By Beckie Wilson
For a country man, icing a cake isn’t usually on the daily to-do list, but Richie Cameron managed just that on his way to taking out the Young Farmer Wairarapa district title.
Mr Cameron, from Mauriceville, competed in the contest and skills day on Saturday in Gladstone.
The competition had 13 modules ranging from farm-related tasks with a focus on health and safety, to basic kitchen skills, including cake icing.
“[There was] the standard stuff like fencing, putting together a hand piece for shearing, theory around feed budgeting and insurance,” he said.
Mr Cameron said it covered a lot of skills he used on a day-to-day basis from working on a farm, but there were also some things you could not practice for.
The district competition is the first round before the regionals, then the national Young Farmer of the Year competition which shows New Zealand’s high level of agriculture expertise.
This year the district competition was open to members at any level of ability.
“They had a focus on people just having a go, not all were competing, so there were a lot more females this year,” he said.
He had entered three or four times before he said, but was excited to finally win.
“My next focus in probably doing my best at regionals,” he said.
Mr Cameron is also a member of the Mauriceville volunteer fire brigade and Wairarapa Young Farmers Club.
He was one of nine men and six women to compete, with Henry Reynolds finishing in second place and Rebecca O’Neale third.
The regional competition will be held in Waipukurau on April 1.
