"It's been a bit of grind to get to the Grand Final, it was always my goal to finally get there and give it my best crack."
He was in good company too, competing against his brother-in-law Waikato/Bay of Plenty representative Chris Poole, 27, who gave him a run for his money, coming in a close second.
Dunsandel Young Farmer Jonny Brown, 31, representing Tasman came in third place.
Dangen said he was "very fortunate" to get on well with Poole.
The pair came up with a plan to both give the final their "best nudge" and hopefully one of them "would come out on top," he said.
"To get the quinella was awesome."
The contest started on Thursday with a technical day, before heading into the big event - practical day - on Friday.
Wet weather made practical day particularly tough, with contestants battling pouring rain for eight hours to complete a series of modules and time and points races.
However, it was the technical day that Dangen found the most tricky.
"Thursday was probably the hardest day for me. It was very brain-heavy work which I'm not used to - I'm obviously used to using my brain - but I'm not used to sitting in a classroom for three hours. I haven't done that for a while," he said.
"I got through the exam, the innovation project, the HR challenge and the community footprint interview and then had a big snooze that night and woke up to 100mls of rain in Whangārei and battled through the practical day."
That evening, the seven Grand Finalists presented their speeches to a crowd of 350 at the FMG Junior Young Farmer of the Year and AgriKidsNZ Awards Ceremony.
It was "difficult to rally the energy levels" for the speech after a tough practical day, Dangen said.
Listen below:
However, the sun came out on Saturday for volunteer morning, where the Grand Finalists planted trees at Barge Showgrounds before the big finale.
This was a rewarding experience for Dangen.
"We got out for a bit of planting in the morning with a few youngsters which was fantastic."
Then it was on to the quiz and a few well-earned "rum and Cokes with the brother-in-law," Dangen said.
"It was great."
The next 12 months will be busy for Dangen as he takes on the role of FMG Young Farmer of the Year.
While he hadn't had a lot of time to think about what that meant yet, Dangen still had some ideas for his future.
"I'm still running on a real high at the moment - I'll probably crash later in the week - but I've got a lot of energy from this contest.
"It's a great opportunity for me to get out there and push a positive message and use it as a platform to be able to hopefully attract more youngsters to the [Young Farmers] club and the wider industry.
"The more that I can give back the better because I owe a lot to this contest and the people that have supported and helped me get to the top."
