Country Life: Recent Episodes
RNZ
Country Life takes you down country roads to meet ordinary people achieving their dreams. We live in a beautiful country...
This week Country Life delves into the world of rare breeds, meets a farmer foraging seed for her native trees and heads to an olive grove on the Kapiti Coast.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 1:00 - Rural news wrap
- 7:29 - Rare breeds at Avonstour Heritage Farm
- 14:07 - The farmer with the seed fridge
- 28:59 - From hill Country to olive country
With thanks to:
- John Earney
- Sandra Campbell
- Diana and Grant Crosse
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Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
After decades farming sheep and beef on rugged hill country, Diana and Grant Crosse made an unlikely career change, swapping livestock for olive trees near Ōtaki on the Kāpiti Coast. The transition has brought new challenges, new skills and a whole new lifestyle, but much of their farming know-how still applies.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Diana and Grant Crosse
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Farmer Sandra Campbell shows us the native trees she's grown from foraged seed, and how they're making her farm a "nicer place to be."
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Sandra Campbell
You can follow Sandra's planting adventures on Instagram @ourwatercarejourney
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
John Earney finds the value in rare, sometimes almost forgotten breeds of animal. The president of the Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand says that's the key to ensuring their survival - be they farm animals or native species.
With thanks to:
- John Earney
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A wrap of the week's news from RNZ's rural news team.
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Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This week Country Life digs into the arable world, meets the maker of the world's "supreme champion cheese" and learns about growing plants hydroponically in Horowhenua.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:58 - On the Farm
- 8:18 - The state of the arable industry - and it's future
- 15:04 - A world champion from a little town called Eltham
- 29:26- Hydroponics in Horowhenua: Growing with water
With thanks to:
- Scott Champion, Foundation for Arable Research
- Cathy Lang
- Tony and Lisa Dale-Low, Waikawa Fresh
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Husband and wife duo Tony and Lisa Dale-Low traded corporate life in the city for growing fresh herbs and salad greens.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Tony and Lisa Dale-Low, Waikawa Fresh
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
In the heart of Taranaki dairy country, a large silver trophy has arrived from Europe. The team at Lactalis' Bridge Street plant in Eltham are the proud makers of a cheese judged Supreme Champion at the 2026 International Cheese and Dairy Awards in June. Sally Round went to meet master cheesemaker Cathy Lang.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Cathy Lang
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Scott Champion shares how the Foundation for Arable Research is working to rebuild confidence and stability in the cropping sector.
With thanks to:
- Scott Champion, Foundation for Arable Research
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A wrap of conditions on farms and orchards around the country.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This week Country life talks to an American poultry farmer about her bird flu experience, visits a llama farmer and meets a family who've been farming celery for more than a century.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:59 - Rural news wrap
- 5:45- What New Zealand can learn from a farmer who lived through H5N1
- 17:43 - Addicted to yarn: Llama herd follows love of fibre
- 31:36 - Celery, butterflies and Travis the goat
With thanks to:
- Georgie Cartanza, University of Delaware
- Janette Buckingham, Thickthorne Llamas
- Graham Franklin, Lucy Franklin, Alan Franklin, Monique Franklin, Jasmine Franklin, Luke Franklin, Brian King, and Solola Manulele, Franklin Farm
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
For 120 years, the Franklin family has farmed celery through changing markets, wild weather and six generations of family life. Alongside the celery fields, visitors now wander through sunflower patches, butterfly houses and a bustling farmyard where one cheeky goat has become a bit of a celebrity.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
You can find more about Franklin Farm, here.
With thanks to:
- Graham Franklin, Lucy Franklin, Alan Franklin, Monique Franklin, Jasmine Franklin, Luke Franklin, Brian King, and Solokiala Manulele
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
It was the 1990s when many farms were looking to diversify. 'Why not llamas?', thought Southland spinner and farmer Janette Buckingham.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Janette Buckingham, Thickthorne Llamas
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
What happens when bird flu arrives on your farm? Delaware poultry farmer and educator Georgie Cartanza shares her first hand experience of an H5N1 outbreak, the loss of 148,000 birds, and the biosecurity lessons she believes every farmer should know.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Georgie Cartanza, University of Delaware
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A wrap of the week's news from RNZ's rural news team.
You can find more from RNZ's rural news team, here.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This week on Country life, the team chat to Irish farmer and author John Connell and heads to East Timor to see how money earnt in New Zealand orchards is benefiting those back home.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:54 - Rural news wrap
- 5:27 - Yarn on a farm: Sheep, beef and trees in South Otago
- 12:32 - John Connell: Life lessons from those who work on the land
- 24:53 - A Ticket to a Better Life: Timor-Leste enters New Zealand's RSE programme
- 45:59 - A word from the late Sam Neill
With thanks to:
- Nigel Woodhead
- John Connell
- Loua Ward, José Ramos-Horta, Cherie Drummond, Marcos Dias and family, Pedro Suarez and Anna Thomas
- The late Sir Sam Neill - you can find our preview interview with him here
Producer Anna Thomas travelled to Timor-Leste with assistance from the Asia New Zealand Foundation
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Thousands of Timorese have applied to join New Zealand's seasonal worker scheme, which opened to Timor Leste for the first time in 2026. Seven months of orchard work could earn them up to $40,000, considered a fortune in one of the world's poorest countries. Anna Thomas travelled to Timor Leste to meet some of the families benefiting from their remittances.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Loua Ward, José Ramos-Horta, Cherie Drummond, Marcos Dias and family, Pedro Suarez, the Asia New Zealand Foundation
Producer Anna Thomas travelled to Timor-Leste with assistance from the Asia New Zealand Foundation.
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Irish writer and farmer John Connell latest book is The Wisdom of Farmers. He shares some of the pearls of wisdom he has learnt from a decade of farming with Country Life.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- John Connell
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Anisha Satya speaks with farmer Nigel Woodhead about his "mosaic" farming system.
With thanks to:
- Nigel Woodhead
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A wrap of news from RNZ's rural news desk
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
The late Sir Sam Neill told Country Life he was excited by the "farming" side of wine, that and the beautiful Otago landscape where his Two Paddocks vineyard is set. We paid the actor and vintner a visit back in the spring of 2022.
You can find photos and read more about our visit our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- The late Sir Sam Neill
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This week Country Life takes you stargazing at a farm near Lake Tekapo, goes behind the scenes of a wool auction in Napier and is with some belching cows being measured for methane emissions at a giant barn in Waikato.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:54 - Rural News Wrap
- 8:50 - Inside the 'animal Hilton': Pamu's methane measurement barn
- 15:08 - Wool for sale - inside a Kells Wool auction
- 27:22 - Stars on the farm
- 46:10 - Garden diaries: Beneath the stars
With thanks to:
- Diane Karaitiana Bryant, Pāmu
- Richard Kells, Holly Tarrant, Jess Williams, Ken Tunnicliff, Kim Asquith and Alexa Cook
- Sam Blair and Steve Berge
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Gianina gives an update on her suburban vege garden. She's preparing to plant garlic as the stars align around Matariki.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
You can see photos and hear more about the garden set up from our previous episode, here.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Anisha learns about Matariki, lightyears, and farm diversification on a starry night in Lake Tekapo.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Sam Blair and Steve Berge
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Country Life steps ringside for the "verbal boxing match" of a wool auction in Napier. Richard Kells of Kells Wool traces his experience of the wool industry from the era of skinny sheep in the 1980s to the reviving industry of present day.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Richard Kells, Holly Tarrant, Jess Williams, Ken Tunnicliff, Kim Alquist and Alexa Cook
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A giant barn in Waikato features 10 feeder bins for cows to graze from freely allowing their burps to be measured for methane emissions.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Diane Karaitiana Bryant, Pāmu
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A wrap of the week's news from RNZ's rural news team.
You can find more from RNZ's rural news team, here.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Sally Round chats to Otago farmer Becks Smith about her ventures, and Braden Crosby of the Bragato Institute. Anisha Satya eats deep-friend locusts, and Mark Leishman checks out the drones fighting wilding pines in South Canterbury.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:48 - Rural news wrap
- 6:06 - Becks Smith
- 13:34 - Lunching on locusts
- 25.:3 - Braden Crosby of the Bragato Institute
- 32:12 - Drilling down into drones
With thanks to:
- Becks Smith
- Malcolm Diack
- Braden Crosby
- Rowland Sommer
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Mark Leishman heads to a South Canterbury farm to join a drone pilot extinguishing weeds and finds out about the potential of the technology on farm.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Rowland Sommer
- SPS Automation
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
French grape growers are being paid to pull out vines in order to rebalance supply and demand, while those in Australia have taken out millions and turned to other crops. In New Zealand, with our Sauvignon Blanc still in demand, growers are being offered a tool to help them decide whether to mothball vines until the market improves. Braden Crosby of the Marlborough-based Bragato Research Institute explains.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Braden Crosby
To find the mothballing decision-making tool, go to bri.co.nz
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Anisha eats locusts at a food-grade insect farm in Dunedin.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Otago farmer, vet and entrepreneur Becks Smith has many jobs. You might find her on a roof installing solar panels, scanning ewes in the yard or sitting in front of a microphone for her podcast about sustainability in farming. She is Country Life's guest this week.
With thanks to:
- Becks Smith
Make sure you’re following Country Life on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A wrap of the week's news from RNZ's rural news team.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Gianina Schwanecke is talking bulls at a bull sale on the East Coast. Tangihau Angus stud is famous for setting the nation’s top prices. Can it do it again this year? Sally Round is at a coffee tree orchard in the Far North whose trailblazing owner Rob Schluter is on a new path to focus on the mystique of coffee and Anisha Satya sits down for a yarn on the farm with Bill Deans whose family farm in Canterbury is home to the rare and “chunky" mudfish.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:55 - On the Farm
- 8:09- On-farm planting creates mudfish haven
- 14:46 - A bullish market at the East Coast bull sales
- 28:18 - Brewing up a taste for New Zealand-grown coffee
With thanks to:
- Bill Deans
- Paul Hickman, Phil Shea, Dave Martin, Sarah Hussey, Neville Clark, and Dean McHardy of Tangihau Angus
- Marie-Elodie Proust, Haobo Tong, and Rob Schluter of Ikarus Coffee
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Ikarus coffee has been a trailblazer growing coffee in NZ. Fourteen years after the first successful seedlings went in, Rob Schluter has doubled the number of coffee trees on his steep farm above Doubtless Bay, and there's a new venture brewing to bring the magic of coffee to life from farm to cup.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Rob Schluter, Marie-Elodie Proust, and Haobo Tong
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
For the past two years Tangihau Angus had set the top price for the breed and all bulls - breaking two national records. Gianina Schwanecke returned to see how they'd fare this year.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
You can catch our previous story on Tangihau Angus, here.
