South Island win a first for Ahuwhenua awards

The South Island's first Ahuwhenua Trophy Excellence in Maoria dairy farming is celebrated by Rakaia Incorporation board chairman James Russell at the awards in Hamilton last weekend.

History was made at the BNZ Ahuwhenua Maori Excellence in Farming Awards last week when the South Island claimed the award for dairying for the first time in 83 years of the competition.

Rakaia Incorporation's triumph was also the first time any farm in the South Island - dairy, sheep and beef - had won the trophy in at least 13 years, and the success was made all the more sweeter with another South Island farmer, West Coaster Jack Raharuhi, g named Young Maori Farmer of the Year in dairying.

The awards were presented at a gala dinner attended by about 850 people in Hamilton and effectively ended the year of triumph for Hawke's Bay, which claimed both awards in 2015 when the focus was on sheep and beef farming. There were no Hawke's Bay finalists this year.

The winning trust farms about 830 Kiwi-cross cow on the 216 hectares Tahu a Tao, a property near Ashburton with a farming history dating back more than 130 years along the southern banks of the Rakaia River.

The announcement was made by Minister for Mori Development Te Ururoa Flavell, ending the winning hopes of other finalists Canterbury-based Ngi Tahu Farming Limited and South Waikato operation Tewi Trust.

Young Farmer of the year Mr Raharuhi, who left school at 15 to go into dairying, is just 24, but is already manager of the 450ha Bassets Dairy Unit, a Landcorp property near Westport. He employs five fulltime staff to help him look after 1100 cows which are milked twice daily through most of the season.

The other Young Farmer finalists were Lincoln University Agriculture student Ash-Leigh Campbell, of Christchurch, and Harepaora Ngaheu, from Te Teko and who is about to start as a dairy farm manager near Ruatoki, south of Whakatane.

Last year, the Ahuwhenua Trophy for Maori excellence in sheep and beef farming was won by Bart and Nukuhia Hadfield, of Mangaroa Station north of Wairoa, and the Young Farmer award was won by Hannah Wallace, of Whakaki, east of Wairoa.

Next year's awards will again be for sheep and beef farming.