The stage became a familiar walk for the Mackereths, who contract-milk 1400 cows across 464ha at Edendale for the Fortuna Group.
Their first merit award was the DairyNZ People and Culture Award – the category Stacey Mackereth said she wanted most.
“This has made the hours and hours of talking about grass worth it,” she said.
Scott Mackereth called it the “most important” award because strong farm performance depended on people feeling “engaged” and “motivated”.
“It’s about how they feel day to day … do they feel respected? Included in making progress?” he said.
They implemented the Te Whare Tapa Whā holistic Māori health model and focused on their team’s wellbeing, allocating half an hour to all of their staff every week to fill in a reflection journal.
The couple were back on stage minutes later to receive the Federated Farmers Leadership Award, and then again to collect the Trelleborg Sustainable Pasture Award.
Scott Mackereth said pasture was “the backbone of what we do” and one of the biggest competitive advantages, with few countries able to produce milk predominantly off grass.
The judges were impressed by his journey to bounce back after Covid-19 disrupted his business ventures in the United States.
The pair’s motto is “go fast alone or go far together” and their progress in the industry was proof of that, they said.
Former Share Farmer of the Year Jim van der Poel was recognised for more than four decades of service to the dairy industry.
Van der Poel was described as “instrumental” in the merger that created Fonterra and, as chair of DairyNZ, helped steer the sector through some of its “most turbulent and defining periods”.
That included navigating volatile commodity prices, growing public scrutiny, tighter environmental regulations and mounting pressure for reform around freshwater quality, greenhouse gas emissions and animal welfare.
Van der Poel addressed the young farmers in the room, telling them the industry was about “taking the baton from those who went before us”.
He could already see the next generation stepping up and carrying that responsibility forward.
Rotorua MP and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay told attendees the industry was “the powerhouse of the New Zealand economy”.
McClay acknowledged it had been a “very hard year”, with “weather coupled with international uncertainty”, but said farmers continued to be innovative.
Export revenue reached $28.5 billion in the past 12 months – up 9% for the first time.
McClay said farm production and dairy processing created 54,000 jobs, making up 15% of the food and fibre sector workforce.
Farmers around the world were “envious”, the minister said.
“[They] want to protect and stop our products getting in there, to back their farmers, who just want to be like you.”
McClay had “nothing but admiration”.
He said dairy farmers get up “really early” in the morning to milk the cows so people in towns and cities can have their expensive lattes with “the best milk in the world”.
Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.