AgResearch deputy CE Stuart Hall with AgResearch Emerging Achiever Award winner Amy Hoogenboom.
The winners in this year’s Beef + Lamb New Zealand Awards were announced at a gala dinner at Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre last month
More than 300 people attended the celebrations, which recognised people, the technologies and innovations in eight award categories that contribute so much to New Zealand’s world-leading red meat sector.
Kate Acland, chairwoman of Beef + Lamb New Zealand, says she was blown away by the calibre of the finalists.
“Sheep and beef farmers are often quite humble in their nature, but it is essential we put ourselves forward, that we celebrate our success and share our stories with wider New Zealand.
“It is going to be a tough season, and in tough times it is more important than ever to celebrate the sector’s many achievements.”
AgResearch Emerging Achiever Award was won by a Central Hawke’s Bay woman, now Darfield-based, Amy Hoogenboom.
The award judges described Amy, who is New Zealand’s beef genetics manager for global animal health company Zoetis, as a great example of a hard-working young professional. They said she had clear goals, a massive passion for the sector and its success, and was highly motivated. They described Amy as being an exemplar of an emerging achiever, who has broadened her leadership in the beef industry to incorporate the commercial sector and industry-good activities.
The Ballance Agri-Nutrients Science and Research Award was won by the Low Methane Sheep Genetics Programme, represented by AgResearch scientists Dr Suzanne Rowe and John McEwan.
This programme has led the world in the development of the world’s first livestock genetic selection tool for methane reduction. The judges said this was world-leading research and globally significant, identifying future challenges for the sheep and beef industry, and as a result the industry had a genetics option available to help reduce on-farm methane emissions.
The Datamars Livestock Technology Award was won by Silver Farm Farms/Lynker Net Carbon Zero Mapping Tool. The technology enabled farmers to capitalise on the vegetation on their farms while meeting consumer demand for red meat produced with a smaller environmental footprint.
The Gallagher Innovative Farming Award was won by the Marlborough-based fence post recycling company Repost Ltd. Using waste posts from the viticulture industry, Repost Ltd turns them into low-cost fence post options for sheep and beef farmers.
The Silver Fern Farms Market Leader Award was won by the recently formed veal company Pearl Veal, owned by Alan McDermott and Julia Galwey. Pearl Pastures began by identifying the needs of the customer, in their case chefs, and worked backwards to produce a veal product that met their requirements, thus driving demand. The judges said Pearl Pastures was also providing a novel solution to the difficult issue of wastage in the dairy industry.
The Rabobank People and Development Award was won by the New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust, which manages the Nuffield Farming Scholarship and the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme alongside other initiatives, offering fit-for-purpose leadership programmes for the primary sector.
The FMG Rural Champion Award was won by nationwide farmer mental health and wellbeing initiative Surfing For Farmers. The judges said it was hard not to give Surfing For Farmers a perfect score. Surfing For Farmers had grown to reach a large national audience (last season Surfing For Farmers hosted more than 4000 farmers at 28 locations), it was novel, enabled connections and had high impact in supporting farmers‘ wellbeing. The programme, which is run by volunteers, had maintained sponsorship and grown significantly in its scope and impact.
The Alliance Significant Contribution Award was won by Canterbury-based farm systems scientist Tom Fraser. For more than six decades, Tom has been translating science into farmer language and has provided farmers with the tools, approaches and wisdom that has helped drive productivity, profitability and environmental outcomes. The award judges said that Tom’s commitment to the sheep and beef sector, to research and on-farm extension was legendary.
The Beef + Lamb New Zealand Regional Leadership Award, which recognised an outstanding individual, organisation or business in the sheep, beef and dairy beef sector, went to Cheviot sheep and beef farmer Ben Ensor, who led North Canterbury’s dryland farmers through an incredibly difficult period in North Canterbury’s farming history. Faced with a regulation that threatened their viability, North Canterbury’s dryland farmers grouped together under Ben’s leadership to fight the regulation, which was eventually changed, and provided proof that they were continually working to reduce their environmental footprint. Out of this adversarial situation, Ben was instrumental in turning the dryland farming group into the Hurunui Landcare Group.