Or learn more from them directly, here.
With thanks to:
- Paul Hickman, Phil Shea, Dave Martin, Sarah Hussey, Neville Clark, and Dean McHardy
All 56 bulls paraded through the pen sold, for an average price of $24,550 each. Tangihau's top bull sold for $100,000.
Corrected price
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Bill Deans shares how planting waterways on his family's farm have provided a home for New Zealand's second-rarest native fish.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Bill Deans
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A wrap of conditions on farms and orchards around the country for the month of June
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Country Life heads to Gore for the Tussock Country Music festival, visits a woollen mill in the heart of a remote hill country station whose farmer has fulfilled her dream of creating a hub for wool, and Nuffield scholar Lisa Portas chats about the potential for New Zealand farmers to increase the value of the fibre.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:00 - Wonderful wool: Nuffield scholar see's bright future for natural fibre
- 0:00 - Rural News Wrap
- 0:00 - Closing the loop: wool to yarn without leaving the farm
- 0:00 - A country music pilgrimage
With thanks to:
- Lisa Portas, Nuffield Scholar
- Mel Kiernan and Patrizia Vieno
- Annabel Roy, Jaydin Shingleton, The Rusty Pickups, Sandra Campbell, and Laura Koot
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Anisha visits Gore for a slice of the Tussock Country Music Festival - boots, utes, mullets and all!
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Annabel Roy, Jaydin Shingleton, The Rusty Pickups, Sandra Campbell, and Laura Koot
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Taking the wool off the sheep's back and turning it into yarn within a few paces of the shearing shed has been a dream come true for a North Island sheep farmer. Patrizia Vieno has built a mini mill on her hill country station near Tinui.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Mel Kiernan and Patrizia Vieno
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A wrap of the week's news from RNZ's rural news team.
You can find more from RNZ's rural news team, here.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wairarapa-based Nuffield Scholar Lisa Portas recently wrapped up her research looking into why New Zealand's strong-wool sector struggles to capture value despite producing a sustainable fibre.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
You can find her Nuffield Scholar report, here.
With thanks to:
- Lisa Portas
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This week Country Life heads to a basketball game to celebrate rural migrants, checks out the new tech at Fieldays and follows the journey of urban food scraps to a banana farm.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:00 - Rural News Wrap
- 8:41 - Galvbike: E-bike makers riding agritech wave at Fieldays
- 16:43 - Migrants give back to their communities
- 28:12 - From the Archives: City to Farm - how leftovers are giving back to the land
With thanks to:
- Anthony Clyde
- Guillermo and Christina Tolentino, Kristine Asuncion, Aline Ciron, Vincent Travasas and Edwin Patulin
- Betsy Kettle, Phil Grainger, Jenny Grainger, Nick Wotton, Dylan Hatt, and Jill Clark
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Food scraps from retirement villages and schools are heping to nourish a banana orchard and other farms via the City to Farm project, which aims to keep organic waste out of landfill and help curb climate change. This story was first broadcast in July 2025.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Betsy Kettle, Phil Grainger, Jenny Grainger, Nick Wotton, Dylan Hatt, and Jill Clark
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Anisha learns how the rural Filipino migrant community has grown in the last 20 years - and watches some basketball.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Guillermo and Christina Tolentino, Kristine Asuncion, Aline Ciron, Vincent Travasas and Edwin Patulin
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Anthony Clyde, considered the godfather of e-bikes in New Zealand, has created a new electric farmbike that's proving a hit at Fieldays, the Galvbike.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
You can learn more about Galvbike, here.
With thanks to:
- Anthony Clyde
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A wrap of the week's news from RNZ's rural news team.
You can find more from RNZ's rural news team, here.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Follow along over the next few months as Gianina Schwanecke turns her backyard into a food garden in the name of resiliency.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Hannah Zwartz
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Country Life digs into the art of growing your own food and dips into the archives to to visit one of the country's longest running alternative communities.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Rainbow Valley in Golden Bay is one of New Zealand's longest running alternative communities. Country Life paid the community a visit last year as it turned 50 years old.
You can find photos and read more about this story here.
With thanks to:
- The Rainbow Valley community
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Guillermo and Christina Tolentino share the joys and challenges of migrating to rural New Zealand.
With thanks to:
- Guillermo Tolentino
- Christina Tolentino
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A wrap of the week's news from RNZ's rural news team.
You can find more from RNZ's rural news team, here.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This week Country Life is at a training centre for wild Kaimanawa horses, and checks out the oyster harvest in Bluff.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Anisha heads to Bluff to understand the state of the wild oyster fishery.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Graeme Wright
- John Edminstin
- Max Russell
- Ann, Margaret and Betty Robertson
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Kelly Wilson trains Kaimanawa wild horses at the sanctuary she's built on just over 18 hectares, a few minutes out of Taupō. Jimmy Ellingham paid her a visit to see how she helps get them used to the human touch so they can be rehomed.
You can find photos, video and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Kelly Wilson, Morgan Chandler-Bruce and Bjarne Streyl
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Steve Allan's been trapping and making traps for nearly 50 years. His simple, strong kill traps made in his home factory in Northland have eradicated thousands of pests over the years and can be found as far away as the Falkland Islands.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Steve Allan
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
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A round up of conditions on farms and orchards around the country
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This week Country Life follows a farrier as he fits a horse with new shoes, compares different milks and their nutritional benefits, and visit's an actor's bit of country in Middle Earth.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:38 - Milking it: Which milk is best?
- 16:36 - Rural News Wrap
- 24:36 - Hoofin' it in Central Otago: Walking a mile in a farrier's shoes
- 38:36 - A little bit country, a little bit Middle Earth
With thanks to:
- Louise Brough, Massey University
- Bruce Barton, Barton Blacksmith Services
- William Kircher and Nicole Chesterman-Kircher
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William Kircher, known for his role as Bifur the dwarf in The Hobbit trilogy, has moved to the country. When not performing overseas, he and jazz singer Nicole Chesterman Kircher are enjoying the rural pace with sheep, chooks, fruit trees and an honesty box at the gate.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- William Kircher and Nicole Chesterman Kircher
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
From working with 2000 degrees Celsius heat to moving a half tonne animal, being a farrier is no easy job, as Country Life found out.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
You can find more about Barton Blacksmithing Services, here.
With thanks to:
- Bruce Barton, Twix and Rip
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Country Life speaks to a Massey University professor who specialises in nutrition and food chemistry about different types of milk - their pros and cons.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Louise Brough, Massey University
And to hear more from the previous guests featured:
- Alex Irvine of Canterbury's Choice
- Cameron Ravenwood of Fernglen Farm
- Frans Steenkamp of the now closed Brooklyn Creamery
- Dr Gert-Jan Moggré, the man behind Plant and Food's Barley Dairy Project
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Ever wondered how farmed salmon produce the next generation? Anisha tours Akaroa King Salmon's hatchery in Canterbury, and an award-winning Māori trust-owned farm in Te Tai Tokerau has had to battle fierce flooding this year. Sally is in the farm ute touring the damage. Also, Dairy Woman of the Year Hinehou Timutimu talks about how she is inspired to farm for the community.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
0:42 - Rural News Wrap
7:37 - Farming takes a village
15:49 - Northland's storms test award-winning farm
30:16 - Spawning day on a salmon farm
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
What does it take to make salmon babies that grow into big, tasty fish. Anisha Satya visits Akaroa King Salmon's hatchery in North Canterbury.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Stewart Hawthron
- Hagen Kocksch
- Henry Wilson
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
In just three years the Whangaroa Ngaiotonga Trust's beef farm in Northland was able to boast a "million-dollar herd" on its rehabilitated whenua, winning the prestigious Ahuwhenua Trophy in 2025. But this year the farm has been hit by floods and mudslides from intense weather events. Sally Round paid a visit to see how the farm has coped.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here, and the Ahuwhenua Trophy, here.
With thanks to:
- Wess Wetere
- Matthew Payne
- Kirean Wetere
- Ahuwhenua Trophy
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Anisha Satya speaks to Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year winner, Hinehou Timutimu, about how community-focused farming makes an impact.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Hinehou Timutimu
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A wrap of news from RNZ's rural news desk
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Sally meets the founder of skincare brand Nudi Point, Gianina's at the Pureore Hunting Competition, and Anisha's bug-hunting in the Ashburton Forks.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:39 - Rural News Wrap
- 5:56 - Skinny-dipping inspires back-to-nature rural venture
- 15:17 - On-farm conservation
- 30:20 - Hunting out the next generation
With thanks to:
- Blair Coates
- Will Wright, Mark and Jenny McDonald, Campbell Sommerville and Sonja Vreugdenhil
- Allen and Sophie Juno, Ray Scrimgeour and Melissa Jessen, Stu Fraser and Grant Wilson, Beau Mulgrew and Benji Allen, Hiki Nathan and Robert-John Muraahi
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
The nearly 40-year-old competition, which runs during the peak hunting period known as the roar, is the only such of its kind run by the Department of Conservation.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
You can find more about the Pureora Hunting Competition, here.
Check out last week's episode when Country Life headed out for a hunt with Allen Juno, here.
With thanks to:
- Allen and Sophie Juno, Ray Scrimgeour and Melissa Jessen, Stu Fraser and Grant Wilson, Beau Mulgrew and Benji Allen, Hiki Nathan and Robert-John Muraahi
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Anisha meets Ashburton Forks farmers who are trapping, planting and testing their way to healthier farms.
With thanks to:
- Will Wright
- Mark McDonald
- Jenny McDonald
- Campbell Sommerville
- Sonja Vreugdenhil
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Northland skin care brand Nudi Point is named after the swimming hole where Blair Coates spent many happy summers. The former banker who suffered bad skin as a teen makes moisturisers and serums in the converted cow shed.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Blair Coates
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Anisha sits down with a country musician, Gianina joins a Waikato farmer on a deer hunt, and Sally visits the Carb Club, a shared food-growing initiative.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:42 - Conditions Wrap
- 9:19 - Country music chats
- 15:53 - We hunt at dawn
- 29:35 - The Carb Club
With thanks to:
- Molly Harrison
- Allen Juno
- Sheldon Levet, Justin Connor, Katie Rosati, Jane Riddiford and Mika Zollner
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It takes a grower, a gatherer - of people - and a plot of land to create a "carb club". The idea is to make it easier for people to grow staple crops which might need more than your average-sized backyard vegetable garden. About 20 families have been pooling their labour to produce enough potatoes and pumpkins to see them through the year, and have a lot of fun besides.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Sheldon Levet, Justin Connor, Katie Rosati, Jane Riddiford and Mika Zollner
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Gianina Schwanecke heads for the hills of Waikato to learn more about the art of deer stalking during the roar.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Allen and Sophie Juno
Tune in next week to learn more about the Pureora Hunting Competition.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A chat about New Zealand's country music scene with Ashburton-based artist, Molly Harrison.
