Young Farmer of the Year

Press, 7 August 1976, Page 4

Young Farmer of the Year

Althugh Otago-Southland’s representative, Mr J. A. Metherell. won the Skellerup Young Farmer of the Year contest, decided in Christchurch last evening, Canterbury could also share in the credit.

Mr Metherell, who is 28, and was the winner by a single point, farms at Hillend, about 12 miles from Balclutha, but was brought up and educated in Canterbury. He won prizes worth more than $B7OO in the final of a contest in which about 1000 young farmers from throughout New Zealand took part in its various stages. Mr Metherell was bom in Rangiora. and educated at Christchurch Boys’ High School and Lincoln College, where he took a degree.

Before he went farming near Balclutha. he was with the Ministry of Agriculture at Gore and then at Akaroa.

Mr C. J. Reeve, of Kaikohe, who was runner-up, was third in the final last year, and was competing for the seventh time. He and Mr Metherell were neck and neck over the final stages of the contest, decided over a series of questions involving short answers and comment-type answers; an essay on the subject of rural depopulation, its causes, effects, and remedies; and an assessment of the personalities and general knowledge of the contestants by a panel of three iudges, one of whom was Professor J. D. Stewart principal of Lincoln College. Mr Metherell did not make a very strong start. He had

to answer the first question of the evening—“ What methods are available to manipulate breeding in cattle?” The second round of questions involved the finalists in identifying insects, a plant, a breed of animal, and a thistle depicted on colour slides thrown on to a screen. But after the fourth round of questions, on general knowledge, Messrs Metherell and Reeve came to the fore. The former was well marked for his essay, gaining six points more than his riyal, and when the judges’ assessments of the four men had been counted in after five rounds, Mr Metherell was one point ahead. In a further two rounds of questions, Messrs Metherell and Reeve scored the same number of points, giving the former a final tally of 154., the latter 153, Mr B. C. Davidson (Eiffelton), representing Canterbury, 135, and Mr G. W. Ebbett (Nuhaka), 132. The Prime Minister (Mr

Muldoon), who presented Mr Metherell with the Viking Ship trophy and a voucher for a haybaler worth more than $5450 which was among his prizes, said that the contest had been a display of talent by young men who epitomised what New Zealand farming was all about. As well as placing on the winner an academic cloak, Mr V. R. Skellerup. chairman of directors of Skellerup Industries, Ltd, handed to him a voucher for travel and accommodation for two to visit Singapore and Malaysia for about 11 days, and $5OO in The haybaler—and a fibreglass runabout worth more than $3200, which went to the runner-up—flanked the stage in the Ngaio Marsh Theatre, where the final was held. Mr Muldoon said that the competition proved that those who carried the burden of primary industry leadership in difficult days had just an arm’s length behind them young men who would take up where they left off, “without so much as a rattle in the chain of command.” Noting that since 1974 young women had also been eligible to enter the contest, Mr Muldoon said he wanted to see that happen, as the women of New Zealand were as much the backbone of the farmers as farming was of the economy. The single male farmers who had entered the contest would find this out. The president of the New Zealand Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs (Mr C. Dick) expressed appreciation to Mr Muldoon for the emphasis on young farmers that he had placed in the Budget—the special settlement loan scheme and farm ownership savings scheme. He said he believed that young farmers would “accept the challenge.” Mr Dick presented Mr Muldoon with a mounted lamb as a reminder to him of the contest, and also of young farmers throughout New Zealand. Frank Torley, of TVI, acted as compere.