Taieri Winter Crop Competition and Charity Auction a record-breaker

Friends of Outram School committee co-presidents Amelia Rogers and Jaclyn Harris, Otago Community Hospice kowhai programme co-ordinator Denise van Aalst, Heli Otago pilot David Gale, Taieri Lions Club president James Adam, club secretary Colin Scurr and club past president Ad Bekkers, K9 Medical Detection founder and chief executive Pauline Blomfield, competition co-ordinator and Taieri Rotary Club member Drew Carruthers, club president Bill Botting and club member Paul Urquhart. Photo / Shawn McAvinue

The nearly $100,000 raised by the 2022 Taieri Winter Crop Competition and Charity Auction is a record-breaker.

Competition co-ordinator Drew Carruthers, of North Taieri, said the event raised about $95,000, the most since the event was launched in 2014.

"We had more than $60,000 of goods donated, which is quite staggering."

The recipients are Otago Rescue Helicopter Trust ($29,500), Otago Community Hospice ($29,000), Friends of Outram School for a playground ($13,000), K9 Medical Detection ($11,000), three rural scholarships ($4500) and the Taieri Lions Club and Taieri Rotary Club ($4000 each).

About 90 farmers entered about 120 winter crops between Shannon, about 20km southwest of Middlemarch, to Clarendon, about 10km northeast of Milton.

Judges scrutinised the crops in early May to find the two most outstanding crops, considering factors such as yield, consistency and cleanliness of crops, relative to the environment.

About 230 people attended a prizegiving and auction at Wingatui Racecourse on July 22.

The winner of the Donaghys Cup for the most outstanding crop was a swede crop grown by Jim Stevenson, of Clarks Junction.

The Rabobank Cup for the runner-up crop was awarded to Taieri sheep and beef farmer Geoff Edgar for a fodder beet crop.

The event was run jointly by the Taieri Lions Club and the Taieri Rotary Club.

"It works really well with great support from the community - it's a brilliant fundraiser for the two clubs which strikes a chord with farmers and sponsors."

K9 Medical Detection founder and chief executive Pauline Blomfield said it was the first time K9 Medical Detection had been a recipient of the competition.

The charitable trust works to improve the health of New Zealanders by using specially trained dogs to assist in the detection of cancer and other diseases.

The funding was "amazing".

"We've just had to put in a new laboratory at Invermay in preparation to get our patient urine samples, so the funding will contribute hugely to that," she said.