With thanks to
- Molly Harrison
Listen to her music, From the Hillside, on all streaming platforms.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A wrap of conditions on farms and orchards around the country.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Gianina chats with an Otago taxidermist during the roar; Sally visits Halcombe, a community remembering its Home Guard this ANZAC weekend, and Anisha heads to Geraldine High School to learn about a farming pathways course.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:40 - Roar Ready
- 4:41 - Rural News Wrap
- 11:08 - From Farm to Front Line: Halcombe honours its Home Guard
- 29:17 - Fencing in the classroom
With thanks to:
- Oliver Garland
- Alex Short
- Wayne Short
- Sarah Foley-Smith
- Dan Douglass
- Struan Moore
- Students of Geraldine High School
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Anisha heads to Geraldine High School to learn about their farming skills course, the Primary Industries Academy.
Learn more about Geraldine High School's Primary Industries Academy here.
You can find photos here.
With thanks to:
- Sarah Foley-Smith
- Dan Douglass
- Struan Moore
- Students of Geraldine High School
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Many small towns in New Zealand had their own "Dad's Army" during the second world war. But far from feeble and fumbling like those in the well-known TV series, the volunteers were highly trained and ingenious but had few resources, according to research. Country Life is in Halcombe which remembers their own Home Guard this year.
You can find photos, here.
With thanks to:
- Alex Short
- Wayne Short
The archival sound in this podcast is from the New Zealand National Film Unit film Citizen Soldiers (1942), which can be viewed via Archives New Zealand here
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
"Once the reds start roaring, it really, really gets busy," Oliver Garland of All Over Taxidermy says.
You can find photos, here.
With thanks to:
- Oliver Garland, All Over Taxidermy
- Jordan Hamilton-Bicknell, Wild Game
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This week on Country Life Gianina meets a worm farmer in Hawke's Bay, while Sally drops in on a Kerikeri orchard growing dragon fruit and Anisha is with some Canterbury grain farmers. Amid punishing weather and high costs, they're making the switch to dairying.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:47 - Rural News Wrap
- 6:30 - Wonder Worm
- 12:56 - Trading crops for cows
- 31:50 -In Northland there be dragons
With thanks to:
- Trevor Hellyer
- David Clark, Rod May, and David Birkett
- Satish Kumar, Luke Beehre, and Jeanette Johnstone
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A trial of the striking and exotic dragon fruit is hitting its straps in Northland. Could the new sweet varieties grown under cover be a viable crop in New Zealand amid a changing climate?
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
And you can find Sally's other story from Northland Te Tai Tokerau about the Land family, here.
With thanks to:
- Satish Kumar, Bioeconomy Science Institute
- Luke Beehre and Jeanette Johnstone, Northland Inc
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Canterbury is an arable powerhouse, but in recent years, many have started moving into dairying. What's behind the change?
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
And you can find that other story we mentioned about the Wairarapa Grains Collective, here.
With thanks to:
- David Clark, Rod May, and David Birkett
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Trevor Hellyer made the move from one mud loving animal to another - changing from pig farming to worm farming just outside Havelock North.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A wrap of news from RNZ's rural news desk
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Country Life visits New Zealand's only cranberry farm, finds out about the origins and passion for the trusty ute and meets Laura Watson of Monowai Station
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Anisha Satya visits New Zealand's only cranberry farm - and samples the produce.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Kevin MacGregor and Kate Buckley
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
While Americans have their pick-ups, Kiwis and Aussies have the ute. Mark Leishman finds out about the ubiquitous farmers' and tradies' vehicle at the Methven A & P Show's Ute Muster
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Laura Watson is a the fourth generation of her family to run Monowai Station. She's not only helping restore wetlands and pockets of native bush on her family farm but across wider Te Tairāwhiti.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Laura Watson, Monowai Station
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This week Country Life meets some pioneer egg producers and a farmer growing and harvesting an ancient grain.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:38 - Answering the roar - hunting venison for people in need
- 6:34 - Rural News Wrap
- 13:19 - Four farmers, one forgotten grain and the pasta-maker bringing it to the plate
- 28:57 - Poultry 'pioneers': Three generations of Bennik's behind an egg empire
With thanks to:
- Lisa Daunton
- Monty Petrie and Mick Williams, Wairarapa Grains Collective
- Nick, Harry, Rhonda and Courtney Bennik, Bennik's Eggs
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
From moving to cage-free farming in the 90's, becoming SPCA animal welfare accredited and launching a liquid egg processing plant - the Bennik family has never been afraid to try something new and ruffle a few feathers.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
You can learn more about Bennik's Eggs, here, or the NZ Egg Group, here.
With thanks to:
- Nick, Harry, Rhonda and Courtney Bennik
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Amid a growing eat local movement, durum wheat is being grown and turned into pasta by an artisan food producer and a group of Wairarapa farmers.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
Find out more about the Wairarapa Grains Collective here.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
For a few years now Lisa Daunton has been stocking food banks in Te Tai Rāwhiti with wild venison which she harvests with fellow hunters.
With thanks to Lisa Daunton
For more on the story, click here
To find out more about Kaiwhakangau and Kai Connect, click here
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Country Life meets a family using bullock-power instead of diesel to grow their own food, and gets a taste of the tomatoes grown by some of Wellington's Italian community.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:47 - Conditions wrap
- 7:04- Standing up for migrant farmers
- 14:45 - Roots that run deep - Capri tomatoes
- 26:24 - Off-grid, thriving and feeding whānau without fossil fuels
With thanks to:
- Kristine Asuncion
- Nina and Teresa Cuccurullo
- Marissa Dowling
- The Land family
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Bullocks and horses power the Land's farm in the Hokianga where three generations live off-grid, growing practically all their own food without the need for fossil fuels. Country Life spent a morning with the families whose way of life echoes more traditional modes of farming last century.
With thanks to:
- The Land family
Head here for photos and more information
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
From Italy to Wellington's south coast, growing and eating great food is central to the Cuccurullo family maintaining its cultural heritage. For the past 60 years, they've kept the tradition of growing tomatoes from seeds first sourced in Capri in the 1960s.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
You can learn more about Island Bay's Italian community, here.
With thanks to:
- Nina and Teresa Cuccurullo
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Anisha Satya chats with Kristine Asuncion, Filipina dairy farmer and advocate.
With thanks to:
- Kristine Asuncion
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A wrap of conditions on farms and orchards around the country.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Country Life visits a mosque in remote Southland, the sheep of the future in Northland, and traverses Mid Canterbury's rivers and shorelines with pest trappers.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:45 - The Masjid that's made a home in Mataura
- 5:26 - Rural News Wrap
- 10:06 - The future role of meat and dairy in feeding humans
- 18:22 - Meaty, eco-friendly, good-looking but not so woolly - the making of NZ's future flock
- 30:53 - A trap down the river: Pest control along Mid Canterbury's waterways
With thanks to:
- Haji Zamberi Matyunus
- Donald Moore
- Kapiro Farm
- Alastair Stewart and Ray Cossar
- Ken Body
- The Rickard family
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Farmers, tradies and 4x4 enthusiasts are doing their bit to protect Mid Canterbury's rivers and oceans.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Alastair Stewart
- Ray Cossar
- Ken Body
- The Rickard family
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Climate change, increasing costs, fussier consumers and changing rules have researchers and breeders working hard to develop a sheep that will not only be economic to farm but good for the planet. Country Life visits Kapiro Farm in Northland which is five years into a seven-year project to design the sheep of the future.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Ian Leaf, Pāmu
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Chicago-based Global Dairy Platform's executive director Donald Moore on the importance of addressing emissions reductions with a 'global mass' approach.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Donald Moore
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
The Mataura Masjid provides a place of community for those from as far as Roxborough and Tapanui to Wyndham.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Haji Zamberi Matyunus
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
After her time at the Shepherdess muster, Country Life presenter Gianina Schwanecke shares the latest podcast from RNZ made in collaboration with the team at Shepherdess magazine, Far From Town. Host Arpége Taratoa-Rangikura meets women at the end of gravel roads and up remote valleys across Aotearoa. Over cups of tea, they talk about love, loss and connection to whenua.
Jenny Sandford’s life is a whirlwind. From a beauty school dropout to wild times in Canada, from being a cop to now being a mum of four and a sheep and beef farmer in Tairāwhiti. From the immense grief of miscarriage when they lost their firstborn daughter, Nina, to finding joy in line dancing in her wool shed. Jenny takes on whatever comes her way and somehow finds a silver lining.
To see more images from the series, visit the RNZ website here: rnz.co.nz/farfromtown
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This week Country Life is helping with the grape harvest, taking you line-dancing and meeting rural women at the Shepherdess Muster.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:37 - Dairy payouts and Kiwisaver changes with Steve Hayidakis
- 5:50 - Rural News Wrap
- 9:40 - Pick and be merry - harvest time at Big Sky Wines
- 17:42 - Let's go line dancing
- 30:00 - Making memories at the Shepherdess Muster
With thanks to:
- Steve Hayidakis
- Jeremy Corban and Katherine Jacobs, Big Sky Vineyard
- Nigel Mooney, Linedance Christchurch
- Kristy McGregor, Shepherdess
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A weekend retreat filled with crafts, relaxation, learning, fun and connection in the remote rural community of Tokanui in Southland.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
And you can hear more from Julie Keast and the Far From Town women, here.
With thanks to:
- Kristy McGregor, Shepherdess
- And Allesha Ballard-Conway, Louise Patterson, Sophie Green, Dr Helen Paterson from the Women's Health Bus, Johnny Mauchline from Flying Trestles, Tokanui locals Emma-Kate Rabbidge and Sheila Smith from the Small Prophet Design Shed
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
The rurally-rooted dance style has had a resurgence across New Zealand. Country Life attends a class to learn why.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Harvest time at Big Sky Wines, established by Kath Jacobs and Jeremy Corban, begins or ends with friends and neighbours in the vineyard helping to bring in the first grapes of the season.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
ANZ's general manager for business and agri discusses how the Fonterra consumer brands sale will impact rural towns and supermarket shelves.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Country Life visits the Duff family's permaculture farm in the Hawke's Bay, a farming festival in North Canterbury, chats to young Kiwi pilot Henry Phelps, who's fighting Australia's bushfires, and Gary Lancaster of the Hokitika Wildfoods Festival.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 1:05 - Weird, wacky wild food
- 8:51 - Conditions Wrap
- 16:48 - Permaculture power in Poukawa
- 30:45 - Young kiwi pilot helps map and fight Victoria's devastating bushfires
- 37:47 - A walk through Aotearoa's farming festival
With thanks to:
- Henry Phelps
- Fran Bailey, Underground Festival
- Jo Duff, Kahikatea Farm
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
The Underground Festival brings rural folk from across the motu together to learn about regenerative agriculture, and share kai from the land. Anisha Satya toured around the event.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
You can learn more about the Underground Festival, here.
