At the 2026 NZ Dairy Industry Awards: Dairy Trainee of the Year, Mark Ready (left), Share Farmers of the Year, Stacey and Scott Mackereth, and Lauren McConnachie, Dairy Manager of the Year.
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Dairy farmers and industry leaders gathered at the Energy Events Centre in Rotorua on Saturday night to celebrate the 2026 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards.
More than 640 people celebrated the evening’s theme, Te Puna o te Mana, which highlighted the source of excellence in the dairy industry.
Scott and Stacey Mackereth from Southland/Otago were named 2026 New Zealand Share Farmers of the Year, Lauren McConnachie from Canterbury/North Otago became the 2026 New Zealand Dairy Manager of the Year and Mark Ready from West Coast/Top of the South was announced the 2026 New Zealand Dairy Trainee of the Year.
The winners received prizes from a pool worth over $1,000,000.
A strong theme shone through this year across the multiple categories; there are diverse pathways and huge equity potential in dairy farming available to people who put in the mahi.
The judges said that people entering dairy farming can be encouraged by this year’s finalists and the life-changing opportunities that exist in the dairy industry.
Scott and Stacey Mackereth from Southland/Otago were named 2026 Share Farmers of the Year.
Scott, 42, and Stacey, 40, won $28,000 in prizes, along with taking home three merit awards: the Trelleborg Sustainable Pasture Award, DairyNZ People and Culture Award and the Federated Farmers Leadership Award.
Read more about the Mackereths here.
Glenn and Georgie van Heuven from Waikato were named runner-up in the New Zealand Share Farmer of the Year, taking home over $15,000 in prizes, along with winning the use of a Kioti HX 130-140hp tractor for a year.
Glenn, 37, and Georgie, 36, are 50/50 sharemilking 405 cows on 103ha for Sid and Dellas Anderton at Matamata.
The van Heuvens also won the ASB Business Performance Award.
Their financial performance strength stood out to the judges along with their excellent structures, reporting and goal-setting.
The judges noted the couple’s genuine commitment to their community, including inviting local schoolchildren to learn maths in practical settings on-farm.
“They are selfless people who give back to their community no matter how busy they are,” judges said.
The van Heuvens also won the CowManager Experience for two years and will get to take the cow monitoring system into their new 50% equity partnership venture this season.
Judges said the couple stood out for their grasp of what they want to achieve and how they will progress to be in the top 20% of operators in the dairy industry.
“Glenn and Georgie have a good understanding of data; they don’t look at data in isolation, and showed how this system could help them achieve better results,” judges said.
“They are also up for a challenge in their new venture, and this CowManager system will help to alleviate some of that pressure.”
Karl and Jess Wood from Manawatū placed third in the Share Farmer of the Year.
Karl, 31, and Jess, 33, 50/50 sharemilk 230 cows on 85ha for John Gardner in Palmerston North.
The judges said Karl’s passion for cows was evident, and he was very articulate about his breeding plan.
Judges said it was clear that Karl and Jess respected the farm they were looking after and that caring for the land and their employer’s wider farm business was a high priority.
The Woods won over $9000 in prizes along with two merit awards: the LIC Animal Wellbeing, Recording and Productivity Award and the Novonesis Excellence Interview and Communication Award.
The LIC award includes a GeneMark Genomics prize for Karl and Jess to DNA test all the dams and replacement animals in their herd.
Lauren McConnachie from Canterbury/North Otago was named the 2026 Dairy Manager of the Year.
The 35-year-old is Rob and Jenine Screen’s farm manager for Theland Farm Group at Purata, where she milks 2170 cows on 563ha.
McConnachie won over $15,000 in prizes, along with the Fonterra Dairy Management Award and the Ecolab Environmental Sustainability Award.
The judges said McConnachie had strong theoretical knowledge, was very organised and brought a structured approach to her planning and farm management.
“Lauren scored consistently across the board,” they said.
“She’s operating at scale, managing multiple people, and she’s able to convert the complex into simple steps for her team.”
Listen to The Country’s Michelle Watt interview Lauren McConnachie below:
Judges noted that McConnachie identified areas to work on, actively upskilled her personal development, and her leadership was a good example of that.
“She’s really aware of areas she wants to grow and how to help her team grow.”
Runner-up in the Dairy Manager of the Year is Taranaki’s Miriam Lauridsen.
The 29-year-old is pasture, forage and herd manager for Liam O’Sullivan at New Plymouth, milking 370 cows on 137ha.
The judges were impressed with Lauridsen’s personal planning and awareness of her progression in the dairy industry.
Her dedication to her team on-farm also shone through, along with her ability to communicate.
“Miriam has a lot of passion, and she has strived to make it the best working environment for her team – that was very evident,” judges said.
Lauridsen won over $8000 in prizes and took home three merit awards: the Craigmore Farming and Safer Farms Health and Safety Award, DeLaval Sustainable Pasture Award and the Personal Planning and Financial Management Award.
Waikato’s Annie Gill placed third in the Dairy Manager of the Year, taking home $5000, as well as the DairyNZ People and Leadership Award.
The 24-year-old is the farm manager for Doug and Lorraine Courtman on their 56ha farm at Ōtorohanga, milking 144 cows.
The judges were impressed with Gill’s passion for her pedigree cows, along with her involvement in the industry outside the farm gate.
Bay of Plenty’s Reno Moses won the CowManager Livestock Management Award, and Adrian Waugh from Manawatū won the LIC Interview Award.
