New Zealand farmer Neil Gardyne has won the Australasian business management award for his outstanding work in mixed farming operations.

The 2010 Rabobank Executive Development Program (EDP) award was presented at a function held in Sydney.

A total 34 leading primary producers from New Zealand and Australia were in the race for this award. The EDP is a business management program, which is meant for the enhancement of the managerial skills of Australasia’s leading agricultural producers. EDP program is held on a yearly basis and includes two modules.

In this program, every contestant takes a self-made management project and applies his/her management skills learned in one module into the second module with the goal of getting substantial results.

Mr. Gardyne’s project name was ‘Expanding our Horizons’. The main aim of the project was to focus on efficiently reallocating time and assets in his farming business in order to lessen the overall work pressure and boost the revenue.

His farm is spread over 466 hectares. It has many sheep, cattle, and cereal crops. In addition to farming, he is also into fertiliser business. He has a small Company named Flashfert, which sells coal ash in the form of fertilizer.