New ZealandYoung Farmers is a national agricultural organisation with clubs throughout the country. It was formed in 1927 in the town of Feilding. The organisation acts as a social network for rural youth around the country and is actively involved in education and promotion of personal skills for its members. There are over 1500 members in 78 clubs around the country, all backed by the national organisation, which has its headquarters in Templeton, Canterbury. The organisation's current chair is Ash-Leigh Campbell.
History
The first Young Farmers clubs started in Feilding in 1927 and in Auckland in 1932, but much of the organisation's early growth came in the south. By the early 1930s there were eight clubs in the Otago region alone, and they formed New Zealand's first Young Farmers Federation. The federation rapidly expanded, containing 40 clubs by 1935, over half of them from Otago and with only two in the North Island. In 1936 the young organisation moved its headquarters to the government's Department of Agriculture in Wellington and adopted a new constitution. This promoted the club's national nature, encouraging more growth in the North Island. By 1937 the federation included nearly 120 clubs, evenly distributed between the two islands. The organisation's membership dropped during World War II, but quickly recovered ground after 1945, rising to a peak of 306 clubs in 1948. A partner organisation, the Country Girls' Club, was also organised during the late 1940s. In 1972 the two organisations amalgamated to become the Federation of Rural Youth. The following year, a new constitution was accompanied by a change of name to the "New Zealand Federation of Young Farmers Clubs", a name it kept until 2003 when it became "New Zealand Young Farmers". AgriKidsNZ and TeenAg New Zealand Young Farmers expanded its programmes to include primary-school-aged children and high-school students.
FMG Young Farmer of the Year
NZYF runs the annual FMG Young Farmer of the year, a major event on the rural calendar with up to 300 entrants taking part annually and a total prize pool of over $300,000. The Contest began in 1969 and was initially run by individual clubs, coming under the control of the national body in 2006.
How it works
Entry is free and open to all NZYF members. District Finals are the entry level for the contest. Throughout the country 24 District Finals are held between October and December each year. The top contestants from each District Final progress through to their local Regional Final which are held from February to April. The number of contestants who progress through are decided by the region and will usually depend on how many District Finals are held in each Region. The seven top Regional Finalists battle it out in the Grand Final for the title – FMG Young Farmer of the Year Champion. Each level of the competition includes both question-and-answer sessions and practical sessions involving farm work, problem solving, and business skills. The Grand Final is a two-day event: the first day includes the practical challenges and the evening dinner where the contestants deliver their speech on a topic specific to each of them. The Grand Final concludes in a live-televised quiz show.
