Three teams from Tokomairiro High School are representing Otago-Southland at the 2018 FMG Young Farmer of the Year grand final, which starts in Invercargill today.
The Milton high school had the strongest showing of any school at the regional competition, having three teams qualify for the final. Blue Mountain College was the next best, with Hannah Reid, Peter Millar and Elizabeth Lamb gaining runner-up in the AgriKids competition.
The TeenAg and AgriKids finals, involving secondary school-aged pupils from New Zealand's seven regions, are held in conjunction with the Young Farmer of the Year competition, which marks its 50th anniversary this year.
Levin Coulter (16) and James Scanlan (18), who competed in the grand final last year - in the first year their high school had entered a team - have been putting in the hard yards.
They had been trying not to let their own high expectations of themselves get to them, Levin said.
''There's definitely more pressure because we've done it before, but we're not focused on that.''
''We're there to have a good time, too,'' James added.
''You've got to be relaxed. You don't do well if you're stressed,'' Levin said.
Laura Scanlan and team mate Rebecca Hutton (17) said they had started to get excited this week as the day of departure grew closer.
''We've had a good lead up, but I'm definitely feeling a bit nervous. We've never done anything like this before,'' Rebecca said.
They are tested in eight different modules covering all aspects of the agriculture industry, including animal anatomy, fencing, meat cut identification, gun safety, equine, agronomy, feed budgeting and chainsaw assembly.
The top five teams from the module section move into the final ''Face Off'', which involves completing a mixture of tasks while being judged on quality and time factors.
''We've definitely been doing a lot of cramming,'' Laura said.
They felt fortunate to have last year's Young Farmer of the Year winner Nigel Woodhead, who farms at nearby Lovells Flat, on their doorstep.
They recently spent time with him on his farm, getting study tips and brushing-up on practical tasks they might encounter at the competition.
Both TeenAg teams have also got behind the school's AgriKids team, competing in their first grand final.
Team member Millar McElrea (13) said he was surprised they had got this far.
''We did no preparation.''
''But we had good team work,'' Erin Willis (12) said.
''It's been fun,'' Ryan Clark (13) said.
Teacher Sue Nelson, who has been helping prepare the teams, said she was proud of the work they had put in, and the fundraising effort to get them to the event.
It was good to see agriculture getting recognition, in the same way that science and technology gained prestige, through competition, she said.
''You need intelligent people in agriculture. These are bright young cookies and they are the future of farming.''
Otago-Southland is represented by Waipahi sheep farmer Logan Wallace, who is competing in his second Young Farmer grand final.
This year has been a big one for the 28-year-old Clinton Young Farmers member.
Along with his regional win, he and his family won the Otago Farm Environment Awards in April.
-By Emma Perry
