TWEED Valley cane growers Mark and Beverley North have taken out one of two top prizes in the Crop Care 'Handy Hundred' competition in northern New South Wales.

Mr and Mrs North won a $2,500 Eftpos card from Crop Care.

The other winners were BGA AgriServices at Grafton, which supplies farm merchandise to their cane farms at Condong.

They decided to put their prize money towards a holiday in Tasmania, after one of their cane farms was flooded for the second time in weeks.

It couldn't have happened at a better time.

"I was up to my waist in water and shovelling mud to clear the driveway," Mrs North said.

"The power was out and Mark was away.

"Then the phone rang.

"I thought some friends were playing a joke on me, so I played along.

"I was pretty thrilled to find out I'd won."

Mr and Mrs North bought their first cane farm at Condong in 1986 and now grow approximately 250 hectares of cane.

Mr North attributed much of their success in farming to the advice provided by DPI, BSES and supplier agronomists to keep them at the 'pointy edge'.

"We always like to work closely with extension people like Steve Leeson from BGA AgriServices and chemical companies like Crop Care to obtain the latest information and advice," he said.

Wal Green, who manages the BGA AgriServices store in Grafton, said he and his staff were delighted to take out the honours along with Mr