The work of Farmers Weekly and Dairy Farmer journalists Gerald Piddock, Tony Benny and Nigel Stirling was acknowledged with awards at the annual function of the New Zealand Guild of Agricultural Journalists and Communicators in Wellington.
Piddock won the Alliance Group Red Meat Industry award for two articles on bobby calves and the implications for both the dairy and beef sectors, and Stirling won for two pieces that appeared in Farmers Weekly. One, a classic piece of export business reporting, and the other focusing on the India trade situation.
Benny won the DairyNZ Dairy Industry award for profiles on Westland Dairy Products chief executive Richard Wyeth and Canterbury dairy farmer Phil Garrett, which appeared in Farmers Weekly’s AgriHQ stablemate, Dairy Farmer.
The event’s premier Ministry for Primary Industry Rongo award went to freelance journalist Kate Evans writing for New Zealand Geographic and United States magazine Roads and Kingdoms.
Her articles looked at Precision Seafood Harvester, a large-scale government-funded project that is changing trawl fishing, and another exploring the claims of BioLumic. The NZ agricultural science company uses short doses of UV light to significantly boost the health and yield of seeds and plants.
President of the NZ Guild of Agricultural Journalists and Communicators Hayley Gavin praised the standard of the entries.
“The standard of entries and the breadth of topics covered this year show the significance of agricultural journalism and photography in New Zealand, and how important it is that we support and celebrate the people who bring these issues and stories to public attention.”
