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June 2026 Edition
INSIDE
THIS EDITION 3D filament first
p5 Arable efficiency
p16 Rural women unhappy
Top of the class: From left, New Zealand Share Farmers of the Year winners Stacey and Scott Mackereth, Dairy Manager of the Year Lauren McConnachie, and Dairy Trainee of the Year Mark Ready. Photo by NZ Dairy Industry Awards.
Dairy farmers lead the way South Island dairy farmers showed off their talents by scooping up awards at the 2026 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards.
] by Kent Caddick
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More than 640 people celebrated the awards finals night at the Energy Events Centre in Rotorua which highlighted excellence in the dairy industry. Southland/Otago dairy farmers Scott and Stacey Mackereth were named Share Farmers of the Year, Lauren McConnachie from Canterbury/North Otago took out the Dairy Manager of the Year title and Mark Ready from West Coast/Top of the South was announced the Dairy Trainee of the Year. The judges said people entering dairy farming can look to this year’s finalists and be encouraged by the multiple pathways, diversity in ownership structure, and life-changing opportunities that exist in the dairy industry. Share Farmers of the Year Scott and Stacey Mackereth won $28,000 in prizes, along
with taking home three merit awards; the Trelleborg Sustainable Pasture Award, Dairy NZ People & Culture Award and Federated Farmers Leadership Award. The couple are contract milking for Fortuna Group at Edendale, milking 1400 cows on 464ha. Head Judge and dairy farmer Robert Ervine said Scott and Stacey make a dynamic team. “Their skills complement each other,” Ervine said. “Scott is very data driven and wears multiple hats, overseeing multiple operations and managing 13 staff who are all driven to perform every day, and Stacey is very grounding, she’s the glue.” Ervine said the couple have great attention to detail while farming at scale, but people and family are still at the centre of everything they do. They have implement-
ed the Te Whare Tapa Wha holistic Maori health model and focus on their team’s wellbeing, even allocating half an hour to all of their staff every week to fill in a reflection journal. The judges said the Mackereths have created a supportive pipeline and made sure there were pathways for people to progress within the business. Ervine said the judges were impressed by Scott’s journey to bounce back after Covid disrupted his business ventures in the United States and he returned to rebuild from scratch in New Zealand by going farming. “They’ve learnt from their prior experience and Scott is really passionate about sharing and learning from failure. They really prove that when you get knocked down you get up and go harder.”
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Country Team Success at the Bayleys Canterbury Awards 2026 Country and Lifestyle Agents in the Bayleys Canterbury Top 20
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Craig Blackburn Chris Flanagan Peter Foley Chris Jones Hamish Lane Mike Preston Mark Pringle Andrew Taylor Ben Turner WHALAN AND PARTNERS LTD, BAYLEYS, LICENSED UNDER THE REA ACT 2008