Forgotten trophies dating back to the 1920s have been dusted off to help inspire a new generation of Taranaki farmers.
For decades Federated Farmers ran annual competitions to honour the best crops, produce, meat and fibre. Winners would receive one of more than a dozen trophies. The once sought-after pieces of silverware were discovered during a clean-out at the Federated Farmers' New Plymouth office.
"There's a lot of history in that cupboard and it seems a waste for the trophies to be sitting there gathering dust when we could be adding more names to them," says the organisation's office manager Jessie Waite.
"The earliest trophies include the North Taranaki Farmers Hay Trophy, awarded to H. Wallace in 1929. It was last won by H. Brown in 1951," says Jessie. "The Turnip Cup was first awarded to J. Phillips in 1933 and the inaugural winner of the Mixed Crop Trophy in 1935 was L. Bishop."
Federated Farmers decided to resurrect the trophies for best Turnips and Mixed Crop this year.