Ray and Adrianne Bowan of South Canterbury
The Bowans farm 1214 hectares in Orari and 197 hectares at Coldstream on the North Bank of the Rangitata River. With 95 percent of their farm irrigated they grow potatoes, cereals, barley, maze and grass seeds. Increasingly they are wintering dairy cows and last winter 2,500 cows wintered on their property.
Ray is a Director of both Grainstor and Seedlands and is an original member of the Rangitata South Irrigation Scheme. In 2009 when a potato chip factory in Washdyke closed down the Bowans bought the factory and established Heartland Potato Chips which employs 15 people. The Bowans bought their first farm over 40 years ago. It is now a family affair with their son working on the farm, one daughter working in the office and another daughter, who lives in Christchurch, helping out with the marketing.
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2010 South Island Farmer of the Year – Doug, Wendy, Fraser, Shelley Avery
Bonavaree, on the banks of Lake Grassmere in Marlborough, has undergone a transformation.
Doug and Wendy Avery bought the farm in 1979 and now their son Fraser and his wife Shelley run the day-to-day operation and are buying into the property.
Following 13 years of drought the Averys converted the farm to lucerne, created wetlands and planted native trees.
Year on year farm profits have increased and it is now home to 2,910 head of sheep and 527 head of cattle. The Averys recently took on the lease of a 140ha neighbouring block which they are converting to lucerne.
Doug spreads Bonavaree’s story through speaking engagements and advises other farmers on change management via his email blog.
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2008 South Island Farmer of the Year – Colin and Stefan Mavor
 The father and son partnership operates Braemorn Farm, Airedale, near Oamaru. The Mavors’ Braemorn Farm is a lamb and beef production unit based on buying in steer calves, mainly Angus, to winter over then on-selling to Five Star Beef.
Outside of Landcorp they are Five Star’s biggest beef supplier. They describe the alliance with Five Star as the ‘key’ to the success of their beef operation. On the lamb side, through a combination of their own ewe flock and use of the Lambplan they supply to Canterbury Meat Packers. Over 75 per cent of their own lambs are sold prime by the end of February. Colin says the award is the highlight of his farming career. Colin and his wife travelled to the UK for six weeks looking at various farming operations – while Stefan stayed at home with his wife who was expecting their fourth child at the time.
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2007 South Island Farmer of the Year - Abe and Anita de Wolde
 Abe and Anita emigrated to New Zealand in 1990 because milk production quotas and the location of their 26 ha dairy farm made business expansion impossible for them in Holland.
After exploring the South Island and 18 months work on a dairy farm in Canterbury they converted their first farm in the Winton area, central Southland. Unbeknown to them this was the first dairy conversion in the area and the beginning of a true dairy invasion.
From those early beginnings their operation grew and currently they own three dairy farms and a runoff block producing in excess of one million kilograms of milk solids and 160 ha of forestry. They anticipate to continue growing with another conversion planned to kick in in 2008.
The increasing logistical and environmental challenges they faced wintering their ever increasing herd resulted in the fine tuning of brassica wintering and ultimately a switch to indoor wintering systems. Their current "claim to fame" is a concept of wintering sheds blending European/ American design with New Zealand farming practices.
The use of muck scrapers, stalls and rubber mats for the cows to lie on allows for late calvers to be milked into the winter. Also, all the manure is stored until spring when grass is actively growing, greatly reducing Nitrogen leaching, Phosphate runoff, and as a result fertiliser expenditure.
After building one shed Abe researched the differences between indoor and outdoor wintering practices with assistance of Lincoln University and SIDDC. Findings were that increased lactation length, reduced nutrient wastage and more efficient use of feed more than compensates for interest and depreciation costs of the facility. Encouraged by their findings they built another shed the following year and ultimately plan to winter all their cows indoors.
It is all about sustainability, Abe says, economically, environmentally and socially, and all three conditions have to be met. Abe and Anita are confident that their set up offers significant improvements in all three areas.
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2005 South Island Farmer of the Year – Fiona and Nelson Hancox
 At the time the Hancox’s farmed 1000 acres at Kowai Downs near Tapanui. They now own two other farms and Fiona puts that down to the success of wining the award and the benefits that came with it. She says they won because they’re solely focused on lambs and have good weights.
Fiona says she didn’t get into farming to be an average farmer and wants to encourage other farmers to take part in the competition. She admits it takes a bit to get over opening yourself up,especially putting your fi gures out there, but she says it provides the best opportunity to set goals.
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2003 South Island Farmer of the Year – Bronwyn and Eddie Brock
 Bronwyn feels it was profitability and innovation that helped them win. The deer farmers do not have a traditional selling shed and instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars on a shed, or paying to use someone elses, they came up with an innovate solution. They set up a marquee on their property Merino Downs and played videos of their stock to interested buyers.
The Brocks used the award to travel to the UK and Ireland, and they realised farming techniques there were many years behind New Zealand. However Bronwyn says they were taken with an Irish farmer who put an abattoir on his farm and marketed directly to Marks and Spencer in London.
Bronwyn wants to encourage all farmers to give the competition ago. “The money was good, the trip was fantastic but in the long run they’ve got a lot more from winning the award”. Bronwyn says she knows winning has helped their West Otago deer stud farm.
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1999 South Island Farmer of the Year – Brent and Shirley Rawstron
The Rawstrons own Rossendale Holdings at Halswell, an innovative beef, wine and hospitality business on the outskirts of Christchurch. Their beef is sold in Dallmyrs, a delicatessen in Munich, Germany. In that shop a plaque promotes Rossendale Holdings – it’s there to let customers know where their beef comes from. The Rawstrons used the prize to fly to Europe to check out marketing opportunities. Brent’s advice to other farmers is go for it – “entering a competition focuses you on your core business, and even if you don’t win you will meet leaders in their field and what they tell you may well help your farm”.
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