A dairy farmer’s son from rural England who had never heard of horticulture has won the 2026 Pukekohe Young Grower of the Year, with the national final set for August in Cromwell .

Winner James Blair grew up on a sheep, beef and dairy farm on the Scottish border. Agronomy was not something he encountered until a company called Agrovista began visiting the family farm to advise on a small cereal crop grown to feed cattle over winter.

“I sort of started realising what other opportunities there were, spoke to those guys a little bit and decided that there were other careers aside from dairy farming.”

Blair studied agricultural crop science at university, shadowed Agrovista through his studies and worked as an agronomist in the UK before travelling to Australia and eventually landing a role with AS Wilcox in Pukekohe. He now works as a technical agronomist focused on potatoes, covering ground from Ohakune to Northland.

What drew him to agronomy, he says, is that no two farms are the same.

“You’re constantly just trying to problem solve, and it’s a challenge, but it’s extremely good fun.”

The Pukekohe competition ran across eight stands covering agronomy, pests and diseases, soil and fertiliser, finance, insurance, tractor driving, compliance and irrigation. Blair also took out the best speech award at the dinner, speaking on the tendency in horticulture to apply inputs as an insurance policy, without fully understanding the cost or reasoning behind them.

It was his first time entering, he says. Two colleagues at AS Wilcox, who had competed and won previously encouraged him to apply.

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