In rural competition results from the weekend, Matthew Bell won the Aorangi Young Farmer of the Year regional final.
The 26-year-old dairy farm manager from Mayfield will progress to the Young Farmer of the Year national final in Auckland in May.
At the Taranaki regional dairy awards in Hawera on Saturday night, Rachel and Kenneth Short won the Sharemilker/Equity Farmers of the year award.
The Shorts help run a 450 cow farm at Opunake and won more than $18,000 in prizes.
They say their strength as farmers is that they control the cost of production, so they achieve a system that is profitable and sustainable at all payouts.
Other big winners were Michael Kavanagh and Rowena Duncum, the region's Farm Managers of the Year, and Daniel Regtien, Taranaki Dairy Trainee of the Year.
