A diverse field of talent and experience will front the 38th consecutive Grand Final of The National Bank Young Farmer Contest.
After a particularly tough Regional Final circuit, seven very even competitors will go hard out in Greymouth for three days of intense competition on the 6-8 July.
“The Regional Finals were tough this year with hot competition from a number of contenders in each final” comments Contest Manager Richard Fitzgerald “Several favourites were over-run by new regional finalists and even the more experienced contestants were pushed hard to gain their Grand Final place”.
“This will do them no harm, as pressure is the new factor to deal with at the Grand Final level of competition. All the study in the world is worth nothing if you can’t handle the pressure; you’ll come unstuck”.
Previous Grand Finalists Ben Allomes and John McCaw will be able to draw on their experience at the top level. This experience should give them a slight edge over the rest of the field but doesn’t come with any guarantee of success.
Last year, two previous Grand Finalists were beaten by southlander David Holdaway on his way to Grand Final victory. He had not competed at the top level before but had a long history at regional level in a very strong region.
Gavin Neumann and Callum Thomsen will both be hoping to perform a similar-styled coup as the next most experienced contestants.
Neumann defeated previous Grand Finalist, Adam Waite, in a hard fought Northern Regional Final and looks set to make a mark at the Grand Final this year. Thomsen, who was runner up at his Regional Final last year, will be getting the inside running on competing at the top level from two-time former Grand Finalist and brother Kynan Thomsen. This should be very helpful in identifying any areas he needs to improve upon.
New-comers to Regional and Grand Final level of competition are Richard Fowler, from the Waikato/ Bay of Plenty, Elliot Scott from Tasman and Paul Turner from Otago/ Southland.
“New-comers does not mean easy-beats”, continues Mr Fitzgerald. “I have seen all these guys compete and the reality is that they are all talented individuals. They are untested at the top level which makes them dark horses; unknown quantities under the Grand Final pressure. However, they all had hard fought victories which required them to focus and handle intense pressure, so I believe they will be pushing hard for victory too”.
The Grand Final competition runs for three days and is likely to include written and computer based farm management work, interviews, PowerPoint presentations, practical farm challenges including dairying, sheep, beef, arable, fencing and any other farm practice. It will culminate in a televised show which will test any aspect of theoretical farming or general knowledge in an exciting game-show style programme.
The televised show will be broadcast on TV One at 9.30pm on the 8th July. There the contestant will compete for a prize pool of $146,785 which will include a 4wd Ford Courier, a Honda ATV, a study grant from AGMARDT, power tools from ECHO, Ravensdown Fertiliser product, warm winter clothing from Swanndri, study scholarships from Lincoln University and cash from The National Bank. They will also compete for the prestige and title of The National Bank Young Farmer Contest champion for 2006.
Lincoln University is a proud sponsor of The National Bank Young Farmer Contest 2006.