The winner of this year's Ahuwhenua Young Māori Farmer Award for dairy is Quinn Morgan.
Quinn is 26 and this is his first season of farming working as a farm assistant for Sam and Kate Moore on their 155ha farm in Otakiri near Whakatane. They milk 570 cross breed cows through a 36 aside shed and are on system three. Eighty per cent of the farm is irrigated.
The announcement was made by the Māori trustee and chief executive of Te Tumu Paeroa, Dr Charlotte Severne at the Ahuwhenua Trophy awards dinner in New Plymouth on Friday, May 14. Around 800 guests attended including MPs Willie Jackson, Damien O'Connor, Meka Whaitiri, Kiingi Tuheitia, other dignitaries, politicians, agribusiness leaders and whānau from all the finalists.
The other two finalists in the competition were:
Anahera Hale, 26, who is currently working as the 2IC farm assistant on Rod and Jackie McPherson's dairy farm near Whakatane. Since 2019 she's been working on the 100 hectares (94 effective) where they winter about 360 cows. The farm is system two where cows are just fed grass and get topped up either with silage or palm kernel.