Seven New Zealand farmers will go head to head in two days of competitions in the grand final of the 2013 ANZ Young Farmer Contest this month.

The events take place between May 16 and 18 in Auckland at the Kumeu Showgrounds and Skycity.

The series of events kick off at 4pm, Thursday, May 16, with the official opening at Aotea Square. Here, spectators will be entertained with the first challenge and introduced to the seven grand finalists:
Ian Douglas of Northern, Tim Van de Molen of Waikato/Bay of Plenty, Cam Brown of Taranaki/Manawatu, Aaron Passey of East Coast, Reuben Carter of Tasman, Matthew Bell of Aorangi, and Dean Rabbidge of Otago/Southland.
The gates open for the practical day at 7am on Friday, May 17, at Kumeu Showgrounds.
This portion of the grand final encompasses all things agricultural and competition tasks range from practical hands on tests, to theory and commercial elements of farming where the finalists must prove their business and management acumen in a human resource challenge and panel interview.

After the practical day, finalists will have a small reprieve and then it's straight to the ANZ Grand Final Dinner at the Royal NZ Yacht Squadron.
Saturday morning, May 18 is reserved for a closed door exam and the evening is when the real excitement happens - the televised Grand Final Show and Celebration Ball.
The audience will watch the contenders in the quick-fire question round as they make their last effort to claim the 2013 champion title and impressive prizes worth more than $60,000, including $10,000 cash thanks to ANZ, AGMARDT, Lincoln University, Ravensdown, Silver Fern Farms, Honda, Husqvarna and Vodafone.
The show will be televised on TV1 at 10.15pm on Saturday, May 18 and on Heartland on Sunday, May 19 at 8.30pm.
It is estimated that there will be 300,000 viewers for the 33rd televised Grand Final Show of the ANZ Young Farmer Contest – the Ultimate Rural Challenge. For more information and details on tickets visit the website: www.youngfarmers.co.nz