This year’s Agrikids winners said their favourite challenge of the event was Lincoln University’s memory game, matching up different photos.
The talented trio from Blue Mountain College, the “West Otago Rams,” made up of Charlie Ottrey, 12, Dylan Young, 12, and Riley Hill, 13, were awarded the title at the Grand Final last Friday.
Despite the FMG Young Farmer of the Year being cancelled because of the pandemic, the youngsters have been able to carry on the competition online, and Lincoln, as a sponsor and supporter of the event has continued to contribute to the competition.
The 21 AgriKids Grand Final teams (top three from each regional final) went head to head in a series of modules and tasks as well as an exam for the Grand Final.
They completed the food producing memory game, calculated how much feed it takes to feed different animals, matched up different oils and lubricants and were educated about safety hazards around fuel.
A Canterbury pair headed 13 other teams, to take out the 2020 FMG Junior Young Farmer of the Year title.
Jack Coakley and Mac Williams from St Bede’s College were crowned the winners after a week’s worth of challenges.
The event started on 13 June, where two teams in each region went head to head creating a tumble composter from a barrel for the farmlet challenge.
The lifting of Alert Levels and restrictions allowed this to go ahead, with help from Young Farmers volunteers who hosted and judged the regional challenges.
Speech topics were handed out during the week and innovation projects were given in on Wednesday, before the big Grand Final day on Friday.
New Zealand Young Farmers CEO, Lynda Coppersmith, said organising to host the event online for the first time created some new challenges to work through.
“Working with two contests, 35 teams, 12 sponsors, 14 modules as well as all the other tasks was a huge logistical undertaking. It took a lot of things to fall in to place, a lot of people to make it work and a really strict time frame.”
Congratulations to the AgriKids and FMG Junior Young Farmer of the Year Grand Final winners as well as all those who took part in the contest.