With thanks to:
- Fran Bailey
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
The Duff family's focus is working with nature when it comes to their permaculture farm and organic nursery, Kahikatea Farm.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
You can find more information about Kahikatea Farm, here.
With thanks to:
- Jo Duff
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Kiwi pilot Henry Phelps has gone from wilderness flying to helping combat Australia's bushfires, flying planes with special technology which provide photos to assist in the tracking and fighting of fires on the ground. He's not the only Phelps in the air over the fires. Sometimes his brother is flying over the same area in a helicopter, also on a similar mission. Henry chats to Country Life about his job and working alongside his brother as fires rage below.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
From wild deer to huhu grubs - the Wildfoods Festival in Hokitika celebrates all foods foraged and feral. Anisha Satya talks to vender coordinator Cary Lancaster.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A wrap of conditions on farms and orchards around the country.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Country Life is with blade shearers from around the world in a woolshed in Tinui and immersed in the many attractions of the tiny community of Duntroon. Sir Charles Godfray is the show's guest talking about how food systems will have to change in the face of global warming.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:30 - Rural News Wrap
- 6:38 - 'Fetishisation of protein': An Oxford Professor on the future of food and food production
- 15:58 - Sharpening their edge for the Golden Shears
- 28:37 - Duntroon: The biggest little town in the valley
With thanks to:
- Sir Charles Godfray
- Rewarewa Station
- Duntroon Heritage Trail
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
For a town of only 100 people, Duntroon has more than its share of attractions, with a blacksmiths, a master saddler, the intriguing Vanished World Heritage Centre with its fossils, and a Heritage Trail.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Blade shearers from around the world have been sharpening their tools and their eye before the Golden Shears in Masterton under the tutelage of Allan Oldfield, a world champion blade shearer, at a woolshed in Tinui.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Sir Charles Godfray has told the Riddet Institute's Agrifood Summit our food systems will have to change in order to limit the impacts of global warming.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Sir Charles Godfray
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
The McClutchie whānau explores growing different crops, with aspirations to grow Māori medicinal plants, on their family whenua in North Taranaki.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
You can learn more about Venture Taranaki's Branching Out, here. Or by listening to this interview with Michelle Bauer here.
With thanks to:
- Rawiri McClutchie, Davis McClutchie, Richard McClutchie, and Anne-Maree McKay
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Nick Rahiri Roskruge is Country Life's guest this week. His work in agriculture and soil science have taken him far afield looking at crops sustaining indigenous communities.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Nick Roskruge
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This week Country Life is out and about at Fieldays, meets a boy with a side hustle farming quail eggs, and chats around the kitchen table with the Harvey family about their century of farming.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:41 - Rural News Wrap
- 7:45 - Rural Women NZ at 100
- 15:45 - The Quail Kid - cracking the egg market aged 12
- 27:45 - From generation to generation - a century at Daisybank
With thanks to guests:
- Sandra Matthews, Rural Women New Zealand
- Hamish Sturgeon & Giovanni Vico
- The Harvey Family
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Strong family support, innovation and a dash of good luck have seen the Harvey family of Wairarapa clock up a hundred years on Daisybank Farm near Martinborough. They're banking on a similar mix to see them through the next century.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 1:02 - Life at Daisybank
- 4:10 - The next generation takes over
- 7:23 - 100 years of farming
- 10:17 - 100 years of Harveys
- 15:41 - Experience life on farm
With thanks to:
- Owen Harvey, John and Emma Harvey
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Hamish Sturgeon is on his first farming venture rearing quails for their eggs. They're healthy, delicious and it's a fun side-hustle keeping the cute little birds fed, watered and healthy, the young teen says.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Hamish Sturgeon and his mum Briar Sturgeon
- Giovanni Vico
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
As Rural Women New Zealand marks its centennial year, it hopes a $250,000 boost in government funding can help fuel its mission to connect, support, and advocate for women in rural communities. President Sandra Matthews is Country Life's guest this week.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
You can read more about the centenary rose, here.
With thanks:
- Sandra Matthews, Rural Women New Zealand
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This week Country Life delves into the world of protein, finds out how a small community raises money for a rescue service through its hunting competition and meets an orchardist with a knack for upcycling as well as growing.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:44 - Rural News Wrap
- 07:30 - The Power of Protein
- 16:48 - Bob Teal's Bruntwood Orchard
- 30:23 - The small town hunting competition that's helping save lives
With thanks to guests:
- Distinguished professor Paul Moughan, The Riddet Institute
- Bob Teal, Bruntwood Orchard
- Abbey Maher
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
The annual Pongaroar hunting competition is remote Tarara District helps hunters and farmers tackle growing pest numbers, while getting together and raising funds for the local rescue helicopter.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Abbey Maher
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Bob Teale's resourcefulness has allowed him to keep growing a niche range of berries into his 80s at Bruntwood Orchard near Cambridge. He uses upcycled push chairs as picking trolleys and adapted his golf cart to run under his DIY tunnel houses.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Bob Teal, Bruntwood Orchard
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Distinguished professor Paul Moughan from the Riddet Institute breaks down what protein is, why we need it and all the things you need to know when considering your protein fix.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks:
- Distinguished professor Paul Moughan, The Riddet Institute
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.
You can find more from the rural news team here
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This week Country Life moves with the cows on that traditional day of the farming calendar - Mooving Day. The team's also in northern Coromandel where locals have fought back to retain their local post office and finds out about diversification in Taranaki.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:53- On the farm
- 8:34- Venture Taranaki 'Branching Out' across the region
- 15:46- Colville people ensure the mail gets through
- 26:26- From the Archives: My old man said follow the cows
With thanks to guests:
- Michelle Bauer, Venture Taranaki
- Peter Sander
- Mike and Raewyn Sweeney, and Gary Coombe
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Like what you hear? Tell us! Leave us a review on your favourite podcast app or join the RNZ Podcasts Facebook group and join the convo.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
June 1 is an important day in the farming calendar when dairy farmers relocate animals, typically from one farm to another, for the start of the new season. Back in 2009 producer Susan Murray stepped out with some farmers to find out what the day - now known as Mooving Day - involves.
With thanks to:
- Mike and Raewyn Sweeney, and Gary Coombe
For more on Mooving Day, click here .
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
An hour's drive from the northern tip of Coromandel, you'll find a tiny post office run by volunteers. As rural postal services shrink, the small community here - population about 1500 - has taken things into its own hands to ensure the old motto "the mail must get through".
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Peter Sander
Story here
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Michelle Bauer from Venture Taranaki's Branching Out programme shares exciting new opportunities for Taranaki landowners to diversify their farming and growing operations.
You can learn more about Venture Taranaki's Branching Out, here.
You can also find our previous interview with organic dairy farmer Janet Fleming who's taking part in the trial, here.
With thanks to:
- Michelle Bauer
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Country Life speaks to farmers and growers around NZ to find out about growing conditions over the past month.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This week Country Life visits a Taranaki conservationist on the family farm, learns more about a Canterbury family making cosy coffins from their farms wool to provide a comfortable send off, and we take a dive into the archives to learn about the importance of rural broadcasting as RNZ celebrates 100 years.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:48 - Preserving native bush and local history on the 'perfect farm'
- 8:41 - Rural News Wrap
- 16:00 - Farming 101: The difference between a heading dog and a Huntaway
- 17:26 - 100 years of rural broadcasting
- 41:04 - Demand for caskets made from sheeps wool on the rise
With thanks to guests:
- Ross Dunlop
- Chris Shaw, Rural Edge Contracting and Dog Training
- Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision
- Polly and Ross McGuckin, Exquisite Wools
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
As well as selling top quality wool to buyers around the world, Polly and Ross McGuckin's Yaldhurst Wools business also provides funeral homes with biodegradable caskets and ash urns made from New Zealand wool.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
You can learn more about Exquisite Wools, here.
With thanks to:
- Polly and Ross McGuckin
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Informing, entertaining and connecting isolated farmers was a prime goal of the Radio Broadcasting Company, officially incorporated in August 1925 and a forerunner to RNZ. As RNZ celebrates the centenary, Country Life dips back into the archives to bring you some of the well-loved voices and shows from the rural team over the decades.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wairarapa dog triallist Chris Shaw breaks down the difference between heading dogs and Huntaway, like young pup Miley, and what they each do on farm.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
You can also find more about Rural Edge Contracting and Dog Training, here.
You can catch more of Chris and Miley, including the first time we met them, here.
With thanks to:
- Chris Shaw
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Former South-Taranaki mayor Ross Dunlop has led the way with conservation efforts on his family farm.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Ross Dunlop
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This week Country Life heads to the saleyards in Canterbury, meets a Taranaki woman weaving locally-grown wool into blankets and finds out what it's like to be a rural midwife working in a very remote part of the Coromandel Peninsula.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:40 - Rural News Wrap
- 6:02 - Lambs are flying out of the pens at the Canterbury Saleyards
- 14:18 - Where there's wool there's a way
- 27:01 - A day in the life of a rural midwife
With thanks to guests:
- Tim Kyle, Grant Nordstrom, and Brent McCauley
- Alison Ross, The Taranaki Blanket
- Sheryl Wright
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Like what you hear? Tell us! Leave us a review on your favourite podcast app or join the RNZ Podcasts Facebook group and join the convo.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Rural midwife Sheryl Wright drives a winding dangerous road and even fords rivers to get to pregnant and new mothers in northwest Coromandel.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:08 - A day in the life of Sheryl Wright
- 3:00 - The only midwife in remote Coromandel
- 5:58 - At the Thames birthing clinic
- 8:50 - Home visits and home births
- 17:43 - Not just a holiday destination but home
With thanks to:
- Sheryl Wright
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Taranaki weaver Alison Ross is trying to bring back woollen-blankets made from locally-grown wool to highlight the fibre's benefits.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
You can learn more about The Taranaki Blanket here.
