by The FMG Young Farmer of the Year is 24-year-old Jake Jarman, of Inglewood.
Jarman, representing the Taranaki Manawatu region, beat six other grand finalists for the title at Wigram Airforce Museum in Christchurch on Saturday night.
He won a prize package worth over $75,000, which included a $15,000 cash prize from FMG, a Honda ATV, and a $30,000 package from New Holland.
Jarman said he was determined to give Grand Final his best shot after initially signing up for the contest’s 53rd season to just give it a go.
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The win was a culmination of days of practical and technical challenges set out to test the seven Grand Finalists skills, knowledge and stamina.
Contestants took part in a technical day, a practical day, speeches, exams and a buzzer quiz designed to test each contestants knowledge across a range of topics.
Practical challenges included constructing gates, railing and mailboxes, pruning trees, plumbing in a water trough and installing a water monitoring system.
Jarman said: My fellow competitors certainly didnt make it easy and, honestly, I feel like it was anyone’s game for the whole three days. Its been a privilege getting to know them and to now call them friends.
An Inglewood Young Farmer, Jarman is the fifth generation to work his family dairy farm, and also worked as a farm systems research graduate with Dairy Trust Taranaki.
Jarman also won the Agribusiness, Agri Sports and Agri Knowledge awards.
