05 July 2011 Top Young Farmer title - Lincoln University graduate's victory no surprise

Lincoln University alumni continue to reap a rich harvest of National Bank Young Farmer of the Year titles. When twenty-five-year-old Ashburton dairy farm manager  Will Grayling was crowned this year’s winner at the Grand Final in Masterton on Saturday night (2 July) he became the 22nd Lincoln University alumnus to take the title in the 43 contests since the event was established in 1969.

Will, who holds a Master of Applied Science degree with Distinction in Farm Management Consultancy,  won this year’s title with a seven-point lead over runner-up Tim van de Molen of Waikato/Bay of Plenty. In third place was another Lincoln University graduate, Cole Groves, representing Tasman.

“We are delighted with Will’s success,” says Lincoln University’s Professor of Agribusiness Keith Woodford. “We saw him as a strong candidate and staff who knew him were not surprised that he eventually took the title.”

Persistence with the Young Farmer contest paid off for Will. He has been a regional contest finalist three times (twice for Tasman) and now in the 2011 Grand Final he made it to the top spot.

For his region, Aorangi, success was also sweet. Will becomes the fourth Aorangi title-holder in the past 10 years. Prior to that Aorangi had not produced a winner since 1994. The three Aorangi winners before him were Tim O’Sullivan 2009, John McCaw 2006 and Tim Porter 2002, all Lincoln University alumni.

A member of Pendarves Young Farmers Club, Will has just completed two seasons managing an 840-cow operation for Spectrum Group in Ashburton and next season, with the same group, he is moving to a 420-hectare farm with 1600 cows and a staff of eight.

He hails originally from the Waikato and a dairy farming family and is a past pupil of St Paul’s Collegiate, Hamilton.  His ambition is to obtain a sharemilking position and build up capital towards land ownership.  Later this year he marries fiancee Kim True, also a Lincoln University graduate.

As winner, Will collected a total prize package worth over $140,000.

Third place winner, Cole Groves, is Tasman regional chairman for Young Farmers. He came to Lincoln University from King’s College, Auckland, in 2005 and held a New Zealand Dairy Industry Undergraduate Scholarship.  He graduated Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours in 2009. Today he is a sharemilker with fiancee Virginia Timperley on a 510-cow farm at Leeston and is Operations Manager for 500 cows on a farm at Oxford. Virginia is also a Lincoln University graduate. Their goal is to become 50/50 sharemilkers within two years and to own land within five years.