First Farm Award winners - Meet the class of 2026

For three first-generation dairy farming couples, years of hard work, determination and keeping their eyes firmly on the prize have paid off in a big way.

Tania and Johno Burrows, Jonathon and Stacey Hoets, and Marc and Nia Jones were named the 2026 Fonterra and ASB First Farm Award winners earlier this year – a milestone that brings the dream of owning their own farm a big step closer.

The Fonterra and ASB First Farm Award is a collaboration between ASB, Fonterra and the NZ Dairy Industry Awards Trust, aimed at removing barriers to farm ownership. Each winner receives up to $1 million of ASB Business Term Lending fixed at 1% per annum for three years, along with a Fonterra launch package that includes $20,000 of Farm Source account credit, mentoring, and ongoing support to help them transition into ownership.

We spoke to each of the couples about what the award means to them.
 

Tania and Johno Burrows – Canterbury

Tania and Johno Burrows of Alpine Dairies are 50:50 sharemilkers at Bealey Farm near Kirwee. While Johno has been dairying for 23 years, dairy wasn’t the family trade. With “probably five generations of sheep and beef farmers” behind him and no family farm to lean on, the couple has built everything from scratch.

“That’s probably been the hard bit for us, as opposed to other families who can offset some of that debt and create opportunity,” says Johno.

Ten years ago, with three daughters growing up fast, the couple made a call to prioritise family time over speed to ownership. Their win in this year’s First Farm Award is, in Johno’s words, “a little bittersweet”, with their older girls now at Lincoln University and only their youngest still at home. But the couple doesn’t have any regrets.

“Being able to show our kids that the journey to something big isn’t always straightforward has been important,” says Tania. “It really has ups, downs, setbacks and times when you think this is never going to happen.”

For them, the award is as much about credibility as it is about capital. “You can ring a real estate agent and they actually know that you’re in this and looking seriously,” says Johno.

Looking ahead, the couple wants to pay it forward.

“We know how hard the journey is to [farm ownership]. It would be cool to help create some stability through our business for a family coming through the ranks.”

Jonathon and Stacey Hoets – Cantebury

Jonathon and Stacey Hoets are equity partners in Akitu Dairies in Mid-Canterbury, run in partnership with the Rylib Group. With the award behind them, the pair were able to lift their stake in Akitu to 50%.

Jonathon has more than 16 years in dairy behind him, and the couple have spent years steadily building equity and industry experience alongside their farming careers. Their path to this point has been far from typical.

“We haven’t followed the traditional pathway – jumping straight from farm manager to equity manager,” Stacey says. “But I think the end goal has always been the same.”

That end goal, it turns out, was set down more than a decade ago.

“My mum sent me through a newspaper article that she found from when we entered Dairy Manager of the Year, way back in 2014,” Stacey says. “The blurb said we want farm ownership with the help of other investors at the age of 35 which is basically the position we’re in now. It’s cool to look back over 10 years later and think we achieved that goal.”

For Jonathon, the award doesn’t change the destination, just the timeline.

“We’ve never thought it hasn’t been possible; it’s just getting us there quicker,” he says.

After entering a second time, Stacey says, “winning relieves some of the [financial] pressure and reinforces what has driven them from the start. Building the relationships [and] taking all the opportunities that you can.”

Beyond farm ownership, the couple are active advocates for the dairy sector, supporting its growth through community groups and governance roles.

“We know we want to keep growing,” Jonathon says.

Marc and Nia Jones – Waikato

Marc and Nia Jones have been working towards this moment since long before they arrived in New Zealand. The Welsh couple kept tabs on the New Zealand dairy industry for years before moving to the Waikato in 2016. Since then they have worked their way up through a range of dairy farming roles now leasing across three farms.

“As a family, we’ve moved between 10 houses and four farms. We’ve sacrificed a lot,” says Nia. “It’s nice to see the hard work pay off.”

Applying for the award with four kids in the middle of the school holidays wasn’t easy, with a lot of time spent late at night, Nia says. On awards night, the couple nearly missed their big moment.

“We were the last names called on the night, so we thought we’d missed out. Hearing our names was incredibly exciting. It’s an amazing prize,” Nia says.

The win landed at home, too.

“After we won, our daughter said, Now I get it – why you were spending all those late nights at the dining table.”

The family, Nia says, understands “it helps us all in the end.”

“Seeing where we are at now was quite an emotional moment. We are now in a position to find somewhere to call home.”

Backing the next generation

Fonterra’s Head of Milk Supply Lisa Payne says the First Farm Award partners were pleased to see 2025 winners Braden and Brigitte Barnes buy their first farm buy their first farm in Canterbury this year.

“That’s really what it’s all about,  just backing these fabulous young couples and helping set them up for the long term.” All of this year’s finalists for the First Farm Award were first-generation dairy farmers with no family farm backing, and are all on the verge of being able to buy their own dairy farm, the judges said. Splitting the six finalists down to three winning couples was a very difficult decision, and the judges encouraged the remaining finalists to enter again next year.

You can find out more about the Fonterra & ASB First Farm Award at dairyindustryawards.co.nz/first-farm-award