Entries called for Ahuwhenua Trophy

MEDIA RELEASE - 29 September 2014

The quest to find the top Māori sheep and beef farm for the 2015 Ahuwhenua Trophy BNZ Māori Excellence in Farming Award is now on.

The Chief Executive of Te Puni Kōkiri, Michelle Hippolite officially launched the awards at the annual conference of the Federation of Māori Authorities in Whanganui at the weekend.

Michelle Hippolite

The Chairman of the Ahuwhenua Trophy Management Committee, Kingi Smiler is urging individuals, trusts and incorporations to enter the competition. He says while it is great that one farm will eventually win the competition there are huge benefits in just entering and hopefully being a finalist.

"Previous entrants and finalists have told us that the experience of just entering has been hugely beneficial to them. The judges who are specialist rural professionals are able to give feedback and ideas which can guide the strategic direction of a farm is in itself invaluable. Just having some professional benchmarking done can spark new initiatives which can make a difference is a really positive outcome," he says.

The awards dinner will be held in Whanganui on the 29th of May 2015 and there will also be a special launch at which the finalists will be announced at Parliament in March.

Cedric Nepia at the Ahuwhenua stand with an entry form.

Entry forms and full details for the 2015 competition are available here. For further information contact Peter Burke: 021 2242184 / peterb@levin.pl.net. A photograph of the launch is also available on request to Peter.

Our thanks to our valued sponsors: BNZ, Beef +Lamb NZ, Ministry for Primary Industries, Te Puni Kōkiri, Te Tumu Paeroa, AgResearch, Ballance Agri-Nutrients, PGG Wrightson Ltd, Primary ITO, AFFCO, Allflex, BDO, Federation of Māori Authorities and Polaris.