2023 – Year Of The Farmer Initiative

Have you nominated your rural champion yet?

Nominations are flooding the Otago Daily Times and Rural Life 2023 Year of the Farmer initiative, celebrating the South Island’s food-producing champions.

Individuals, rural communities and groups are being asked to nominate farmers and growers who make their communities a better place to live while sustainably contributing to the New Zealand economy.

In January this year, Otago Daily Times business and rural editor Sally Rae wrote an opinion piece suggesting the need for a celebration of New Zealand’s food producing champions.

It came after the New Year’s Honours list was published and, while not taking anything away from those fine individuals whose contribution to the betterment of society who were recognised, there was a lack of acknowledgement for those in the primary sector — the engine room of the economy.

It questioned where the plaudits were for those who spent their days doing their best to create an environmentally and economically sustainable future for the primary industries.

And it suggested that pride must be restored in being a farmer, otherwise there would be no incentive for the next generation — or even some of the current generation — to farm the land.

The article triggered an outpouring of support for farmers and growers, from both rural and urban folk and from all walks of life. In response, the teams at the Otago Daily Times and Rural Life have come together to officially make 2023 the Year of the Farmer.

Year of the Farmer will showcase the work of farmers to create an environmentally, economically and socially sustainable future — while also making a positive contribution to their rural communities.

We are on the hunt for an outstanding South Island farmer or grower, who ticks all those boxes, to be awarded Year of the Farmer 2023.

Nominations close on April 28 and the process of choosing our top 52 farmers and growers will then begin. Those rural champions will be profiled in a special publication in August.

A judging panel will then select finalists and, in October, one outstanding food producer will be named as the winner of the Year of the Farmer, receiving a prize pack valued at $10,000, including a special Wanaka experience, in conjunction with the Wanaka A&P Association, a Speight’s Community Shout, and much more.

Nominate online at rurallife.co.nz/YOTF

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