July 6, 2025 • 7 mins
We yarn with the 2025 FMG Young Farmer of the Year - a Waikato sheep and beef farmer who finished third in the 2023 Grand Final when representing Otago/Southland.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
But let's kick off the show. Hopefully on the other end,
the Young Farmer of the Year got the Cloak of
Knowledge on Saturday night. Hugh Jackson, Congratulations, great to catch
up with you again after meeting you in person at
Field Days.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Thanks Jeremy, you awsome to be here and yeah thanks
having me.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
On second time to the batter's box for you. You,
I think was at third in twenty twenty three when
you were representing Otago Southland, so it must have been
sweet to have the victory back in the in the
province of a region you'd represented it.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, sure was. You're right there year third in twenty
twenty three when Emma Pool took it out and did
a great job. It was awesome to get back down
to Southend and King qualified for Grand Final. It was
great to be amongst the hyper friends and family down
there that I've made made in twenty twenty when I
(00:58):
first went down there on the grad program with theien
z Ed and enjoyed it so much I turned off
my tongue with sirians Ed to do a bit of
dairy farming with salmon. Jenn Hods also that dream come true,
really to get it done and get it done in
southern So.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
The reason for going dairy farming because you are a
sheep and beef farmer at Ragland or Tiaco on the
west coast of the North Island, there was the reason
just to expand your knowledge with a view to being
the young farmer of the year at some stage.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, it was definitely to expand my knowledge. If I'm
being brutally honest, I thought i'd go real banking after UNI.
Applied for a few grad programs but couldn't make the
cut there. So the sign that I would have a
crack at the darien zd grad program and I'm really
lucky that I managed to get into that. I said
(01:51):
to them, I wasn't too worried where I went, and
I ended up placing me in and Icago. I knew.
I knew Martha Boughton, who was down there at Mountainton
Station at the time to a university, but I didn't
know anyone else in Southam. So it was a real
adventure going down there and love my time. Got involved
with the former Young Farmer's Club, which is right up
(02:12):
there as far as the best clubs in his land,
I believe, and got into the squash bab and farvagate
and created a network really quickly that I still churished today.
So that's how I ended up getting involved in the
dairy industry for a start and have come home since
then due to the old man needing a hand and
(02:34):
it's being time to have a crack back here.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Well the old man, as you put it, your father
to be more polite, he was. I think your mum
and dad were both down on him for cargo and Michelle,
my producer, was down there and she met them and
said they were naturally very very proud of what you'd achieved.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, and very fortunate to have their support. And I
loved growing up. Wouldn't be where I was today if
it wasn't for them, So big, big thanks for them
and for backing me with the way and being rock
sided me through all the ups and downs that life
throws at you talk.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
To me or talk me through Thursday, Friday and Saturday
of last week. How close did it get at the
end because you were the one winner. Gareth mccirtcheer another
outstanding young man. He was in second place, and George
Leatham he finished third.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah, so it was a big full on three days
as it always is at Grand Final. Thursday we had
our technical Day where we were challenged over four or
so challenges. We had an exam, but at the same
time as doing the exam, we would come in and
out of the room to go to three other challenges.
One of thean being an interview, the other one an
(03:49):
HR challenge in Force, one being a presentation. And the
presentation we had to give was on a business case
sort of business plan that we put together and the
lead up to Grand Final we had six weeks to
do a written assignment basically and then got marked on
(04:10):
that and then the presentation side of it. So that
was technical Day and then practical day on the Friday
was at Winton. An amazing day there, sunny, beautiful, beautiful
sunny day, nice cold start. We were challenged with the
rainsdown module around winter cropping. Wash Buck had us sitting
up a tent and doing a few other things with
the products. There was a sharing module, had to share
(04:32):
a couple of sheep class and well and press a bail,
put some d duel tires on a track that at
the FMG module. Milwaukee had us using some of their
tools putting them together sitting them up and then cutting
lengths of steel without any measuring tape, so we had
to do our best by with our eye. New Hilant
(04:56):
had us boiling bailing some hay and there was also
fisheries module there as well, to throw a bit of
a spinner in the works.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
That must have been fun bailing about a high in
Southland in early July.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah, it was. It was a bit of fun. I
learned a lot of that module because I've never done
any bailing before and it was it was a real experience.
