FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 25/03/13
Pleasant surprise for Wyndham Young Farmer

Dean Rabbidge was pleasantly surprised to win the Otago-Southland Regional Final over the weekend (Saturday 23 March) in Gore at the Southern Field Days Site and St James Theatre.

“I didn’t really expect to win, I was just trying to do better than I did last year”, commented Dean.

Dean will be heading to Auckland for the 2013 ANZ Young Farmer Contest Grand Final (16-18 May) to battle it out with the six other top Young Farmers from across the country.

Dean also went home with the top prize worth $9,000 which included cash from ANZ and AGMARDT, a Lincoln University Scholarship, and products from Ravensdown, Silver Fern Farms, Honda, and Husqvarna.
Hayden Peter of the Nightcaps Young Farmers Club was a close second followed by Steve Henderson from the Waitane Young Farmers Club in third on a countback tied with Bruce Paterson also of the Nightcaps Young Farmers Club who placed fourth.
It was fierce competition amongst the Otago-Southland contingent. Steve narrowly took out the Ravensdown Agri-skills Challenge on a countback tied with Dean. Steve also won the Lincoln University Agri-growth Challenge. Bruce Paterson won the AGMARDT Agri-business Challenge and Simon Topham of the Nightcaps Young Farmers Club won the Silver Fern Farms Agri-sport Challenge.

Dean, 27, is the current Chairman for the Wyndham Young Farmers Club and this was his second time competing at the Regional level.

Dean earned a Bachelor of Commerce in Agriculture from Lincoln University and currently works a manager on his family’s sheep, beef and dairy farm near Wyndham.

He is passionate about farming and is looking forward to ultimately owning his own farm one day.

“I would love to be my own boss. I love the variety and flexibility of the day to day work, and you have to work hard to earn the lifestyle farming can offer.”

He has high hopes for the future of agriculture in New Zealand. “Holding the Contest in urban places like Dunedin last year, and Auckland this year is a great way to help bridge the gap between urban and rural communities”, Dean said.

“It’s worrying some people don’t really understand where their food comes from or how the food supply chain works”, he added.

Dean has big plans for this year; he and his new wife Sarah are off on a whirlwind tour of America, the U.K and Europe. Dean is well travelled having spent a year in the UK where he worked on a harvest and did some indoor lambing in Wales. And, on his way back to New Zealand he travelled through Africa.

It was another great day for the AgriKidsNZ and TeenAg competitors too. “There was a record turnout of team entries with largest amount of teams entered from any of the regions; 43 AgriKidsNZ teams and 27 TeenAg teams”, said AgriKidsNZ & TeenAg project leader Josie Hampton.

The top three teams from each competition will progress through to the Grand Final in Auckland.

In first place for AgriKidsNZ was team Abby, Peter & Emma, Abby Sim, Peter McLeish and Emma Freeman of Drummond Primary School. In second place was Waikaka LJL, Luke McStay, Luci Butler and Jackson Lowry from Waikaka School. And, in third place The Little Blue Boys, Lachlan Thomson, Ben Drummond and Jacob Hammond of Limehill Primary School.

The Drovers, Sam Calder and Matthew Hazlett of Southland Boys High School, placed first in the TeenAg competition followed by Pamu Girls, Kelsey Shaw and Grace Cassie from Columba College in second and The Mud Kids, Tom Slee and Oliver Keast of Southland Boys High School in third.

Be sure to tune in to ‘Road To The Young Farmer Final’. The series, hosted by Mark Leishman, covers each of the seven Regional Finals and follows the seven top achievers who make it through to the Grand Final. Catch all the action starting Sunday 31 March 2013 8.30pm, exclusively on TVNZ Heartland.

For more information head to www.youngfarmercontest.co.nz
ENDS

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