With thanks to:
- Alison Ross
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Many Waitaha farmers are moving away from the traditional system of running ewes and finishing their own lambs. Now they're in the market to buy in and finish other's lambs.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to guests:
- Tim Kyle, Grant Nordstrom, and Brent McCauley
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
There are two sorts of harvest on Country Life this week - muttonbirds on the tītī islands and walnuts at one of Canterbury's biggest walnut orchards. Also, a trip into the past to visit an historic farm on the Coromandel peninsula, linked to immigrants from Dalmatia.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:42 - Rural News Wrap
- 5:55 - Muttonbirding - 'It's part of who we are'
- 14:34 - Devcich farm shines a light on Dalmatian pioneers
- 30:00 - Harvesting time is nuts at busy walnut orchard
With thanks to guests:
- Daniel Tarrant, Ruapuke Uncut
- Lorenza Devcich, Devcich Historic Farmstead
- Clive Marsh and Heather North
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Like what you hear? Tell us! Leave us a review on your favourite podcast app or join the RNZ Podcasts Facebook group and join the convo.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
The tree shaker and nut gatherer are cracking through Clive Marsh and Heather North's picturesque nuttery near Lincoln. By harvest's end, over 30 tonnes of walnuts will have been turned into premium products at a local walnut processing facility.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:55 - Lightfoot Walnuts
- 3:01 - Why walnuts
- 8:15 - The nut shaker
- 12:05 - Nuts for nuts
- 16:03 - In the wash shed
With thanks to:
- Clive Marsh and Heather North
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
The story of a pioneering family of Dalmatian immigrants is kept alive through a cluster of rustic sheds on an historic farm near Thames.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
You can read more about Devcich Historic Farmstead, here.
With thanks to:
- Lorenza Devcich
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Dan Tarrant's ancestors have been harvesting muttonbirds or tītī for 500 years. The autumn harvest is a family affair and a chance to pass down skills and traditions.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Daniel Tarrant
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This week Country Life is at a pumpkin farm in Whanganui, finding out about seed growing and meets a photographer from South Auckland who's spending time at one of New Zealand's iconic hill country stations.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:40 - On the farm
- 8:32 - Farming 101: Grapevine pruning
- 11:48 - South Auckland artist absorbs farm life on high country station in Southern Alps
- 27:31 - Life is gourd for pumpkin seed growers at Summer Hill Seeds
With thanks to guests:
- Jake Dromgool, 144 Islands
- Raymond Sagapoutele
- Clare and Grant Adkins, Summer Hill Seeds
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Like what you hear? Tell us! Leave us a review on your favourite podcast app or join the RNZ Podcasts Facebook group and join the convo.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Whanganui farming couple Clare and Grant Adkins are growing plant protein alongside their animals proteins.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
You can learn more about Summer Hill Seeds, here.
If you want to hear from the Welches back in 2019, you can catch the previous episode, here.
In this episode:
- 0:14 - Meet Clare and Grant
- 2:50 - A different kind of pumpkin
- 7:25 - Processing the seeds
- 13:55 - 'Grand old lady'
- 18:00 - The colour grader
With thanks to:
- Clare and Grant Adkins
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Raymond Sagapolutele was not sure what to expect when he arrived at Castle Hill Station for a Creative NZ residency. The photographer hadn't spent time on a farm before.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Raymond Sagapoutele
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Winter's coming up and that means pruning time in the vineyard. How do you prune a grapevine and why?
You can learn more about 144 Islands, here.
With thanks to:
- Jake Dromgool
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A round-up of conditions on farms and orchards around the country.
You can find photos from around the country on our webpage, here.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Country Life meets Hawke's bay stud owner Tony Thompson who's been breeding cattle for half a century. The team also find out about an organic vege growing business in Canterbury and chat to a sheep and beef farming family about diversifying their business.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:40 - Rural News Wrap
- 6:40 - Organic vege business mushrooms under green fingered growers
- 16:42 - Heights Farms built on family
- 29:20 - A Life of Legacy: Tony Thompson and the Glen Anthony Stud
With thanks to guests:
- Penny Platt and Isaac Green, Untamed Earth Organic Farm
- Anna and Blair Robinson, Heights Farms
- Tony Thompson, Glen Anthony Super Simmentals
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Collecting fine china is one of the passions of long-time Simmental cattle breeder Tony Thompson, bringing new meaning to the saying "like a bull in a china shop".
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
You can learn more about Glen Anthony Super Simmentals, here.
In this episode:
- 0:12 - The origins of the Glen Anthony stud
- 2:56 - Shaping the stud
- 4:30 - Meet the girls and the sale bulls
- 13:30 - Memorable moments over 50 years
- 16:18 - Collecting fine China
With thanks to:
- Tony Thompson
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Tucked under the Tararua Range, fifth generation sheep and beef farmers, the Robinsons, have added a diverse range of income streams to the family farm including finding new purposes for the old woolshed.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
You can learn more about Heights Farms, here. Or for the Heights Experience, see here.
With thanks to:
- Anna and Blair Robinson
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
They started growing vegetables in paddock for lockdown vege boxes. Five years on, Penny Platt, her brother Ollie and Issac Green grow over 40 crops on 24 hectares of chemical free farmland in Canterbury.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
You can learn more about Untamed Earth Organic Farm, here.
With thanks to:
- Penny Platt and Isaac Green
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This week on Country Life we check out an artificially constructed lake on Braemore Farm that's built for water storage and fun we’re out with Anna and Mitch Munro are out on the farm every day with 18-month-old Charlie in tow.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:35 - A garden to munch on
- 6:23 - Rural News Wrap
- 14:15 - Wairarapa farmer 'proud' of DIY lake
- 27:26 - Farming with a toddler in tow
With thanks to guests:
- Cath Goodrick, Kai Rotorua
- Len French, Lake Braemore
- Anna and Mitch Munro, Muster Photography
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Like what you hear? Tell us! Leave us a review on your favourite podcast app or join the RNZ Podcasts Facebook group and join the convo.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
20-month-old Charlie Munro already knows some dog calls and how to open gates. His mum, Anna, also grew up at Cravendale, a hill country farm near Mount Somers. She and husband Mitch, a builder who's quickly learnt the art of farming, lease her parents' 450-hectare farm.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
You can also find some of Anna's other photos here.
In this episode:
- 0:12 - Shifting stock at Cravendale
- 4:00 - Working with toddler in tow
- 8:30 - Learning the ropes
- 13:50 - A homecoming on the family farm
- 16:00 - Behind the lens, capturing rural life with a camera
- 18:15 - Songbird
With thanks to guests:
- Mitch and Anna Munro, and Charlie Munro
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Len French wanted a lake to help with water security on his eastern Wairarapa farm. What he's built, Lake Braemore, is now a community asset that can be enjoyed by all.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
You can learn more about Lake Braemore, here.
With thanks to:
- Len French
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Landscape designer and market gardener Cath Goodrick enjoys showing how people to incorporate kai into their gardens.
You can hear more about Kai Rotorua and the kumara harvest which we featured recently here.
With thanks to:
- Cath Goodrick.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This week on Country Life the team take a walk on the wild side with a herd of water buffalo in Clevedon, check out a botanical growing trial in Taranaki and visit an Invercargill native nursery.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:40 - Rural News Wrap
- 7:18 - Eco-sourced plants flying out the door at Rūnaka-owned native nursery
- 20:12 - On farm with organic dairy farmer Janet Fleming, Taranaki
- 30:08 - Clevedon - where the water buffalo roam
With thanks to guests:
- Phil Moeke, Te Tapu o Tāne
- Janet Fleming
- Richard and Helen Dorresteyn, Clevedon Buffalo
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Like what you hear? Tell us! Leave us a review on your favourite podcast app or join the RNZ Podcasts Facebook group and join the convo.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Clevedon couple Richard and Helen Dorresteyn were the first to farm water buffalo in New Zealand. These giant, burly beasts produce the softest award-winning cheeses.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:35 - A history of water buffalo stories
- 3:04 - Meet the Clevedon Buffalo herd
- 6:40 - Helen at the Clevedon Village Farmers Market
- 10:0 - Water buffalo 101
- 11:06 - An introduction to New Zealand
- 13:00 - Nearly 20 years on
With thanks to guests:
- Richard and Helen Dorresteyn, Clevedon Buffalo
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Organic dairy farmer Janet Fleming is in her eighth season of once a day milking, something she credits with helping get her through Taranaki's recent drought. She's also trialing growing a range of new botanicals.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
You can learn more about Venture Taranaki's Branching Out trial here.
With thanks to:
- Janet Fleming
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Phil Moeke is the manager of Te Kōhaka o Tāne, a commercial nursery in Invercargill that has grown over 800,000 native trees and plants since it opened in 2022.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Phil Moeke, Te Tapu o Tāne
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A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector
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This week on Country Life the team catch up with a Wairarapa farming family that's added sheep dairy to their farming operation, and every day is a hoot for Gloria Harris, who runs a little owl and morepork rescue service near Invercargill.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:37 - On the Farm
- 9:23 - Dean Martin from Glenlands Farm
- 14:25 - Southland owl rescue centre
- 29:00 - Fernglen Farm's sheep dairy addition
With thanks to guests:
- Dean Martin, from Glenlands Farm
- Gloria Harris
- Jeff and Cameron Ravenwood, from Fernglen Farm
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Fernglen Farm is a family affair helping people learn more about the benefits of sheep milk, while finding new ways to balance the hardships of farming on Wairarapa's coast.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 1:08 - The Ravenwood family's move to sheep dairy
- 3:30 - Set up challenges
- 7:48 - We meet Cameron at the processing plant
- 10:53 - The nutritional benefits of sheep milk
- 13:54 - New products being rolled out
- 16:54 - The future of the industry
With thanks to guests:
- Jeff and Cameron Ravenwood, from Fernglen Farm
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Like what you hear? Tell us! Leave us a review on your favourite podcast app or join the RNZ Podcasts Facebook group and join the convo.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
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Gloria Harris has been running a ruhu nohinohi little owl and ruru morepork rescue service for 30 years. "I've probably cared for close to 300 birds," she told Country Life proudly.
You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.
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Dean Martin has carried on the legacy set by his dad and is not afraid to try new things - from shedding sheep to regenerative agriculture practices.
You can find photos and read more about this story on our webpage, here.
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A round-up of conditions on farms and orchards around the country.
You can read more on our webpage, here.
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Country Life this week digs deep into the world of kūmara and finds out about farm training for young people with disabilities.
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A training initiative in Southland is giving young adults with high-functioning disabilities the skills required to work on a dairy farm.
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It's nearly time for the kūmara harvest at Kai Rotorua and this year there's something new to weave into the legends, poetry and traditional knowledge surrounding the staple crop.
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A look at what's been making headlines on the rural news desk this week.
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This week the Country Life team catch up with some sheep farmers busy with docking and crutching on the land, and then a taste of the sea, as they sample different seaweeds.
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Farming in the wake of the Mt Tarawera eruption has tested the Ford family for nearly a century. But dam-building and a lighter footprint on the land in the sensitive Rotorua Lakes area has earned them environmental accolades.
