But what impresses me is the relative youth of the entrants and winners. All three category winners are under 30.
It seems a far cry from my blinkered view that farmers are old, probably because I remember my great-uncle's dairy farm in Tokoroa, and his proclamations he'd "lose the farm" when things got stressful. To a child he seemed old. Yet he was a young man when he got started after the war. And coming from Wellington, the few farms that are over there are in the hands of old families.
I'd expected that dairy trainee of the year Alice Gysbertsen would be young, but her ambition to succeed shone through on the night. So too did the hopes of Equity/Sharemilker winners Tony and Sue Kuriger, Woodville, both Otago University science graduates who are back to the farming roots they grew up with. That was also a common thread - the role models that inspired these relatively young people to be enthusiastic and passionate about the industry.
But it's the ideas and the knowledge that really demonstrate how little I know about the farming world. The Kurigers lost me in the science of what they are doing to increase their production. Perhaps Mr Bosch put it best when he said "it isn't easy, but you know it pays off". Clearly young people are being inspired to enter this industry, with a record number of entrants for Dairy Trainee this time around. And I can't say I blame them.
