Winner’s field day for farmers and foodies alike!

A field day hosted by Hawarden’s Patoa Farms, winners of the 2014 Lincoln University Foundation’s South Island Farmer of the Year competition, will be a rare opportunity for locals, farmers and food buffs alike to learn about, taste anWinner’s field day for farmers and foodies alike!

A field day hosted by Hawarden’s Patoa Farms, winners of the 2014 Lincoln University Foundation’s South Island Farmer of the Year competition, will be a rare opportunity for locals, farmers and food buffs alike to learn about, taste and experience the remarkable success story that’s behind New Zealand’s largest pig farm.

In spite of it being the Hurunui District’s biggest private business employer, few locals get the chance to see beyond the gate at Patoa Farms. With upwards of 40,000 pigs on the property at any one time, biosecurity is crucial to prevent the accidental introduction of disease into the herd.

But, thanks to the Lincoln University Foundation and the Sterne family hosting the South Island Farmer of the Year Winner’s Field Day, there’s an opportunity to tour the farm by bus and learn more about its story and inner workings at the Hawarden Memorial Hall.

Foundation Chairman Ben Todhunter says the field day will be valuable for farmers and agri-businesses from all fields, with plenty of practical lessons to take away for application in their own businesses.

The growth story of Patoa Farms has caught the industry’s imagination. From small beginnings only a few years ago, Patoa Farms is now a $25 million a year business supplying some 15 percent of the New Zealand pork market and 50 percent of free-farmed pork with around 2000 pigs a week going to the market.

The field day will also be a bit of a foodie heaven, with caterers ranging from the local PTA to one of New Zealand’s top chefs preparing to tantalise participants’ taste buds.

The local PTA will kick off proceedings with a traditional country morning tea. Locals will end the day too, with afternoon tea being provided by Miss Lilly's Boutique Café, winners of the North Canterbury Business Awards New Emerging Business and voted the People's Choice Award 2014. Miss Lilly’s menu will feature cold meats from Hellers, one of Patoa Farms’ customers.

Patoa’s own pork will be the centre point of the lunch menu provided by internationally-renowned chef Jonny Schwass and his specialist mobile spit-roast barbecue company Charcoal Relief Unit. During his 20 years of working in the hospitality industry Jonny has cooked in various restaurants and hotels in Australia and New Zealand and as a private chef in America. His former business Restaurant Schwass (destroyed in the Canterbury earthquakes) was a three time finalist in Cuisine Restaurant of the Year and Jonny himself was named Cuisine Magazine ‘Restaurant Personality of the Year 2011’.

Jonny will not only feature Patoa Farms’ pork in his lunch menu, he will also be utilising products from the runners up to the 2014 South Island Farmer of the Year competition, Retro Organics from Southland. Retro Organics are handcrafters of a unique range of boutique dairy products made on Robin and Lois Greer’s organic dairy property. The company has pioneered chemical-free cheeses, yoghurts and milk, as well as their innovative lactose-free yoghurt and milk range.

The afternoon will be completed with a sauvignon blanc wine from the 2013 South Island Farmer of the Year winner, Peter Yealands. Yealands Wine Group was awarded New Zealand Wine Producer of the Year, and the Yealands Estate Single Block S1 Sauvignon Blanc won the title of World’s Best Sauvignon Blanc.

Entry to the Lincoln University Foundation South Island Farmer of the Year winner’s field day is free.

Date: Friday 13 February

Time: 9:35am – 3:30pm

Venue: Hawarden Memorial Hall, 8 Horsley Down Road, Hawarden

RSVP: Just turn up on the day! However, pre-registration is appreciated to help us with catering.

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