Ruwan Wijayasena and his wife Niranjal Gamlath have taken out the 2019 Canterbury/North Otago Share Farmer of the Year title.
Ruwan, who is originally from Sri Lanka, contract-milks 1,800 cows at Hororata and employs eight full-time staff.
The couple are devout Buddhists and have decided it's better not to own cows or make decisions about culling them.
So rather than taking the traditional road to farm ownership, they're expanding their contract-milking business.