But hats off to them. They helped step me through
the bits that I wasn't confident on. Obviously I would
have taken off plenty of marks of that, but it's
all part of the competition, been able to learn and
grow your skills. So they did a great job there.
(05:30):
And then we're onto the farmland as well, so we
had to build a fencing and hook up a trough,
put some drains in the ground with a little digger,
swing a gate obviously, and class some Rayperian plants and
even had to do some butchery, cut up half of
lamb and show how we would take a bit of
(05:50):
velvet off a stag as well, and then finally they
hit the head. They got us building a bridge for that.
That was a really cool challenge. Hats off the committee
for organizing that. One of the best head heads I've seen.
We also had a hundred two wheeler motorbike to get
round on the day, and once we built the bridge
we had to get across it with a two wheeler motorbike.
(06:14):
And then finally the race off, which involved some tasks
like full ofting a blue cord, shocking some parlor, cutting
a rugby ball with an angle grind out of some steel,
providing some first aid to a patient. We had to
deal with baking a dog kennel out of it, fat
a drum, and panting some flats.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
How did you get all all through that on one day?
I don't know anyhow, Let's just move on the final
the buzz around, which I guess decided the competition. How
close was that? Oh?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Very close? I was the most uncomfortable period or time
for me after that buzz around, because Gareth and George,
Hats off them, had a great round, especially Gareth, and
he was sitting further down the leaderboard to me at
that stage. We got given the rankings, but not the scores,
so you didn't know how close it was. And it
definitely got to jump on me there, so I was
(07:05):
sitting there thinking he might have got it at the
end there, so pushed us all the way, but Minister
En up on top, so really really happy about that.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Well, Hugh Jackson, congratulations. I'm so pleased that you got
through us. I said it was great to meet you
at the Field Days and no doubt our paths will
cross regularly in the coming twelve months as you serve
your tenu or your one year as the FMG Young
Farmer of the Year.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Congrats, thank you very much, Damien, you look forward to
catching up again.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Good Man,
But let's kick off the show. Hopefully on the other end,
the Young Farmer of the Year got the Cloak of
Knowledge on Saturday night. Hugh Jackson, Congratulations, great to catch
up with you again after meeting you in person at
Field Days.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Thanks Jeremy, you awsome to be here and yeah thanks
having me.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
On second time to the batter's box for you. You,
I think was at third in twenty twenty three when
you were representing Otago Southland, so it must have been
sweet to have the victory back in the in the
province of a region you'd represented it.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, sure was. You're right there year third in twenty
twenty three when Emma Pool took it out and did
a great job. It was awesome to get back down
to Southend and King qualified for Grand Final. It was
great to be amongst the hyper friends and family down
there that I've made made in twenty twenty when I
(00:58):
first went down there on the grad program with theien
z Ed and enjoyed it so much I turned off
my tongue with sirians Ed to do a bit of
dairy farming with salmon. Jenn Hods also that dream come true,
really to get it done and get it done in
southern So.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
The reason for going dairy farming because you are a
sheep and beef farmer at Ragland or Tiaco on the
west coast of the North Island, there was the reason
just to expand your knowledge with a view to being
the young farmer of the year at some stage.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, it was definitely to expand my knowledge. If I'm
being brutally honest, I thought i'd go real banking after UNI.
Applied for a few grad programs but couldn't make the
cut there. So the sign that I would have a
crack at the darien zd grad program and I'm really
lucky that I managed to get into that. I said
(01:51):
to them, I wasn't too worried where I went, and
I ended up placing me in and Icago. I knew.
I knew Martha Boughton, who was down there at Mountainton
Station at the time to a university, but I didn't
know anyone else in Southam. So it was a real
adventure going down there and love my time. Got involved
with the former Young Farmer's Club, which is right up
(02:12):
there as far as the best clubs in his land,
I believe, and got into the squash bab and farvagate
and created a network really quickly that I still churished today.