You can read more here.
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As part of Aotearoa's first seaweed festival, Pacific Harvest hosted a seaweed tasting event where people could sample various red, green and brown dried seaweeds.
You can read more here.
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Sometimes it takes an outsider to come in and give a dyed-in-the-wool farmer a wee nudge. This is where Southland entrepreneur Laura Todd comes in.
You can read more here.
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A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.
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This week on Country Life the team head to a luxury lodge where farming is all part of the experience, and Tuatapere's domain is transformed into a sensory celebration of rural life during the annual Waiau A&P Show.
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Tuatapere's picturesque domain is transformed into a sensory celebration of rural life during the annual Waiau A&P Show.
You can read more and find photos from the day here.
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Farm manager Bradley Riggs has more than just sheep and cattle to think about. He has high profile guests and celebs staying at the farm's luxury lodge and enjoys showing them the kiwi farming life and traditions.
You can read more here.
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Geoff Allott, a former Black Cap and co-founder of exporting company Quality NZ, has been in the Indian market for 12 years.
You can read more here.
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A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.
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We take a bite of the apple breeding process and learn what it takes to make the fruit of tomorrow and the team visit a farming commune in Golden Bay that's still going strong after 50 years.
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We find out what it takes to produce some of New Zealand's tastiest apples by heading inside Plant & Food Research where they help Prevar create new apple and pear varieties.
You can read more here.
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Rainbow Valley is located on regenerating whenua at the end of a gravel road near Tākaka. Several families share the land and help run a small farm for the benefit of the whole community.
You can read more here.
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A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.
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A pre-harvest update from the Greystone Wines, that recently hosted the inaugural Underground soil, food and farming festival. With viticulturalist and farming advisor, Nick Gill.
You can read more here.
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We meet a small-scale farmer who has big ideas on how smaller farms can help solve the growing problem of food insecurity in New Zealand and a Southland deer farmer, who's invented a non-polluting baleage wrap that animals can eat.
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Seven-hectares can produce a "magnificent" amount of food. So says small-scale farmer and Kellogg scholar Alison Bentley who's done just that, growing beef cattle, hazelnuts and a wide range of fruit on her small farm near Rotorua.
Alison Bentley's Kellogg research report titled "Small scale food growers and their role in New Zealand's sustainable food future" can be found here
Here is a link to the "Peri-Urban Design" concept Alison spoke of.
Results of the hazelnut trial can be found here
Alison’s website: https://tikiterefarm.co.nz/
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Plastic free paddocks have become a reality thanks to Grant Lightfoot. The Orepuke deer farmer has invented a nonpolluting baleage wrap that animals can eat.
More info and photos can be found here
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Golden Shears President Trish Stevens shares her love of the wool industry and which heats the one to watch at this year's shearing and woolhandling championship event in Masterton.
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Grapes are being picked in Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa, Taranaki's in drought and the hop harvest is about to start in Tasman.
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We meet a farming couple in Southland that are making health products from the hemp they grow, and we get some insights into the Chinese market for New Zealand wine.
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A hemp crop flourishes beside wheat, barley and peas at Blair and Jody Drysdale's farm in northern Southland.
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Fang Mei fell in love with wine after working in the banking industry in New Zealand and China. Now she has her own vineyard here and educates people in China about New Zealand wine.
You can read more, here.
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We check back in with Hamish Best of Conscious Valley just outside Wellington. A keen ag student the last time he spoke to Country Life, he's now a finalist for the prestigious trans-Tasman Zanda McDonald Award.
You can read more, here.
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A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.
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Head inside a Hawke's Bay packhouse and orchard once covered in millions of litres of silt after Cyclone Gabrielle and meet a topdressing pilot who's still flying after nearly half a century on the job.
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When Cyclone Gabrielle hit two years ago, 4th generation orchardist Cameron Taylor sprang into action rescuing people from rooftops in his Taylor Corporation helicopter. Since then it's been non-stop in restoring the family orchard and packhouse into working order.
You can find photos from the clean-up and recovery here.
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Aerial topdresser John Bargh is preparing for another season up in the air. He's spent nearly five decades in the skies spreading fert on hill country farms.
You can read more about John's lengthy flying career here.
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Red seaweed grown in Bluff has been shown to significantly reduce methane emissions in beef and dairy cattle with no adverse effects to the animals, their products or the environment.
You can read more here.
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A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.
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We head to a woolshed where hundreds of sheep are being shorn for charity and find out how the Tora Coastal Walk has helped a rugged sheep and beef farm weather tough times.
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It's 30 years since the Elworthy family began the Tora Coastal Walk, one of the first multi-day hikes on farmland in NZ. It's been the key to this marginal farm's survival.
Head here for photos and story
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Dozens of shearers slipped on their moccasins for the Shear For Life charity shearing event at Hinds, raising $150,000 for local charitable groups.
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The team at Waka Dairies near Dannevirke is turning waste from milking cows into fertiliser that can be worked back into the farm.
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A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.
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Meet farmers Joyce and Jock Wyllie, who first met when she was a locum vet visiting his isolated farm in Golden Bay. We also check back in to see what progress Miley the Huntaway is making and talk to Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford.
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Joyce and Jock Wyllie first met when she was a locum vet visiting his isolated farm in Golden Bay.
Story and photos can be found here
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We catch up with Miley the young Huntaway and her trainer Chris Shaw as she celebrates her first birthday. You'll be blown away by how much progress she's made.
For photos and story head here
Learn more:
- Revisit our first meeting with Chris and Miley here to see what progress she's made.
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How do New Zealand's farming leaders juggle the farm with the many other hats they may wear in the public arena? We go behind the scenes and catch up with Wayne Langford.
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A round-up of conditions on farms and orchards around the country.
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The best of Country Life including a microgreens farm in Te Puke, potato growing in Otago and goat milking near Wellington
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The best of Country Life including a programme to help empower the next generation of wāhine in agriculture, a small farming community in Canterbury who love ice skating and a Clydesdales stud returns to the foothills of Taranaki Mounga.
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The best of Country Life including Rural Riders in Taranaki, Appleby Farms near Nelson, and a young Huntaway pup named Miley in Wairarapa.
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The best of Country Life including Mount Taranaki ranger Tāne Houston, a traditional Māori healer is working with shearers all around the motu and an Otago sheep farmer crafts coats from her Romdale hogget wool.
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The best of Country Life including Hugh Wilson of Hinewai Reserve, a visit to Kohirā Solar Farm in Northland and a night out with the Capital Kiwi project team.
More on the Hinewai Reserve story can be found here
For more on Kohirā Solar farm head here and here for the Capital Kiwi Project story
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The team brings you stories from the rodeo world, a Christmas tree farm turned maize-maze, and an old rural homestead which has been turned into a luxurious retreat.
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The rodeo season is underway and Lylah and Riley Wood, two home-schooled teenagers, are in an arena in Waikato practising barrel racing and breakaway roping, rodeo sports which have taken them to the US with a national youth team this year.
Photos and more info here
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Wallingford Homestead in Central Hawke's Bay was once a bustling base for the local farming community. These days it's helping bridge the urban-rural divide.
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Thousands of perfectly shaped trees are harvested in the lead-up to the festive season at Andrew McAllister's Needle Fresh Christmas tree farm Swannanoa.
Photos and more info here
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The final round-up of the week's agricultural news for 2024.
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We meet a farming family in Golden Bay who sell farm-to-fork meats, see what foreign investment can do for Hawke's Bay horticulture and meet a motocross rider taking on the family farm.
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Sustainability, animal welfare and forging a connection between producer and consumer is at the core of how things are done at Ellis Creek Farm in Golden Bay.
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Trent Garton, a former champion freestyle motocross rider, and his wife Tiki have bought the family farm. It's been a difficult road but they take it one day at a time.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/536620/country-life-from-freestyle-to-farmstyle-taking-one-day-at-a-time
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Shane Flynn from Craigmore Sustainables shows off a new orchard the investment agency is redeveloping in Hawke's Bay.
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A round-up of the week's agricultural news.
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There are cheese and eggs on Country Life's menu this week with visits to poultry and goat farms. The team also takes a closer look at what's in the pipeline for farmers to help lower methane emissions.
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Avian flu has been found on an Otago chicken farm for the first time. It's something the poultry industry has spent months preparing for and we take you inside a North Island chicken farm to understand what biosecurity measures are in place.
You can mind more information, including advice from MPI, on our webpage.
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Thanks to goat's milk, Andrea Gauland son's eczema cleared up within two weeks. It was the excuse she needed to start farming dairy goats 25 years ago and she's still loving the whey of life.
You can find photos of Andrea's goats and read more about her journey into milking here.
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A cow pill, vaccines, and specially treated grass-seed are among products it's hoped will be in farmers' methane-busting toolkits in the not-too-distant future.
Find photos and story here
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This week Country Life's learning about the art of making garden trugs and growing heirloom tomatoes, also the benefits of biochar on a farm growing trees, sheep and beef in the Far North.
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Could biochar be the black gold for integrated forestry and farming operations like Pārengarenga Incorporation in NZ's Far North?
Read more here.
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Meet Anthony and Angela Tringham, of Curious Croppers, the couple growing heirloom tomatoes using agroecology principles.
Read more and check out some photos here.
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Tony Hitchcock has been crafting trugs - wooden garden baskets - for several years using untreated willow or hazel and poplar sourced locally from around Golden Bay.
Read more and check out photos of the trugs here.
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Increasingly dry conditions across much of the North Island has farmers growing nervous about feed heading into summer, while down South the fine weather has led to good lamb weights.
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Country Life gets the low down on greenhouse gases, chats about wallaby control in Bay of Plenty and is with schoolkids helping restore habitat for the endangered Canterbury grass skink.
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Young school students plant habitat for an endangered skink and learn about biodiversity at a nature reserve on a North Canterbury dairy farm.
Photos and more info can be found here
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Standing at the wallaby control fence in Rotorua, biosecurity expert Dale Williams gives Country Life an update on efforts to control the pest.
Head here for photos and links
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A round-up of the week's news from New Zealand's primary sector.
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RNZ Climate Correspondent Eloise Gibson talks about agriculture's role in the production of greenhouse gases, what people get right and wrong about methane, and explains exactly what the ETS is.
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This week Country Life chats to a young woman learning the ancient craft of saddlery, meets a dairy farming couple who no longer use imported feed and synthetic fertilisers and heads out on a hunt for wallabies in the Bay of Plenty.
Iwi are trying to reclaim their forest from mobs of wallabies which they say are killing the bush and gobbling up pasture around Rotorua. Country Life heads out on a wallaby hunt.
