Rachael and her regional final rivals face a 50-minute examination behind closed doors in the Agmardt Agri-business Challenge at 7pm on March 17, followed by a full test of their farming abilities during the Ravensdown Agri-skills, Massey University Agri-growth and agri-sports challenges from 8am to the afternoon on March 18.
In the evening will be a dinner, an hour-long quiz to be live streamed on Facebook, an awards ceremony and party.
Entries are still being accepted for up to 32 three-member teams of children aged 8-13 in the AgriKids NZ contest and a similar number of two-member secondary school-age teams in the TeenAg competition.
Event organisers told The Country TeenAg competitors would be invited to the awards ceremony.
Rachael Blackley, who has a bachelor of agricultural science degree from Massey University, is assistant manager on a 460-cow dairy farm at Matarau managed by 2016 grand finalist Jake Thomson for sharemilker Ian Douglas, who was a 2013 grand finalist.
She and Clement Lafon, 25, are the only Upper North Young Farmers Club (YFC) representatives among the eight contestants in the regional final.
He grew up on a cropping farm in France and gained an engineering degree before moving to New Zealand three years ago with plans to work as a mechanic, but he now manages a 530-cow farm at Kamo and aims to be the first Frenchman to make the grand final.
Youngest to oldest
The youngest of the six Lower North YFC regional finalists is 19-year-old Daniel Richards, who is an assistant on a 380-split calving dairy farm at Tomarata.
Daniel is treasurer of the Kaipara YFC and he will be competing against club chairman Kurtis Danks, 21, who was runner-up in the 2015 Northland Dairy Trainee of the Year awards.
Kurtis grew up in Wellsford and discovered his passion for agriculture working on his grandparents' dairy farm in school holidays.
Oldest of the eight regional finalists is Colin Beazley, 29. Originally from a sheep and beef farm in North Hokianga, he studied accounting before turning to dairying.
He and his wife Isabelle are now 50/50 sharemilkers with 350 cows - and two children - at Wellsford.
Ryan Morris, 26, manages the 600-cow family dairy farm he grew up on in Mangakahia.
He arrived back in the country from a five-week OE in Europe two days before the district contest which earned him a place in the regional final.
Jack Thomas, 24, hails from Christchurch, but spent his early years on a family farm, worked on a dairy farm after leaving school and later attended university, gaining a commerce and agriculture degree. He now works at PGG Wrightson Fruitfed in Kumeu.
Lisa Kendall, 25, is a member of the Franklin YFC who holds a diploma in agriculture and farm management.
She manages her business Nurture Farming Ltd, which provides agricultural support services to farms and lifestyle blocks in the Franklin area.
