As a rural school, farming is a big part of our community and the Oxford Future Farmers competition is an opportunity for students to experience the different areas of an agricultural industry.

This year the annual competition ran on 22nd June and the competitors took part in a host of different challenges over the course of the day. With eight stations set up on the A&P Showgrounds, the contest lasted all day and continued into the evening.

Students practised operating a tractor, learnt how to build a bee hive,  identified different seeds, learnt new skills and reinforced those that they were already well practised in. Many external contractors come into the school for the day to run stations, help students with setting up irrigation and determining velvet grading. Oxford Ag ran the station on tractor skills, and although some of the competitors came into the station very green, contractor Jake Vargo was impressed with their overall ability. 

The Future Farmers contest is something that Oxford Ag are always involved in, and Jake has already worked with some of the students who were finding their footing in the farming world. He commented “these young men and women are our future employees, or our customers” Malcolm Wyllie, practised farmer who now works for Farmlands, ran the seed and plant identification station. He commented that “in terms of potential, this was a really great thing that schools do”. That potential was the key, and it was easy to see many of the competitors running their own farms in the future.

Natalie Crozier, who runs the Canterbury Beekeeping business Bees 2 Honey, helped contestants put together a three story hive, and created a quiz on honey bees and their upkeep. Beekeeping is a career pathway that many Ag students have never been introduced to, and she felt that the Future Farmers was a great way “to expose people to all the different sectors of farming”.

Beekeeping was certainly not the only unknown on the day, and for many the velvet grading was a new experience as well. According to Kurt Haldance, who came out from PGG Wrightson, “it’s very valuable for kids to see a different side of farming”. 

Warren Boocock ran a water and pipe scheme station on behalf of Farmlands. He asked students about stock requirements for water, and helped them to connect a pipe fed water trough. 

The Future Farmers contest introduces students to a wide range of job opportunities. Aqualinc also ran a water based challenge, and contestants were asked to consider irrigation and land management and the environmental impacts. Students carried out a bucket test, recorded factors such as wind speed and the Aqualinc station operator highlighted the emerging talent of the students, saying that many young and upcoming farmers are “growing an industry”.

Many Oxford students are planning on doing just that, but the day was more than just future planning - the competition was a lot of fun. All the contestants took part in the Amazing Race, which involved students who weren’t taking part in the competition. Acting Principal Ms Varcoe even had a go, falling slightly short of first place, which was won by Shaugn Kilgour.

The competition continued even as the school day finished, and competitors met at the Town Hall in the evening to give speeches and take part in the quiz. After many rounds of quizzing, and even some speed runs, the students each gave speeches about what Agriculture meant to them. They were joined on the stage by guest speaker Ash-Leigh Campbell, who won the Fonterra Dairy Women of the Year Award, and her surprise appearance was welcomed by the competitors, who spoke highly of her inspirational speech.

As the contest drew to a close, the awards were at last given out. Congratulations to Shaugn Kilgour who won the competition, and to Cameron Rowe and Hillary Cooper who came second and third. Elise Whitwell was also awarded a trophy, for the Best Effort on the day. It was a close competition and all the placeholders did extremely well. We look forward to seeing what can be achieve next year when Future Farmers is run again!