Twins win FMG Junior Young Farmer of the Year Otago Southland regional final

Junior Young Farmer of the Year Otago Southland champions are twins Millar and Zoe McElrea (both 16). Photo / Supplied

Twins will represent the South after winning the Junior Young Farmer of the Year Otago Southland title.

Siblings and Dunedin pupils Zoe McElrea, of Columba College, and Millar McElrea, of John McGlashan College, were crowned the champions after taking on a range of practical and theoretical modules at Waimumu, near Gore, on February 12.

Zoe said she would do plenty of study and preparation for the national final in Northland in July.

"We'll get dad to take us around the farm and do some fencing."

New Zealand Young Farmers events manager Staci Barnette said the contest season faced some challenges this year.

Despite the hurdles, she was ecstatic to be able to complete the first event under the Red traffic light system and credited a strong team of staff, sponsors, volunteers and members.

"Everything ran relatively smoothly and while it was a shame to have to cap entries, particularly for our most popular region, it was epic to see the teams on the day come out in full force and enjoy it."

The top two Junior Young Farmer of the Year teams really dug deep to get on the leaderboard, especially with their general knowledge for the buzzer quiz, she said.

In second place in the junior competition was Tia Fowle and Renee Zwagerman and third went to Kate Bennett and Grace Duthie.

The AgriKidsNZ contest was run at the same Southern Field Days site on the same day.

The winners were the team "Agriboys" - Jud Duffy, Will Bensemann and Theo Dynes, of St Peter's College in Gore.

The runner-up team was Hauroko Valley Primary pupils Ewan Breach, Harry Blair-Edie and Oliver Deans.

Winton School pupils Brodie McIlwrick, Hunter Glover and Maddy Dodds placed third.

The top three AgriKidsNZ teams were "the epitome of trying their best to win while also having fun".

The top two Junior Young Farmer of the Year teams and top three AgriKidsNZ teams have been invited to the Young Farmer of the Year grand final in Whangarei in July.