Tom Adkins, Aorangi FMG Young Farmer of the Year 2022. Photo / Supplied
Tom Adkins, Aorangi FMG Young Farmer of the Year 2022. Photo / Supplied
The 2022 FMG Young Farmer of the Year contest series Grand Final takes place from July 7 to 9 in Whangārei, with seven regional finalists competing for the title. Read on to get to know Aorangi Young Farmer of the Year Tom Adkins a little better.
Despite little experience playing rugby, Tom Adkins once found himself commentating on a local club rugby game.
The sports/outdoors/fishing and diving-mad Aorangi FMG Young Farmer of the Year considers himself a "yes man" which gets him caught up in all sorts of situations.
Twilight netball, touch rugby, surfing for farmers – name anything around Kurow and the Upper Waitaki Young Farmer has probably done it.
Adkins, 23, has spent the last two years as a block manager on Caberfeidh Station, a 6000-hectare farm, running around 33,000 stock units, in the Hakataramea Valley in the Waimate District.
It carries a wide range of stock classes, including maternal and terminal mated ewe flocks, a DNA recorded breeding cow herd, a Lumina lamb fattening programme and First Light Wagyu finishing cattle - as well as bull beef and trade/finishing steers and heifers.
Adkins is in charge of the 1600ha Caberfeidh Block, where he manages the set stocking, mobbing up, feed budgets and stock rotations for the breeding and trade stock.
"It's really good practice to be really adaptable to change," he said.
With a short, vigorous growth season, which then becomes quite dry, stock are always moving block to block, week to week.
"From one week to another I could get more ewes, and the cattle I thought I had, are needed elsewhere," Adkins said.
"The stock are very malleable in the whole farm system and so that's something you've really got to get used to. No matter what the change is you've got to be good with it and make it work."
Adkins spent two years at Telford and then one year at Lincoln University, gaining a Diploma in Farm Management with Distinction.
During his holiday breaks, he gained experience on Manawaimai Station, a hard hill country property up the Mangamahu Valley, as well as Te Mania Angus Stud near Kaikōura.
Te Mania's stock manager Will Wilding took him on after the Lincoln Young Farmers toured the North Canterbury farm where Adkins was seeking holiday work.
There, he learnt how to prepare Angus Stud bulls for sale, along with the ins and outs of artificial insemination (AI), mating and weaning. He also had his first experience with calf catching and recording and embryo transfers.
"I found the genetics and the stud work really fascinating, how every animal is accountable to itself and its genetic worth," he said.
"Every animal was judged on an individual basis rather than the production of the herd or the flock."
Originally from Whanganui, Adkins was raised on a 400ha sheep and beef farm, breeding and finishing Coopworth ewes and mixed breeding cows with progeny sold as weaners.
Tom Adkins (left) catches up with Otago Southland FMG Young Farmer of the Year, Alex Field and Tasman FMG Young Farmer of the Year, Jonny Brown. Photo / Supplied
His end goal is to get back to the farm within the next ten years, to eventually buy into it and take over from his parents Grant and Clare Adkins.
"I would like to experience and work on a number of farming properties to learn as much as I can about different farming enterprises and types within sheep and beef, before returning home," he said.
"I've got lots to learn from Dad and I really look forward to the opportunity to be able to learn from him as well as bring back things that I've learnt along the way."
Adkins predicts diversification is going to be a big part of New Zealand's farming future, so he's keen to explore that.
"I'd like to be able to sell my own produce locally one day and put my face to what comes out of my farm gate and be proud of that."
His parents are also responsible for introducing him to the FMG Young Farmer of the Year contest – as they had been involved for a long time, helping to convene regional finals and grand finals in their day.
"Contest is a huge celebration of Young Farmers' skillset and knowledge which I think is pretty bloody awesome."
Getting through to Grand Final on his first Regional Final was surprising but exciting, Adkins said.
Tom Adkins is keen to have a good crack at the Grand Final. Photo / Supplied
"I wasn't entering to win it this year, I was just going to go and give it my best crack because that's all I could do and it turns out that was enough, so that was pretty cool."
Over the three-day Grand Final, he thinks the practical day will be right up his alley. He has also been preparing hard for the technical side of the contest.
"I'm reasonably competitive too that helps out sometimes but it didn't help out in my first year of social twilight netball when I broke my elbow, I was probably being too competitive," he laughed.
The legacy and recognition of the contest also hasn't been lost on him.