There's no looking back for a Golden Bay dairy farming couple who eliminated imported feed and synthetic fertilisers from their paddocks.
Young equestrian Sophia Stratford has gone to the other side of the world to learn the craft of saddle, harness and bridle making at prestigious Capel Manor College in London and is among its top students.
This week we chat to a veterinarian at Wellington Zoo's animal hospital, Te Kōhanga, we visit a peony farm in full bloom, and we hear from scientists about the pros and cons of nitrogen.
We take you inside Wellington Zoo's animal hospital, Te Kōhanga, where they help rehabilitate native birds ready to be released back into the wild.
Scientists look at the details underpinning nitrogen and its use in agriculture, horticulture and its impacts on the environment.
Flower picking and packing for export is in full swing at Prebbleton Peonies near Christchurch.
We chat to a rural vet, visit a farm where horticulture is helping addicts recover and find out about a novel plan to capture greenhouse gases for feeding farm animals.
In a Rotorua lab scientists are cooking up plans to create stockfeed out of captured greenhouse gases from geothermal power stations.
Country Life visited Nova Trust's farm near Christchurch where the charity is helping rehabilitate addicts through horticulture.
Rory Dean, graduated as a vet from Edinburgh University in 2015, and has already filled a book - Adventures of a Country Vet - full of adventures and experiences as a rural vet in his native UK and now New Zealand.
Kiwifruit is starting to bloom in Bay of Plenty, dairy farmers up and down the country are busy breeding the next season's calves, while North Canterbury farms have welcomed some recent rain to break the dry.
We catch up with a dairy farmer embracing regenerative farming, a flower farmer juggling a young family and visit a farm classroom connecting schoolchildren to the environment.
Schoolchildren are learning in a bell tent on a riverside farm in South Wairarapa. They're taking part in a project connecting the community to the river and moana.
Kate Briant, of The Rural Florist, on how growing flowers helps her juggle a busy young family while keeping her close to her roots in horticulture.
The last time Country Life visited John Legg's Leeston dairy farm, he was adopting regenerative practices across the property. We catch up with him again five years later.
We meet a keen gardener in the Far North, hop in the sheepyards to learn about dagging and talk emissions with a sheep and beef farmer in Wairoa. And later we take a look back in the archives with a rural postman on his rounds.
In a trip to the archives we join rural delivery man Doug Wilson on his 100-kilometre daily run around the big stations around Taihape, from a feature produced in 1985 by the team from long-running RNZ show Spectrum.
A changing climate and shifting land use has prompted Wairoa sheep and beef farmer Dave Read to develop a new breed of low-input sheep.
In this first episode of Farming 101, we check in with sheep grazier Peter Crook to find out about dagging.
If you're heading to the Far North via State Highway 1, you might spy Daphne Andrell busy at work in her garden.
We join Girls who Grow helping bridge the urban-rural divide for young women and meet two Canterbury hunters supplying local food banks with wild venison mince.
Girls who Grow: The new education programme helping empower the next generation of wāhine in agriculture.
Hunters for Hope's Steve Hill and Adam Kreisel turn surplus venison from hunters and farmers into high-protein food parcels for low-income families.
This week Country Life checks in on Miley the sheepdog in training and joins Katikati College students learning more about a future in horticulture.
Teens in the heart of kiwifruit country are being trained up for a career in horticulture through the Grow Hub at Katikati College.
We check back in with Miley the Huntaway pup and her trainer Chris Shaw to see what progress she's made over the last few months.
Ocean views makes harvesting of iceberg lettuce and broccoli a lot more pleasant for Ben Scott and staff at his winter grown vegetables farm in North Canterbury.
This week we're between the rows at 144 Islands vineyard in Northland and on the Hurunui River where off-the-beaten track tourism is helping sustain a sheep farming family.
Dome glamping, farm tours and jetting up the Hurunui River supplements income and highlights cultural heritage at a traditional sheep and beef farm in North Canterbury.
Old grape vines clambering over a tumbledown shed inspired Jake Dromgool's wine-growing venture 144 Islands. He grows an array of varieties on the volcanic soils outside Kerikeri.
Richard Burke, chief of Leaderbrand, one of New Zealand's biggest horticulture groups, is returning the reins to the family which founded the firm 50 years ago.
We meet a mother and daughter growing microgreens and head to a North Canterbury dairy farm using crops to mop up nasties which could end up in waterways.
Kali sold shoes in China before coming to NZ. She discovered her green fingers just out of Te Puke where she has joined forces with her daughter to grow microgreens.
Trials on a North Canterbury dairy farm have found that early sown oats and Italian ryegrass are taking up excess urine deposited by winter grazing cows.
Nuffield scholar and former Gisborne District Councillor Kerry Worsnop on how policymakers can better work with those on the land.
Hear from an expert on China's consumer market, meet a former dairy high-flyer now farming a very different sort of protein and learn more about a niche rural business using deer antlers.
Jacinda and Richy Sheridan have carved out a niche for themselves, making hunting and farm knives using deer antlers.
Meet a farmer who has developed a food supplement based on a protein extracted from green leaves and established North Canterbury's first commercial hop gardens.
Mark Tanner knows what people in China are consuming. He's the founder of China Skinny, a market research company based in Shanghai.
It's Conservation Week! We meet a North Canterbury farmer rewilding his land and we check back in with the school children helping restore part of a South Wairarapa river.
"I've been farming on my own account for 52 years and cut down a fair share of trees, so now is my time to leave this place better than we found it," Chris Bolderston told Country Life.
In Part 2 of a three part series, schoolchildren head to Waihinga Farm to plant saplings among ancient podocarps on the edge of the Ruamāhanga River.
How do you stop birds colliding with New York's skyscrapers and how can New Zealand farmers benefit from birds and other wildlife? These are just some of the questions Sara Kross has been trying to answer from her lab at Canterbury University.
This week the Country Life team heads to a small-scale salt farm in Northland and meets a conservationist collecting endangered wildflowers.
James Moore is up to his knees in the waves at Cable Bay in Northland, a bucket in each hand. He's a small-scale salt farmer, with a plan to help others into salt farming.
Graeme Atkins has collected the "Noah's Ark" of endangered wild cuttings, including the beautiful ngutukākā or kakabeak flower.
South Otago's biggest organic dairy farm might go conventional after news the dairy company which picks up the milk is reviewing the premiums for organic milk.
It's been a kind winter for most North Island farmers now busy with lambing and calving. Meanwhile sheep farmers in the South Island hope to see prices rise again.
This week the Country Life team introduces us to New Zealand's agricultural trade envoy, Hamish Marr on his family's arable farm near Methven and demand for tropical fruit trees like longan, jackfruit and bananas is keeping a Northland horticulture teacher busy.
Down to earth Methven farmer Hamish Marr is proud to showcase farmers and growers' innovation to overseas governments "and anyone else who is buying our products."
Aaron McCloy nurtures plants which produce luscious and exotic fruit like longan, jackfruit and bananas from a hillside overlooking Doubtless Bay.
Wayne Hall, general manager of Wi Pere Trust's horticulture team in Gisborne, shares his love of persimmons and a recipe for how to best enjoy the fruit.
A botanist on the West Coast wants locals to start planting growing edible perennials that are growing in his nursery and food forest.
You won't find anything mass produced at Tuatahi, a small town business exporting handcrafted axes and saws to competitive woodchoppers around the world.
A business at the cutting edge of axe-making, growing edible perennials on the West Coast, in the calving shed and a catch up with a cyclone struck apple grower.
A Year on the Farm with the Birds. In this episode Alistair and Genna have empty heifers to deal with after their new bull delivers low pregnancy rates.
Leah Tebbutt heads to Bay of Plenty to find out how farmers are restoring the health of one of New Zealand's most polluted estuaries.
There's no room left in Barry Skinner's music museum in Hector. "I've run out of wall space so I'm hanging off the roof now," says the dobro and lap steel playing collector.
A Year on the Farm with Alistair and Genna Bird, farmer efforts to restore the Waihi estuary and a visit to a small country music museum in Hector on the West Coast.
Mohi Beckham is helping to turn a tired and depleted land into a fertile and productive farm. But the benefits extend to more than just the land.
Kapiti distillers harvest kawakawa from their historic Wairarapa farm to make award-winning gin. They're also trialling growing juniper berries and planting more natives. Novel pest traps, a bottle recycling scheme and bespoke gins for fundraisers are all part of the The Bond Store's plan for sustainability and community involvement
Wild Game owners Jordan and Varnnah Hamilton-Bicknell were named Supreme Winner in both bacon and ham categories of the 100% New Zealand Bacon & Ham Awards.
This week Country Life is in the bush picking kawakawa destined for artisan gin, a Bay of Plenty farmer recounts his story improving the land and his own mental health and - with the lambing season underway - there's plenty of bleating at a farm on the outskirts of Christchurch.
The paddocks on James Thompson's city limits sheep farm are starting to look like the arrivals lounge at Christchurch Airport during the school holidays.
Landowners in Karamea aren't beating around the bush when it comes to riparian planting. They're making the most of a local not-for-profit nursery and planting service that grows and eco-sources trees.
Chihiro Hanyuda moved to New Zealand seven years ago...now she is an award winning dairy farmer.
Country Life talks to Jen Chrisp who cooks for the shepherds at Puketoro Station. She's carrying on the cookhouse tradition of New Zealand's extensive and remote back country farms.
Kauri Forno runs a tree nursery in Gisborne which has been donating trees around Te Tai Rāwhiti for the past three decades. The Women's Native Tree Project Trust started with the aim of planting a tree for every woman in the region.
A lot of lambs hit the ground during the recent cold snap and losses are a growing concern in Te Tai Tarawhiti while in Otago there's more feed sitting around than usual so farmers are set up pretty well for the incoming spring.
Cate and Mike King of Pauariki Honey lost a quarter of their hives after Cyclone Gabrielle hit Tairāwhiti in February. They also faced a poor season of manuka flowering. But the raw beauty of the region and its people keep them going and provide inspiration for Cate's batik-style art which in turn is helped along by the bees.
Karamea dairy farmer Peter Langford says he and his wife Debbie are ready to hang up their gumboots. None of their four children are keen on taking over the farm though, so it's up for sale - lock, stock and barrel.
This week Country Life meets a couple who are still inspired by the rugged beauty of Tairāwhiti to produce honey and art from their bees despite having lost many of their hives to Cyclone Gabrielle, and they also chat to a pair of Karamea dairy farmers who are putting their remote and beautiful farm up for sale lock, stock and barrel.
Christopher and Siobhan O'Malley stand in a paddock with smiles that might melt one of the glaciers further down the West Coast. The couple finally have a slice of paradise after achieving their long term goal of farm ownership.
