Patrick Crawshaw has been crowned the East Coast Young Farmer of the Year in what turned out to be a remarkably close regional final.
Crawshaw pipped last year’s regional winner, Tikokino Young Farmers’ Mark Wallace to the post by only a quarter of a point, while Dannevirke Young Farmers’ Jack Scahill came in third.
Crawshaw should now be focusing on the upcoming FMG Young Farmer of the Year Grand Final in Timaru in July, but if he’s honest, the contest is the last thing on his mind.
The Hawke’s Bay sheep and beef farmer is still reeling from the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle, which cut off his Patoka farm from the rest of the world.
Last month he and his wife Izzy paid $7500 for a private helicopter to evacuate their 2-year-old and 5-month-old daughters out of their rural community northwest of Napier.
This month, Crawshaw is trying to work out how to get his animals to market, as it is unclear when a bailey bridge would be in place to restore access for stock trucks.
“It’s been an eventful few weeks,” he told The Country’s, Jamie Mackay.
Currently, light vehicles were allowed over the causeway to Crawshaw’s property, but he said he had a few options open to him to get off-farm if this fell through.
“We had the option of a dingy [with a] vehicle on the other side, or a tractor-trailer and get dragged through by the tractor and dozer.”
Despite these obstacles, he chose to compete in the regional final, for a change of scene and a break from the farm.
“We made the decision that it’d be nice to put your mind to something outside of the challenges that we see on our farm and in our community.
“We thought it’d be a good chance to be part of a different atmosphere – as it turned out it was a good weekend obviously.”
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Crawshaw said had no expectations of winning the regional final and hadn’t had time to think about his strategy for the Grand Final.
“I haven’t given it any reflection or planning yet – I’ve been straight into [work] since getting back – but we’ll find some time in the coming weeks and figure out what it all means and what approach we want to give it.”
He said the council and the community continued to work together to get stock and deliveries across the Tutaekuri River.
“Last week, on Thursday, we got the maiden voyage done and that was a big light at the end of the tunnel, just opening up a little bit of stock flow as winter starts creeping in.”
Crawshaw remained philosophical about his Grand Final chances in July.
“Come hell or high water you’ll do your best – so that’s as good as we can do.”