Applications open for 2027 Zanda McDonald Award
Applications are set to open for the 2027 Zanda McDonald Award, a trans-Tasman award recognised for identifying and fast-tracking talented young leaders in agriculture and agribusiness.
IrrigationNZ CEO Andrew Curtis says the external judging panel had struggled to keep the shortlist to the normal three, so four finalists have been chosen this year.
They include; Next Farm's smart control systems for grid irrigation, Lindsay Corporation's new pivot control, Carrfields Irrigation's Hydrofix irrigator stabiliser system and Central Plains Water Ltd for its environmental innovations and management of its stage one development.
The award, sponsored by Aqualinc, will be presented at the organisation's biennial conference in early April.
New technologies, products, practices or community collaborations that reflect innovation within the irrigation sector are the focus of the award, which is only presented every second year.
The highly prestigious award – which comes with a cash prize of $2500 – will be announced at IrrigationNZ's conference dinner in Oamaru on Wednesday, April 6. Full details of each finalist will be included in IrrigationNZ's quarterly magazine due out next month.
Next Farm's smart control system for fixed grid irrigation is an integrated farm sensor technology and cloud based dashboard that allows farmers to operate, manage and understand their farm resources from a computer or mobile device. The product uses a fixed grid irrigation system associated with a digital "mesh network" connecting all parts of the system through radio frequency and GPS.
Lindsay Corporation's pivot control is compatible with almost any brand of pivot. By retrofitting an existing centre pivot irrigator with one of these controls, farmers are able to access Lindsay Corporation's FieldNET web and mobile app capabilities, which include real-time alerts and status updates. Unlike other remote controllers, Lindsay's pivot control is mounted at the pivot point for in-field control.
Carrfields' Hydrofix irrigator stabiliser system consists of a series of inflatable water tanks connected to pulley and counterweight systems along the length of an irrigator. On arrival of a major wind event, the turn of a tap fills the tanks with water and lowers them to the ground to secure the irrigator at the centre of each span.
Central Plains Water Ltd won both the Champion Canterbury Infrastructure/Trade (med/large category) and The Press Supreme Awards at the Champion Canterbury Business Awards last year. Through integrated farm management, groundwater replacement, 'best practice' irrigation application and Lake Coleridge storage and aquifer recharge, the scheme will assist the area to achieve environmental improvements.
Curtis says the line-up of finalists – ranging from technology-based innovations to scheme initiatives – demonstrates the ongoing investment in innovation within the sector.
"Irrigators and their support industries are constantly improving on what we do on-farm and how we do it. We're expecting widespread interest in the finalists as previous winners of the award have gone on to sell their concepts internationally and take on leadership roles within the industry," says Curtis.
