Two cousins from Okaihau College, Nick, 15, and Zoe Harrison, 17, have been named as the Northern FMG Junior Young Farmers of the Year for 2020.

The contest was held at the Paparoa A&P Show on Saturday, alongside the FMG Young Farmer of the Year Northern Regional Finals.

Whangarei Boys High School pair Archer Walton and Sean Alexander came in second place, where Archer was also awarded Competitor of the Day.

The two top teams have been invited to Christchurch in July to compete in the Grand Final for FMG Junior Young Farmer of the Year (FMG JR YFOTY).

On winning, the pair said they were both very surprised.

"We didn't think we'd done that well at all, we missed a lot of things," said year 13 student Zoe.

11 teams from Teen Ag Clubs in Northern high schools battled it out in a series of modules, before the top five teams were announced for "The Face Off".

Here the teams went head to head in a famous FMG YFOTY styled buzzer quiz before the winners were announced in an awards ceremony.

Year 11 student Nick said the hardest part of the day was the quiz, where he was too slow at hitting the buzzer.

A crowd of hundreds turned out for the big event in 30 degree heat, which also ran alongside the AgiKids competition.

Contest Board Member, James Goodwin, said it was a tough challenge for all the competitors.

"The modules which were made by our sponsors were quite complicated so to see some of the Teen Ag students fly through them was pretty impressive," he said.

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The scorching 30 degree heat made it even harder, especially with the competition running for a few hours, but it was so much fun and amazing to see so many teenagers interested in the agriculture, food and fibres sectors.

A team of Okaihau College Students who placed third in the AgriKids competition - Ben Quarrie, Gemma Harrison and Grace Sanders - have also been invited to compete in the Grand Final in Christchurch.

FMG JR YFOTY third place getters were Devlin Gurr and Jackson Nichols from Dargaville High School.

Teen Ag Clubs are aimed to introduce secondary school aged children to the opportunities available in the agriculture, food and fibres sector, provide leadership and support students.

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