Otago Daily Times/Rural Life 2023 Rural Champion Myfanwy Alexander addresses a celebration at her Duntroon home last year. PHOTO: STEPHEN JAQUIERY That is just one of the nominations received for the Otago Daily Times / Rural Life 2024 Rural Champions initiative, celebrating the South Island’s food-producing champions. Some are more succinct: "a good bugger with a good heart", "an absolute weapon of a young man", "a regional superstar", but they all have the common theme of farming folk who contribute positively to New Zealand’s biggest export earner while also making their communities a better place to live.
It culminated in the naming of Duntroon dairy farmer Myfanwy Alexander as our inaugural Rural Champion, a fitting acknowledgement for an all-round outstanding human. This year, we are again celebrating our Rural Champions and have added an additional category — those who work in rural support; the behind-the-scenes folk critical to ensure the smooth running of farming and growing operations. Again, there have been equally heartwarming nominations, summed up by this one; ".
.. exemplifies the old-fashioned value of customer service and putting your customer first.
He treats our business as if it was his own and is constantly looking for ways to help improve our farming practices and look for new opportunities to grow our farming business". Nominations have come from the north and south of the South Island, and the east and west. Condensing them down to our semifinali.
