Nadia Lim and Carlos Bagrie on their Central Otago farm, Royalburn Station. Photo: Supplied
Nadia Lim and her husband Carlos Bagrie are among the recipients of New Year Honours from the farming community.
Carlos Bagrie becomes an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the food and rural industries.
Bagrie, one of the co-founders - with Lim - of meal kit company My Food Bag in 2013, was recognised for regenerative, ethical farming practices at the couple's Royalburn Station in Arrowtown, Central Otago.
Under Bagrie's leadership, Royalburn won a New Zealand Food Award for its premium lamb, which was supplied to restaurants nationwide.
Along with Lim, he starred in three seasons of the TV series Nadia's Farm (2022), showcasing the challenges and successes of rural farming on the station.
Bagrie had focused on minimising waste and creating value from excess produce, including a collaboration with Garage Project to develop a beer made from surplus barley.
Lim - who was also made ONZM, for her services to the food industry - said they were thrilled to be included on the New Year Honours list.
"We are blown away to be receiving this recognition. And even more so because we are on the list together this year. We are stoked that farming and food production are receiving some of the spotlight."
Bagrie received the 2024 Nuffield Farming Scholarship and spent six months travelling, studying innovative agricultural systems and exploring how New Zealand exporters can position themselves for success in global markets.
King Country farmer Richard Steele receives a Kings Service Medal for services to the rural community.
The JP from Ōwhango, in the Ruapehu district, helped launch the local Federated Farmers branch in 1990, serving three terms as president.
He was instrumental in educating farmers about controls during bovine tuberculosis outbreaks and advocated for compensation for the loss of cattle. Between 1990 and 2006 he served on the regional animal health committee, working to eradicate TB through possum control.
In 2008, as farmers faced drought-like conditions, he helped form and later chaired the mental health charity Rural Support Trust. Steele was also a life member of the Friends of the Whanganui River.
Southland sheep farmer Robin Campbell has also become an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for more than 40 years of service to the farming community and governance.
He was founding chairperson of the Sheep Council, which established the Focus Farm programme that helped lift sheep productivity.
In 1996 he was inaugural chairperson of the Sheep Research Foundation, where he advocated for research funding specific to the sector. Campbell was also a board member of AgResearch, and was a founding director of Ovita and Sheep Improvement Limited, the national animal performance recording programme.
Campbell was voted Agriculture Communicator of the Year in 2000. He was also chairperson of Presbyterian Support Southland - among other organisations - for a number of years and served as a JP for 40 years.
Former Waipā district councillor and deputy mayor Grahame Webber receives a Kings Service Medal for services to local government and farming governance since the 1980s.
Webber chaired the dairy section of Waikato Federated Farmers from 1989 to 1991, and was director of the New Zealand Dairy Group from 1991 to 1994.
While serving on the town-based Cambridge community board from 1998 to 2022, he led an annual tour of rural communities in the area to learn of their specific issues. He has served on a number of local committees, including the Waikato River and catchment committee.
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