Cyclone Gabrielle ‘refugee’ wins East Coast Young Farmer by slender margin

East Coast Young Farmer winner Patrick Crawshaw, with his wife Isabelle, holds the appropriate trophy - a gate.

Blessed with glorious sunny weather on Saturday, March 11, the FMG Young Farmer of the Year East Coast Regional Final reached a remarkable conclusion after an intensive contest, the winner Patrick Crawshaw pipping defending champion Mark Wallace by 0.3 of a point – the smallest margin in the contest’s 55 years.

It nearly did not happen because a week before the contest Patrick was debating as to whether he would compete – his farm and surrounding neighbours at Patoka northwest of Napier being isolated from the rest of New Zealand due to devastation brought by Cyclone Gabrielle.

Figuring the contest was a rare opportunity and he had nothing to lose, he chose to compete and access out of Patoka opened up just two days before the competition.

Josh Wilkinson, Dannevirke Young Farmers president, after his club was voted best club for 2023.

At the presentation, Patrick said he was pleased he decided to take part, not only because he won prizes that will help in his farm recovery process – such as a generator – but because the escape from his “island” to something resembling normality in Dannevirke was a huge boost to his morale.

Afterward, he estimated his repair bill will be more than $100,000 and his priorities are to restore fences, floodgates, and culverts so he can move stock out. He said the local farming community is the same and they are all working to help each other.

Patrick thinks the networking which results from competitions such as Young Farmer of the Year also helps and he is looking forward to making more connections at the national finals in Timaru from July 6-8.

The FMG Young Farmer of the Year East Coast Regional Final began with a 45-minute exam on Friday evening and was followed by the practical day on Saturday.

This started with each contestant rotating through eight modules covering knowledge-based topics on areas such as environment, fertiliser usage, WorkSafe processes, and practical activities like shearing two sheep and the operation of a tractor with a front-end loader.

Contestants cut a log with a Milwaukee electric chainsaw before belting 10 nails into a round.

Twice the contestants went head-to-head, the first being a competition to carve the initials FMG (chief sponsor) onto a chestnut log using a Milwaukee electric chainsaw – but not its tip – and a hammer and chisel. It proved hard wood and few completed the task.

The second head-to-head battle involved a race to complete a series of tasks starting with catching a shorn sheep (done in the modules) and fitting a ram harness, rolling up a loading strap then unfurling it and tying two round bales on a truck, cutting a log into three pieces with the chainsaw, then nailing 10 nails straight into one of the rounds and finally rolling a full wool bale 50 metres to the finish.

Competitors were judged during the process and copped time penalties for any mistakes.

During the grand finale on Saturday evening in the Dannevirke Sports Club rooms there were four rounds of questions asked by MC Te Radar in his usual amusing but strict style, interspersed by video messages from the major sponsors before dinner and then the results of the contest.

The opportunity to recognise East Coast Young Farmer excellence was taken straight after dinner, with the membership growth prize going to Eskview Young Farmers. The leadership gong went to Josh Wilkinson who is president of both Dannevirke and East Coast Young Farmers, the service award to Emma Lewin who has co-ordinated Young Farmer events, including this one, for many years and has announced her retirement, and Dannevirke was crowned club of the year.

Then came the special awards for the East Coast contest: Agri-business – Mark Wallace, agri-skills – Patrick Crawshaw, agri-sports – Patrick Crawshaw, and agri-knowledge – Patrick Crawshaw.

From these awards, it was odds on as to who would take the top prize but no one knew how close the result would be on points.

In third was Dannevirke’s Jack Scahill with 486.5, second was Central Hawke’s Bay’s Mark Wallace on 581.5, and first was Patoka’s Patrick Crawshaw with 581.8.

The final word went to the winner as Patrick congratulated the organisers on the running of the contest. He said he experienced running one and he “took his hat off to them as he knew the huge amount of work required, especially in the wake of Gabrielle”.