Environmental Awards Set To Close Soon

Entries For Environmental Awards Set To Close Soon

Farmers in the Horizons, Northland, Southland and Otago regions still have time to enter the 2008 Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

Northland entries close on December 7 and Otago entries close on December 15. Entries for the Horizons region close on December 21, but Southlanders have until January 15, 2008 to get their entries in.

Entries in the Waikato, Wellington, Bay of Plenty and Canterbury regions are closed.

The annual awards promote sustainable land management and are organised by the New Zealand Farm Environment Awards (NZFEA) Trust.

NZFEA general manager David Natzke says Ballance Farm Environment Award regional coordinators around the country report a very high calibre of entries so far.

He says many have been encouraged to enter by previous entrants who say their involvement in the competition was an enjoyable and rewarding experience – even if they didn’t win a prize.

“A lot of farmers initially enter just to find out how they are doing in terms of their environmental management. They get valuable feedback from the judging panel and lots of free advice on how to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of their operation,” says Mr Natzke.

“Its not uncommon to see first-time entrants coming back into the competition a year or two later when its clear they have adopted many of the ideas suggested by the judging panel. These entrants often figure among the winners second time around.”

Award winners become role models and are encouraged to share their ideas with other farmers and help spread the message to the urban community that farmers take the issue of environmental sustainability very seriously indeed.

Mr Natzke says farmers who are contemplating entering the awards should contact their local BFEA regional coordinator or their regional council. Information is also available on the www.bfea.org.nz website.

Along with Ballance Agri-Nutrients, other sponsors of the awards include PPCS, LIC, Gallagher Group, Hill Laboratories and PGG Wrightson.

The awards are also backed by Environment Waikato, Environment Bay of Plenty, the Greater Wellington Regional Council, Horizons Regional Council, Environment Canterbury, Otago Regional Council and the Northland Regional Council.

Supreme winners from each region will be honoured at a National Showcase event in 2008.

ENDS

© Scoop Media