Ten young farmers to compete for place in final at Wanganui

Press, 29 May 1985, Page 22

Ten young farmers to compete for place in final at Wanganui

Ten young farmers will compete in the Tasman regional final of the Skellerup Young Farmer of the year contest at Rangiora on Friday.

The Tasman winner will qualify for the national final at Wanganui on July 19, when prizes to the value of more than 574,000 will be at stake. The Tasman finalists are: Christchurch District: Andrew Smith and Sydney Worsfold.

North Canterbury: John Cameron and John Button. West Coast: Damien O’Connor and Lynley Wills. Marlborough: Malcolm Dobson and Graeme Giles.

Nelson: John Abelen and Neil Sixtus.

A series of practical tests, interviews and oral questions await the Tasman finalists. The contest will start at 9 a.m. on Friday at the Rangiora High School where the competitors will be asked to carry out seven practical exercises. They will not know beforehand what the tasks are.

Two judges will interview the competitors before the contest enters its final phase — the evening session of oral questions and impromptu speeches. This will be held in the Chervier Centre, Rangiora, starting at 7.30 p.m.

Contestants will be asked to answer a series of gen-eral-knowledge and agricul-

tural-based questions and then give an impromptu speech of 90 seconds.

The four highest-scoring competitors from the morning and evening sessions will take part in a further round of questions, make another speech and have the opportunity of scoring more points in an open-question session.

The compere will be Mr Bob Parker, who will also host the national final. After the Tasman winner has been decided, the evening will concluded with a cabaret.

The Tasman region covers young farmers clubs north of the Rakaia River to Cook Strait, and includes the West Coast.