So that's how I ended up getting involved in the
dairy industry for a start and have come home since
then due to the old man needing a hand and
(02:34):
it's being time to have a crack back here.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Well the old man, as you put it, your father
to be more polite, he was. I think your mum
and dad were both down on him for cargo and Michelle,
my producer, was down there and she met them and
said they were naturally very very proud of what you'd achieved.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, and very fortunate to have their support. And I
loved growing up. Wouldn't be where I was today if
it wasn't for them, So big, big thanks for them
and for backing me with the way and being rock
sided me through all the ups and downs that life
throws at you talk.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
To me or talk me through Thursday, Friday and Saturday
of last week. How close did it get at the
end because you were the one winner. Gareth mccirtcheer another
outstanding young man. He was in second place, and George
Leatham he finished third.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah, so it was a big full on three days
as it always is at Grand Final. Thursday we had
our technical Day where we were challenged over four or
so challenges. We had an exam, but at the same
time as doing the exam, we would come in and
out of the room to go to three other challenges.
One of thean being an interview, the other one an
(03:49):
HR challenge in Force, one being a presentation. And the
presentation we had to give was on a business case
sort of business plan that we put together and the
lead up to Grand Final we had six weeks to
do a written assignment basically and then got marked on
(04:10):
that and then the presentation side of it. So that
was technical Day and then practical day on the Friday
was at Winton. An amazing day there, sunny, beautiful, beautiful
sunny day, nice cold start. We were challenged with the
rainsdown module around winter cropping. Wash Buck had us sitting
up a tent and doing a few other things with
the products. There was a sharing module, had to share
(04:32):
a couple of sheep class and well and press a bail,
put some d duel tires on a track that at
the FMG module. Milwaukee had us using some of their
tools putting them together sitting them up and then cutting
lengths of steel without any measuring tape, so we had
to do our best by with our eye. New Hilant
(04:56):
had us boiling bailing some hay and there was also
fisheries module there as well, to throw a bit of
a spinner in the works.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
That must have been fun bailing about a high in
Southland in early July.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah, it was. It was a bit of fun. I
learned a lot of that module because I've never done
any bailing before and it was it was a real experience.
But hats off to them. They helped step me through
the bits that I wasn't confident on. Obviously I would
have taken off plenty of marks of that, but it's
all part of the competition, been able to learn and
grow your skills. So they did a great job there.
(05:30):
And then we're onto the farmland as well, so we
had to build a fencing and hook up a trough,
put some drains in the ground with a little digger,
swing a gate obviously, and class some Rayperian plants and
even had to do some butchery, cut up half of
lamb and show how we would take a bit of
(05:50):
velvet off a stag as well, and then finally they
hit the head. They got us building a bridge for that.
That was a really cool challenge. Hats off the committee
for organizing that. One of the best head heads I've seen.
We also had a hundred two wheeler motorbike to get
round on the day, and once we built the bridge
we had to get across it with a two wheeler motorbike.
(06:14):
And then finally the race off, which involved some tasks
like full ofting a blue cord, shocking some parlor, cutting
a rugby ball with an angle grind out of some steel,
providing some first aid to a patient. We had to
deal with baking a dog kennel out of it, fat
a drum, and panting some flats.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
How did you get all all through that on one day?
I don't know anyhow, Let's just move on the final
the buzz around, which I guess decided the competition. How
close was that? Oh?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Very close? I was the most uncomfortable period or time
for me after that buzz around, because Gareth and George,
Hats off them, had a great round, especially Gareth, and
he was sitting further down the leaderboard to me at
that stage. We got given the rankings, but not the scores,
so you didn't know how close it was. And it
definitely got to jump on me there, so I was
(07:05):
sitting there thinking he might have got it at the
end there, so pushed us all the way, but Minister
En up on top, so really really happy about that.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Well, Hugh Jackson, congratulations. I'm so pleased that you got
through us. I said it was great to meet you
at the Field Days and no doubt our paths will
cross regularly in the coming twelve months as you serve
your tenu or your one year as the FMG Young
Farmer of the Year.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Congrats, thank you very much, Damien, you look forward to
catching up again.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Good Man,
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