NZ Young Farmers Excellence Awards recognises hard work

James Goodwin reflects on the FMG Young Farmer of the Year's successful 50th anniversary grand final. Photo: New Zealand Young Farmers

It is just as well that James Goodwin can multi-task.

Mr Goodwin (30) was convener of the grand final of the 50th anniversary of the FMG Young Farmer of the Year in Invercargill this year.

It was a massive undertaking, with planning starting 18 months earlier, and involved "hours and hours" of phone calls, meetings — "and all the other stuff".

Coupled with that was a 480ha farm at Gore, which he leases from his parents, to run with 3800 ewes and 800 hoggets. Then there was the arrival of a third child in January. Mr Goodwin was recently named one of three NZ Young Farmers members to receive 2018 NZ Young Farmers Excellence Awards.

The awards were designed to recognise members who were leaders, achievers and role models.

Fellow organising committee member Steve Henderson said Mr Goodwin's award was extremely well deserved.

"It was no mean feat pulling off that grand final. I'd hate to think how many hours James put in behind the scenes which meant time away from his family and farm," he said.

A member of Waitane Young Farmers, Mr Goodwin said he managed to juggle everything through good planning.

He set out dates and times for what he had to do on farm and also what he had to do for the grand final and "just ran with it".

"It was pretty cool. Young Farmers has been a passion for me for a long time. It was awesome to have that opportunity to really give back and put so much effort into something that really helps Young Farmers."

He was full of praise for the organising committee who "just went above and beyond too".

This year's grand final was won by Otago-Southland's representative Logan Wallace, who farms in South Otago.

While Mr Goodwin admitted that he thought organising the event was crazy, the preparation that went into trying to win the event was "unreal", he said.

Mr Goodwin was ageing out of Young Farmers as he turned 31 this month, but he was keen to get involved with the contest board.

As convener, he had sat in in on those meetings, which governed where the contest was going, and that was a "cool experience".

The contest was set to undergo a major overhaul and a revamp was planned to encourage more women to enter and to help showcase New Zealand's food story.

The changes would start rolling out at regional finals across the country early next year. Next year's grand final will be held in Hawkes Bay in July.