The winner of this year’s Ahuwhenua Young Māori Farmer Award for dairy is Quinn Morgan. Quinn is 26 and this is his first season of farming working as a Farm Assistant for Sam and Kate Moore on their 155ha farm in Otakiri near Whakatane. They milk 570 cross breed cows through a 36 aside shed and are on system three. Eighty percent of the farm is irrigated.

The announcement was made by the Māori Trustee and Chief Executive of Te Tumu Paeroa, Dr Charlotte Severne at the Ahuwhenua Trophy awards dinner in New Plymouth on Friday 14th May. Around 800 guests attended including the Hon Willie Jackson, Hon Damien O’Connor, Hon Meka Whaitiri, Kiingi Tuheitia, other dignitaries, politicians, agribusiness leaders and whānau from all the finalists.

The other two finalists in the competition were:

Anahera Hale, 26, who is currently working as the 2IC farm assistant on Rod and Jackie McPherson’s dairy farm near Whakatane. Since 2019 she’s been working on the 100 hectares (94 effective) where they winter about 360 cows. The farm is system two where cows are just fed grass and get topped up either with silage or palm kernel.

Ben Purua, who is 26 and currently working as the 2IC for a contract milker at Trinity Lands farm, a 307 ha (287 ha effective) property near Tokoroa in the South Waikato which milks 900 cows.

The Ahuwhenua Young Māori Farmer Award was first held in 2012 and is designed to recognised talented up-and-coming young Māori farmers and growers. It is also designed to encourage young Māori to make farming a career choice and to showcase to prospective employers, the talent pool that exists within Māori .

Since its inception the event has created interest within and outside te ao Māori and has given finalists and winners a huge sense of pride and achievement. All have gone on to greater things since winning this event.

The finalists were selected from a number of entrants from around the country. Judge Aaron Hunt says once again there was a good response for the award. He says it is never an easy task to select a winner from the finalists, who in a short space of time are making great progress in their careers in agriculture.

Aaron says Quinn Morgan exemplifies all that is good about young Māori who are making successful careers in the primary sector. He says Quinn has shown great commitment to his work, excellent leadership and will do a great job as a role model for other young Māori contemplating a career in the agribusiness sector.

Aaron says every day there are new opportunities opening up for young Māori as new land is brought into production and other land improved. He says the training undertaken by the finalists have helped them establish themselves in good jobs and provided an excellent platform for them to progress within the sector.

Source: waateanews.com