Eight Hawke's Bay locals to compete in regional final of the 50th annual FMG Young Farmer of the Year competition

Left to right - Ben Thomas, Hugh Abbiss and Robbie Hill, who will all be competing in the competition. Photo/supplied.

Eight young farmers will go head to head in the East Coast regional final of the FMG Young Farmer of the Year competition on February 17.

It's the first of seven regional finals being held from Kerikeri to Winton to decide contestants for the grand final of the prestigious competition in Invercargill in July.

Rob Barry is one of those competing in Masterton.

Barry was a ski instructor in Canada and Europe before returning home two years ago.

"I almost hit the top of that profession in some ways, I was looking for a career in management when I came back, then I tried welding for a while then engineering and then got sick of that and went dairy farming," the 25-year-old said.

He now works for the BEL Group, where he's a 2IC milking 1220 cows once-a-day at Ashley Clinton.

Barry's late father Peter Barry won the grand final in 1993.

"That's always in the back of my mind. I want to do well by him," Barry said.

"I need to brush up on sheep shearing and stuff like that but she'll be right."

It will be independent soil consultant Robbie Hill's second attempt at winning a regional final.

Hill rears 600 bull calves on his own and also works part-time on his family's 650ha property west of Hastings.

"We finish 1000 bulls, 10,000 lambs and 250 velveting stags, plus we do cropping and tourism," said the former competitive snowboarder who's travelled to about 40 countries.

They'll go up against 2017 Tararua Shepherd of the Year Hamish Duff, who's overcome major physical challenges to get back on the land.

"The right side of my face had to be reconstructed using metal plates after I had a car crash in 2012," said the former Smedley Station cadet.

Brandon Giddens, who spent time driving tractors for an export hay business in Canada in 2013-14, is aiming high.

"I'm 6'7" tall, so I can reach things in high places," laughed the 26-year-old.

Bull breeder Ben Thomas is cramming a lot into 2018.

"My wife Steph is expecting our first child a few weeks before the regional final, so I'll be knackered," said the 27-year-old who grew up on an apple orchard.

Thomas has also been awarded a NZ Angus Association scholarship to spend a month working on cattle studs in Australia.

He'll go up against fellow Angus cattle breeder Richard Falloon.

The 28-year-old manages his family's 1145ha farm in Masterton, which runs Angus cattle and a Coopworth sheep stud.

It'll be the second time Hugh Abbiss and Patrick Crawshaw have faced off against each other at a regional final.

The pair started working together at Foley Farming Enterprises in Central Hawke's Bay in July 2017.

"I'm used to pacing myself," said Abbiss, who's completed 10 full marathons in New Zealand.

Crawshaw got a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the FMG Young Farmer of the Year Grand Final in 2017, spending time as runner-up Hamish Best's official bag carrier.

"It was an interesting insight into how gruelling the competition is at that level," said the 24-year-old.

The regional final is being held at the Masterton A&P Showgrounds on February 17. The evening show, hosted by Te Radar, is at the Wairarapa College Hall.

It will be the 50th anniversary of the iconic agricultural competition which was first held in 1969.