By Neil Filer*
What do you call the dairy industry’s Oscars, Emmys or the Canon Media Awards all rolled into one? It’s the 2014 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards.
These awards are much more than a night for farmers to don a tux and hit the big smoke, although Auckland is where the finals are being held in 2014.
Next year also happens to be the 25th Anniversary of the Sharemilker/Equity Farmer of the Year competition.
For those who don’t know much about sharemilking, it is a unique New Zealand pathway into farming.
There is lower order sharemilking which is the first rung on the ladder before progressing onto 50/50 sharemilking.
There is also equity partnership, where a farmer manages the farm and draws a salary but also has an equity stake in the farm business.
All three forms are businesses and mean that people with little money but a great work ethic can make a great future for themselves and their family.
I would actually say a sharemilking career path is vital for the success of the New Zealand economy as it breeds a positive culture of entrepreneurial success.
To recognise the best our industry has to offer is why, 25 years ago, Federated Farmers ran the very first Sharemilker of the Year competition in Stratford. This competition went from strength to strength and an amazing reunion was recently held to launch the 2014 competition, with past winners who read like a Who’s Who of Kiwi farming.
The sharemilker competition now forms part of the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards, which includes the New Zealand Farm Manager of the Year and New Zealand Dairy Trainee of the Year competitions. Entries for all of the 2014 awards, including the New Zealand Sharemilker/Equity Farmer of the Year competition, close on December 20.
Entering the Awards gives dairy farmers the opportunity to raise their profile and reputation within and outside our industry.
To the people who finance us, doing well marks you out as a highly bankable proposition.
It is an awesome competition because win or lose, the application process, the competition and judging all makes you a better farmer and that is what our industry continually strives for.
As the dairy industry competitions show it is not about giving up or turning the clock back. Much has happened over the past 25 years and most of that has been for the better.
We have a great industry chock full of talent and if you are a farmer with what it takes to show New Zealand just what we do and how good we are, then go to www.dairyindustryawards.co.nz.
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Neil Filer is Federated Farmers Sharemilkers Section chairperson
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