Maize Farmer of the Year Simon Nitschke, left, and Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford at the Arable Industry Awards in Christchurch on 15 August 2024. Photo: SUPPLIED/Paul Petch
New Zealand's top grain and seed growers, pivotal to the country's bread and animal feed supplies, have been recognised in Canterbury.
Rangitīkei farmer Simon Nitschke was named Maize Farmer of the Year and overall winner at the Arable Industry Awards 2024 in Ōtautahi on Thursday evening.
The third generation farmer manages around 200 hectares of maize and barley on his family farm in Marton.
Nitschke was praised for his yields which were described by the judges as "extremely high by industry standards" - thanks to careful cultivar selection and effective management of soil fertility.
He said he was surprised by the win.
"It's a bit surreal really. I definitely didn't expect to take out the overall award, so no, it was very surprising," he said.
"It was good to celebrate it with the team really, and it'll be well received back home, that's for sure."
The family business, Arable Solutions, was a fully integrated business, which sold product to Nestlé, barley malt into Europe and to dairy and poultry farms across the motu.
Nitschke said to be recognised with the award was pleasing after a few challenging seasons.
"The tail part of the maize season was definitely no fun for anyone," he said.
"Large volumes of grain that were heavily reduced in price, so that hurt a lot of people, a lot of growers."
There needed to be an uplift in prices this coming season to keep up with rising input costs.
"We realistically need to see significant lifts in the market like it was previously to sustain it, really. All the costs haven't come back, in considering the amount of input that goes into all these things.
"I know it's a challenging time at present, so hopefully everybody can weather the storm of these lower prices and hopefully come out the other side with an uplift."
Federated Farmers arable chair David Birkett said the arable sector tended to fly under the radar - but growers were pivotal to domestic food staples, seed export markets and supplying the grass seed and animal grain wider agriculture sectors relied on.
Birket said despite a tough season, growers' resilience and innovation had shone through.
Farmer Peter Hewson of Timaru was named Cereal Grower of the Year - recognised for his management of water loss on low dryland cropping, thanks to good tilling practices, drilling dates and careful planning.
Southlander Scott Rome of Gore took out Seed Grower of the Year for his work farming with his parents, Steven and Helen Rome.
Rome was involved with his local catchment group and recently became the Federated Farmers' Southland representative on the Herbage Seed group.
David Weith of Bayer Group around Mid and South Canterbury was named Agronomist of the Year.
The longest-serving director for United Wheat Growers, Syd Worsfold of Mid Canterbury, was inducted into the newly formed Arable Hall of Fame.
