His victory also returns the trophy to the region for the first time since South Otago sheep farmer Logan Wallace won in 2018.<\/p>\n
The seven grand finalists from across the country went head-to-head through a demanding programme of challenges, including exams, interviews, practical modules and public speaking, all designed to test the breadth of skills required in modern agriculture.<\/p>\n
Heading into the agri-knowledge quiz, Slee was sitting in third place behind Cam Clayton and Jack Taggart.<\/p>\n
A dominant buzzer-round performance saw him surge up the leaderboard and claim the national title, mirroring a comeback his father Richard made during his own winning campaign in 1999.<\/p>\n
In the end, runner-up Taggart from Aorangi missed out on the title by 10 points, and Clayton from Waikato Bay of Plenty finished third. <\/p>\n
Despite the distance from Southland to New Plymouth, Slee had a support crew more than 60 strong cheering him on throughout the grand final weekend \u2013 support he was quick to acknowledge on stage. <\/p>\n
\u201cI want to thank everyone who helped along the journey, all the sponsors, organisers and especially my family and partner Genevieve,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In addition to taking home the coveted title, Slee also claimed top honours in agri-business and the agri-knowledge challenge, taking his total prize haul to more than $90,000.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, Slee said the win won\u2019t change his immediate plans too much.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s straight back to the farm, we\u2019ve got calving to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the title brings new opportunities, Slee said he was happiest doing what he loves.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love being out on the land with the cows and sheep, so hopefully I can just keep doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tom Slee takes part in the practical day at the 2026 Young Farmer of the Year grand final.<\/p>\n
New Zealand Young Farmers chief executive Cheyne Gillooly said Slee impressed judges throughout the competition with his broad skillset, leadership qualities and commitment to the food and fibre sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly exciting to see the title go to Tom, someone who is not only an exceptional farmer, but also a strong ambassador for the next generation of people working in the sector.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gillooly said the standard this year was high and that each finalist should be proud of what they\u2019d achieved. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese young farmers represent the very best of our sector, and the talent, leadership and commitment they\u2019ve shown this weekend gives me a lot of confidence in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also acknowledged the massive contribution of those working behind the scenes who make the competition possible. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the people behind the scenes, our volunteers, supporters and sponsors, who make this competition what it is. We\u2019re hugely appreciative of everything they give to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"His victory also returns the trophy to the region for the first time since South Otago sheep farmer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2246,1558,2562,13114,12026,142053,111,139,69,1118,9629,255010,15488,8128,213,223,2563,5134,379,4741],"class_list":["post-512699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-2246","tag-been","tag-claims","tag-crowned","tag-farmer","tag-fmg","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-otago","tag-slee","tag-southland","tag-southlands","tag-sports","tag-the","tag-title","tag-tom","tag-year","tag-young"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}