubs in 1948. A partner organisation, the Country Girls' Club, was also organised during the late 1940s. In 1972 the two organisations amalgamated to become the Federation of Rural Youth. The following year, a new constitution was accompanied by a change of name to the "New Zealand Federation of Young Farmers Clubs", a name it kept until 2003 when it became "New Zealand Young Farmers".
FMG Young Farmer of the Year NZYF runs the annual FMG Young Farmer of the Year event, sponsored by FMG Insurance. The contest began in 1969; the inaugural event was held in Auckland on 22 August that year. The contest was initially run by individual clubs, coming under the control of the national body in 2006.
How it works Entry is free and open to all NZYF members. District contests are the first stage and are held throughout the country between October and December. The top contestants from each district contest progress through to the regional final which is held between February and April. The seven top regional finalists battle it out in the grand final for the title of FMG Young Farmer of the Year.
Each level of the competition includes question-and-answer sessions (on both farming-related and general knowledge subjects) and practical sessions involving farm work, problem solving, and business skills.
The grand final is a two-day event: the first day includes the practical challenges and the evening dinner where the contestants deliver their speech on a topic specific to each of them. The grand final concludes with a quiz show.
Winners Winners since the competition began are:
1969 – Gary Frazer 1970 – Alan Anderson 1971 – Philip Bell 1972 – John Jennings 1973 – Nolan Williams 1974 – John Miller 1975 – Paul Jarman 1976 – John Metherell 1977 – Keith Holmes 1978 – Stephen Ryan 1979 – Hans Pendergrast 1980 – James Watt 1981 – Geoffrey Kane 1982 – Colin Brown 1983 – Gerard Lynch 1984 – Douglas Brown 1985 – Malcolm Dodson 1986 – Russell Whyte 1987 – Leo Vollebregt 1988 – Hugh Wigley 1989 – Sinclair Hughes 1990 – Kerry Dwyer 1991 – Tony Blunt 1992 – Grant Catto 1993 – Peter Barry 1994 – George Steven 1995 – Warwick Catto 1996 – Philip Reid 1997 – Shaun Baxter 1998 – Steve Hines 1999 – Richard Slee 2000 – Andrew Finch 2001 – Gene Roberts 2002 – Tim Porter 2003 – Robert Kempthorne 2004 – Simon Hopcroft 2005 – David Holdaway 2006 – John McCaw 2007 – Callum Thomsen 2008 – David Skiffington 2009 – Tim O'Sullivan 2010 – Grant McNaughton 2011 – Will Grayling 2012 – Michael Lilley 2013 – Tim van de Molen 2014 – David Kidd 2015 – Matt Bell 2016 – Athol New 2017 – Nigel Woodhead 2018 – Logan Wallace 2019 – James Robertson 2021 – Jake Jarman 2022 – Tim Dangen 2023 – Emma Poole 2024 – George Dodson 2025 – Hugh Jackson
See also Agriculture in New Zealand
References
External links New Zealand Young Farmers Young Farmer Contest