The South Island Farmer of the Year competition is no longer.
The Lincoln University Foundation has decided to call time on the competition, instead shifting its resources to increasing scholarship opportunities for young farmers and other agriculturalists to study at Lincoln.
It was moving from "identifying farming excellence to creating farming excellence", chairman Ben Todhunter said.
The competition had been a "wonderful medium" to promote farming excellence over the past 30 years and the foundation was very proud of what it had achieved.
But it now wanted to focus more on the scholarship side of its programme to achieve its purpose of growing excellence in New Zealand's primary industries, Mr Todhunter said.
The final South Island Farmer of the Year event would be a field day on the Fairlie property of 2016 winners Neil and Lyn Campbell.
It was intended to make it a celebration of all that had been achieved in the past 30 years, he said.