Mark Ready from the West Coast/Top of the South won the title of 2026 Dairy Trainee of the Year, along with over $10,000 in prizes.
The 23-year-old is the farm manager for Michael Shearer on the Inch Family’s 130ha farm at Maruia, milking 250 cows.
Previously, entering the Dairy Industry Awards had been a catalyst for Ready to set himself goals, and the judges were highly impressed with his planning and progress.
Ready has managed to save for and buy his first line of cows, which will enter the herd this year and has set himself a timeline to achieve herd ownership.
“We absolutely believe he will achieve that,” judges said.
“Mark set himself a plan, and he’s implementing it, and we look forward to his progress going forward.
“He’s surrounded himself with good employers and has made strong relationships – he’s not going to be easily knocked down.”
Ready also won the Ecolab Personal Growth and Development Award.
A very close runner-up in the Dairy Trainee of the Year was Sam O’Neill from Canterbury/North Otago.
O’Neill won $6000 along with the Federated Farmers Farming Knowledge Award and The Country Communication and Industry Involvement Award.
Sam, 23, is herd manager for Trevor Manson, milking 850 cows on 231ha.
He has a Bachelor of Agricultural Science, with First Class Honours from Lincoln University.
The judges said O’Neill’s knowledge across the board was impressive, and he also had great charisma and rapport.
“Sam has sound intellectual knowledge, and he really made the most of the networking opportunity of the Study Tour,” they said.
“Sam O’Neill is going to be a name that we see keep popping up in the future. We look forward to watching his progress.”
Conor Attrill-Mundt from Hawke’s Bay/Wairarapa placed third in the Dairy Trainee of the Year and went home with $3000.
Attrill-Mundt, 23, is 2IC for Greg and Gail Mitchell at Patoka, milking 845 cows on 341ha.
The judges said he had excellent industry awareness, from exports to economics, and a real focus on sustainability, which was impressive for someone so young.
Alvaro Luzardo and Ximena Puig from Hawke’s Bay/Wairarapa won the 2026 ASB Alumni of the Year award.
The couple are sharemilking 465 cows for Geoff Arends and Ester Romp in Eketāhuna.
Judges noted the couple were an exceptional example of what can be achieved in the dairy industry, as they originally came from Uruguay, arriving in New Zealand in 2015 with a backpack and minimal English skills.
“They haven’t been blinkered by geography or perceived barriers and have been open to opportunities anywhere in New Zealand,” judges said.
Luzardo and Puig’s involvement with the Dairy Industry Awards has been a key part of their progression and building relationships in New Zealand.
“They’ve managed to build a network of people and grab gold nuggets from everyone,” judges said.
“They want to inspire people and their ethos is to ‘Make It Happen’, and they have certainly demonstrated that.”
This award is a collaboration between ASB and the NZ Dairy Industry Awards to specifically encourage and reward award alumni who have made significant contributions to the programme and the industry.
The ASB Alumni of the Year Award is open to alumni who have been entrants in the past seven years and are no longer eligible to enter the Dairy Manager of the Year or Share Farmer of the Year categories.
Judges were blown away by the six finalists in this year’s Fonterra and ASB First Farm Award and said they were an example to everyone of what can be achieved in the dairy industry.
“All of the finalists are first-generation farmers with no family farm backing, and they are all on the verge of being able to buy their own dairy farm,” judges said.
The 2026 Fonterra and ASB First Farm Award winners are Johno and Tania Burrows, and Jonathon and Stacey Hoets, both from Canterbury/North Otago, and Marc and Nia Jones from Waikato.
Judges said the winners showed how they had built their equity from zero, how close they were to a farm purchase and how winning the award would help them in their next step.
The judges said it was an extremely difficult decision to split the finalists and encouraged them to give it another crack next year.
The Fonterra and ASB First Farm Award (FFA) is a collaboration between ASB, Fonterra and the NZ Dairy Industry Awards Trust.
The award aims to remove barriers to farm ownership by helping the best in the industry successfully transition into farm ownership.
Each winner receives up to $1 million of ASB Business Term Lending fixed at 1% per annum for three years, along with a Fonterra launch package that includes $20,000 of Farm Source account credit to drive productivity and sustainability, mentoring, and additional support to help them successfully transition into ownership.
Tony Dodunski from Canterbury/North Otago won the Fonterra Responsible Dairying Award.
Beaumaris Dairies is located in the environmentally sensitive Lake Ellesmere/Te Waihora catchment, and the judges cited Dodunski’s outstanding leadership in delivering responsible dairying outcomes on-farm, while also making a significant and sustained contribution to the wider New Zealand dairy industry.
“Tony has demonstrated that high environmental performance can be achieved through deliberate system design, evidence-based decision-making, and long-term commitment,” they said.
“His work exemplifies responsible dairying in action: delivering verified environmental outcomes, building capable and motivated people, and strengthening the long-term sustainability of the dairy sector.”
2026 Share Farmer of the Year
Winner: Scott and Stacey Mackereth
Runner-up: Glenn and Georgie van Heuven
Third: Karl and Jess Wood
2026 Dairy Manager of the Year
Winner: Lauren McConnachie
Runner-up: Miriam Lauridsen
Third: Annie Gill
Winner: Mark Ready
Runner-up: Sam O’Neill
Third: Conor Attrill-Mundt
Tony Dodunski from Canterbury/North Otago
Winner: Alvaro Luzardo and Ximena Puig
Three equal winners