The eight finalists after the head-to-head, from left: Aiden Smith, Mark Wallace, Ben Gordon, Fergus Casey, Hugh Banks, William Hobson, Josh Wilkinson and Samantha Thomson.
The eight finalists after the head-to-head, from left: Aiden Smith, Mark Wallace, Ben Gordon, Fergus Casey, Hugh Banks, William Hobson, Josh Wilkinson and Samantha Thomson.
First-time competitor Mark Wallace won the title of East Coast FMG Young Farmer of the Year at Russell Park in Waipukurau on Saturday, March 26.
The 30-year-old Puketoi Young Farmer member spent five years as a veterinarian and is now a farm worker on a sheep, beef and cropping farm.
Dairy farmer Josh Wilkinson, 24, from Dannevirke Young Farmers, was named runner-up, while Tikokino Young Farmer and shepherd Ben Gordon, 27, was third.
Upon receiving the award at the evening show in the Waipawa Hall, Wallace commended regional final convener Joseph Watts and the rest of the committee.
"You put a really good day on, there was something for everyone out there, there was certainly a lot of things I struggled with," he said.
He personally thanked a number of people who helped him along the way, particularly with his fencing skills and those who repeatedly prompted him to study.
"A special thanks to all the competitors. Everyone was really good at something, I certainly wasn't the best in the practical side - there was some great fencing out there."
He could also see the humour in winning the regional final trophy, which has a gate on it, after he faced a difficult head-to-head challenge: a time and points race.
"I'm appreciating the massive irony in winning this trophy with a gate when I couldn't even get the gate on," he laughed.
Wallace said he will focus on improving his practical skills before the Grand Final.
The contest is based on four pillars: agri-skills, agri-business, agri-sports and agri-knowledge.
East Coast Young Farmer winner Mark Wallace (centre) with second-placed Josh Wilkinson (left) and third-placed Ben Gordon.
Starting at 8am, the eight competitors demonstrated these skills, attending four half-hour modules on quad bike safety (FMG), bull selection and biosecurity (MPI), Workplace safety (Worksafe) and fertiliser usage (Ravensdown).
Each contestant had their own site for a large fencing module in which they had to put in a post, build a wire fence, swing a gate and place plants for shelter - having three half-hour time limits to complete their challenge.
There was a shearing head-to-head but the sheep were too wet to shear and a boning challenge was substituted, the contestants making a meat roll.
The last of the afternoon was the head-to-head, in which the contestants had to build a 10-tyre pyramid, cut a log and split it into firewood, assemble a dairy claw, throw a dart, make whipped cream from a bottle of cream and pour a beer.
Results from the day were collated and in the evening a quiz completed the competition.
Wallace was declared the winner and entrant in the National Final in Whangārei, on July 8 and 9.
The stakes for 2022 were incredibly high, as it was the third contest season affected by the global pandemic, New Zealand Young Farmers chief executive Lynda Coppersmith said.
However, entries for the contest were up 30 per cent this year despite the uncertainty of Covid, which was a credit to "all our amazing volunteers, members, sponsors and staff who put this contest together," she said in a statement.
"My gratitude for everyone's efforts extends beyond words and I am really proud to see how everyone has worked together to deliver another season, to pivot and adapt to new challenges including the red light framework."
Coppersmith said the calibre of competitors at each regional final was the highest she had seen.
