https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU2605/S00225/entry-standards-through-the-roof-for-primary-industries-awards.htm
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Entry Standards ‘Through The Roof’ For Primary Industries Awards |
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From a billion-dollar apple brand to grassroots rural leaders, this year’s Primary Industries New Zealand Awards (PINZ) finalists reflect a sector overflowing with talent.
Three finalists in each of nine categories have just been announced, with the winners to be named at an awards ceremony in Auckland on 23 June.
Respected agricultural commentator Alan Emerson, a judge in multiple PINZ awards, says he was deeply impressed by the calibre of this year’s nominations.
"The standard has always been incredibly high, but this time it feels like it’s gone through the roof.
"In a number of categories, nominations were so strong, they could have been split into two or three further categories and it would still be justified honouring people in each," Emerson says.
"That was particularly so with the new Rural Woman of the Year Award, and in categories such as the Champion and Agricultural Communicator of the Year awards."
The awards night, a highlight of the PINZ Summit at Cordis Hotel on 23-24 June, will celebrate the leaders, producers, scientists, research teams and innovators who shift the dial for farmers and the wider primary sector.
Two awards given out by the Guild of Agricultural Journalists and Communicators have been brought into the fold for the first time this year.
Broadcasters Jamie Mackay and Dom George, along with former Special Agricultural Trade Envoy Hamish Marr, are Agricultural Communicator of the Year finalists.
RNZ journalist Alexa Cook, Riley Kennedy of BusinessDesk, and Richard Rennie and Neal Wallace of Farmers Weekly are in the running for the Excellence in Agricultural Journalism Rongo Award.
Another veteran PINZ Awards judge, Justin Courtney of Dawn Chorus Consulting, says it’s a sound move to incorporate these two awards into the sector celebration.
"We should be recognising the storytellers who shed light on our industry.
"These journalists, communicators and broadcasters also have a real passion for our sector.
"They do a great job passing information back to the farming community and the wider public, so people have a deeper understanding of what makes us tick," Courtney says.
Finalists in the inaugural Rural Woman of the Year Award are Beef + Lamb NZ chair Kate Acland, Federated Farmers national board member Sandra Faulkner, and Sarah Donaldson of the East Coast Rural Support Trust.
Finalists for the Food, Beverage & Fibre Product Award also underline the calibre of this year’s nominations.
Bucking a tradition of importing all of New Zealand’s bird seed requirements, the Webster and Mitchell families of North Otago formed Topflite, building a business from just two hectares of sunflowers into an enterprise growing and supplying 1,600 tonnes of bird and small animal seed each year.
Topflite is up against pioneering blueberry growers, artisanal winemakers and gourmet product innovators Mamaku Blue, and T&G Global’s premium ENVY apple enterprise, the nation’s first billion-dollar apple brand.
Team & Collaboration Award finalists include the WaterForce team, which showed exceptional speed in restoring irrigation infrastructure after severe winds in Canterbury last October.
They’re up against A Lighter Touch, a 13-stakeholder collaboration driving agro-ecological crop protection and other innovations, and Sow the Seed, which secured agricultural and horticultural science as a valid, standalone secondary school subject.
"In a time when around the world people might be struggling to find stories of success, these award nominations show our sector is thriving," Courtney says.
"That’s off the back of a massive effort from people featuring in these nominations for the way they look after the land, the products they put into the market, or the science and research efforts that help drive that progress.
"They’re all a credit to New Zealand."
As is tradition, there are no finalists for the Outstanding Contribution to New Zealand’s Primary Industries Award - but a winner will be revealed on the night.
Dom George - Rural Exchange (REX)
Hamish Marr - former Special Agricultural Trade Envoy
Jamie Mackay - The Country
Dianne Schumacher - Dairy Companies Association of NZ (DCANZ)
Mike Casey - Rewiring Aotearoa
Neil Bateup - Rural Support Trust
Ben Purua - Farm Up NZ
Danielle Hovmand - Federated Farmers
James Robertson - Fonterra
Alexa Cook - RNZ
Richard Rennie & Neal Wallace - Farmers Weekly
Riley Kennedy - BusinessDesk
Topflite
Mamaku Blue
T&G Global
Parininihi ki Waitōtara
Gordon Williams - Pamu Landcorp Farming
Pokaiwhenua Catchment Project
Kate Acland - Beef + Lamb New Zealand
Sandra Faulkner - Federated Farmers of NZ
Sarah Donaldson - East Coast Rural Support Trust
Sow the Seed Advisory & the Horticulture & Agriculture Teachers Association
WaterForce
A Lighter Touch
Bioforce
The Sustainable Vegetable Systems project
Prism Earth
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