Richard Thompson planted Papaiti forest with alternative species 30 years ago. He never dreamt at the time he would become a timber merchant with a joinery workshop and retail shed.
Agricademy doesn't have classrooms or a campus, instead students can dip in and out of on-line videos, filmed with experts in the dairy or wool shed.
Push your way through a tangle of bush only kilometres from the Napier-Taupō highway and you are on an ancient pa site. Tangata whenua sheltered here hundreds of years ago but this site is known to only a few. Country Life joins a group documenting the region's cultural sites on a walk to discover a hidden treasure.
As well as managing four farms and 35 staff at Pamu's Cape Foulwind farming complex near Westport, Jack Raharuhi's also a passionate surfer who finds mindfulness on the water.
Under new ownership Tio Ohiwa, or Ohiwa Oyster Farm as it was formally known, is bringing fresh oysters and opportunity to locals plates.
Kokopuru Station in northern Hawkes Bay had slips and sinkholes a-plenty but the Hallmark Angus cattle stud managed to rebuild the farm ahead of their annual bull sale.
Lee Pryor has been delivering post along the Whakatāne coastline for 25 years, but he is not the first in his whānau and now his wife has even joined the ranks.
Adrian Sutherland has more than a hundred fruit trees on his slice of suburban Gisborne and plenty of veges besides. Food gardening by the moon is his passion, creating a lush garden after several years in barren Australian mining country.
This week Country Life heads to a bull sale in northern Hawkes Bay where slips and sinkholes from this year's cyclones have not held back the stud owners from their traditional celebrations and showing off the best of their progeny. Rural postie Lee Pryor tells his story as he delivers the mail along the Whakatane coastline, something he's been doing for many years ...as have his mother and grandfather before him. Also - a vegetable gardener recounts his method of growing fruit and vegetables by the moon.
A team of hunters heads out every five weeks to a hill country farm to harvest deer meat for Tai Rawhiti's food banks which have been under pressure after devastating weather hit the region this year. The deer are a pest, grazing paddocks meant for sheep and beef and their meat makes nutritious meals for hundreds of people in need.
Knocker Harris started making wooden toys for his grandchilden - 12 years later he can't stop.
Adrian Merhten's hydroponic journey began 20 years ago after being inspired by a local vegetable grower. He was a baker then, but now he's known in Hokitika as "The Lettuce Man".
Wet conditions across much of the North Island are causing headaches and heartbreak for some, while the South Island is recording boomer seasons in parts, thanks to the wet. Kiwifruit harvest has been bleak, while the shortest day has marked the slowing down of grass growth.
The Good Farm is a family affair and Loren Gibbs takes us on a course of what it takes to create creamy raw milk.
From regenerative agriculture and Wagyu beef to solar panels that run the irrigation pumps, Ryan Cockburn is changing the farming landscape on his grandparents farm near Ashburton.
Taranaki branch chair Mike Green says we've not weathered the storm yet, but with support, we can.
A new direction for a traditional farm, a chef swaps the heat of the kitchen for chilly mornings milking, and a chat with the Rural Support Trust on farmer wellbeing.
From the back country to the coast, and the flats and rolling hills in between, you won't find many places or people untouched by the claws of cyclones Hale and Gabrielle which ravaged Tairāwhiti at the start of the year.
Country life this week heads to Tairawhiti to hear stories from the hill country to the coast..finding out how people are dealing with the desctruction from massive weather events this year
Essenza is home of the best smelling cow shed. Where cows once stood, coffee now roasts.
This year, for the first time in the National Poultry and Pigeon Show's long history, a duck is the Champion of Champions. Willow, a rare Silver Appleyard duck who hales from the South Island town of Darfield, seemed unperturbed to be the 'duck horse' of 2023.
Cow shed has the essence for coffee roasters, A quacking good win for Willow and the Rural News Wrap.
A trapline snakes its way along the coast between the Awatere River in Marlborough and Oaro River in North Canterbury. It's there to protect endangered native birds from introduced predators.The Te Tau Wairehu o Marokura Predator Control Project has a two million dollar contract to establish and maintain the 127 kilometre line.
More than 60 creative problem solvers were finalists in the Fieldays Innovation Awards this week.
Hawkes Bay has had good weather for flowering vineyards. A dairy farmer in Southland says grass is shooting out of the ground after a good dose of rain.
Country Life catches up with Taumarunui-born student Rayne Bradley who has been studying at the NZ School of Tourism in Hamilton. Homesickness meant she nearly gave up mid-year but now she has the most exciting news to share.
Viliata Junior Fonoti Taulago used to teach hiphop and he still breaks out into dance on the farm he manages in Hawkes Bay. He grew up as a city kid but says farming is in every Samoans DNA. He hopes he'll inspire more young people of Pacific heritage into agriculture.
A sheep and beef farm on the foothills of the Seaward Kaikoura Range is home to a boutique distillery. Justine Schroder converted a shed into the Mt Fyffe Distillery three years ago and she's never looked back. The budding distiller uses foraged botanics and seaweed to infuse her small batch gins with local flavour profiles.
Our guest this week is Caroline Murray - a vet in Blenheim doing things a little differently. She calls herself the Wilderness Vet and has taken on the role of working for herself, with her car acting as a clinic, full of anything she may need when she gets to a job.
There's an explosion of grass in Waikato this week after countless days of rain and warmish weather, calves are being weaned and drenched on the West Coast and winter crops are in the ground in South Otago.
Fishing licences are down this year which could mean more opportunity for a successful catch. Fish and Game ranger Adam Daniel lets us in on his favourite places to go in the Central North Island.
Hiphop dancer embraces the farming life, Ex-midwife in high spirits after setting up farm distillery, Life on the road as a Wilderness Vet, Why right now is the best time to get out freshwater fishing and On the Farm - a wrap of farming conditions around NZ.
Organic farmer John Earney has been hosting WWOOFers on his Taranaki farm for ten years. "Willing Workers on Organic Farms or World Wide Workers on Organic Farms but I say willing workers because if they ain't willing they ain't here!" he says.
Claire Wells is one of few farmers who get to meet all their consumers face-to-face. The Gladstone beef farmer has just launched a gate-to-plate meat box business. Her subscribers pay for a "kinder" way of farming which will eventually see nothing go to waste.
In Manawatu it's gone from being too wet to drive tractors on paddocks to hanging out for rain. While on the West Coast of the South Island, farmers are shutting up paddocks for silage, and some are past their peak milk production.
Out-of-the-box beef farmer aims for no waste, 25 Years of Country Life - Avonstour Farm, Guest - Mike Barham and On the Farm - a wrap of farming conditions around NZ.
Mike Barham, a farmer from Hawke's Bay, is leading a crowd funding syndicate to save one farm from being sold into forestry. Mangaohane Station, nearly 5000 hectares just off the Napier-Taihape Road, is for sale. However, Mike intends to keep the station in New Zealand hands and farming livestock on the property. He talks to Leah Tebbutt about his plans.
There are hundreds of drawings on limestone rock, some of which could be up to 1000 years old, in South Canterbury. Peter Evans believes it was his grandfather who discovered the ancient drawings on cliffs that overlook his Pareora Gorge sheep and beef farm.
Two First World War soldiers have emerged from the remnants of a dying redwood at a fork in the road in rural Hawkes Bay. The massive sculpture is a tribute not just to those who went to war from small communities like Rissington but to the present-day locals who have banded together to create the memorial.
Back in 2002, in this interview from the archives, Tim Leatherman recounts how he came up with the nifty gadget known as the Leatherman.
In Taranaki the temperature gauge is rising and pasture growth is finally looking good. In Southland, they're flat out tailing and some farmers are pleasantly surprised that their lambing tally is higher than scanning predicted.
This week Country Life heads to Rissington where locals in the tiny Hawkes Bay settlement have driven a huge project to remember those who went to war. An iconic redwood at a fork in the road has been transformed into a massive sculpture. They've marked its completion and Armistice Day at a special ceremony this weekend
A mob of bouncy lambs locate their baaing mums after having their tails docked by Oxford farmers Alistair and Genna Bird.
Every year Country Life's three producers get to discover nooks and crannies around the country, visiting close to 100 towns and communities every year. We're marking our 25th birthday show by taking a bit of a road trip and meeting some of the show's characters.
Warm rain and a mix of sunshine has kicked grass out of the ground across the country. It's a relief for many across the North Island trying to get silage together. Farmers are treading water in Wairarapa and join those in Nelson wanting a bit more rain now the ground is drying up. And the last of tailing completed this week marks the end of the lambing season in Southland.
Billed as the Southern Hemisphere's largest agricultural event, Fieldays at Mystery Creek in Waikato is fast approaching. It's usually held in the middle of winter but the Omicron outbreak delayed things til early summer... you may still need the gumboots though after all the wet cool spring. Producer Leah Tebbutt caught up with the chief executive of the National Fieldays
There's a chance to win a special 25th birthday bucket hat on this edition of Country Life which takes you on a trip down memory lane to meet some of the characters who've been on the show over its quarter century.
A high-tech farming system which lets dairy cows move around without fences has also meant big changes for dairy workers. The young team on Pete Morgan's farm aren't just moving breaks and pushing cows along to the dairy shed, they're on an app remotely controlling the cows' trip to milking and designing paddocks to optimise feed, improve cow health and minimise the farm's environmental footprint.
Spencer Kahu has been farming in the Kaikōura District since he was 14. Now he's 24 and manages two large properties and for him, sustainability, conservation and gathering kai for the whānau go hand in hand with the business of farming.
Kiwifruit orchard foreman Dave Trafford takes Leah Tebbutt through the vines on the back of the quad bike, where mere metres apart the vines change from luscious and green, to barren as if they've just winter pruned.
Country Life is at a lake brought back to life near Kaikōura, we find out the damage frost can do to kiwifruit vines, and meet two farm managers who no longer reach for their gumboots first thing in the morning.
Most farms are pretty short of grass in Northland and supplementary feed suppliers say there has been a big uptake. Strong wind has stopped spraying in its tracks for an olive grower in Wairarapa, while in Central Otago a frost at the beginning of the week was an early wake up call for cherry growers.
It's not what you show it's how you show it and they get it right at the 152nd Selwyn Spring Show. After a two year Covid hiatus the Ellesmere A&P Association shows that any urban rural divide is absent when it comes to celebrating the culture of local farming life.
After 25 years, Margaret Bennett is stepping back from an association she spearheaded. But there is still work to be done and she maintains she will be busy as a bee, but in the background.
Clive Thompson was a curious 16-year-old when he started out growing mushrooms back in the 1960s. More than half a century on, he's now selling his Wairarapa business Parkvale Mushrooms.
Weather has been kind in Bay of Plenty with enough sunny days to finally finish docking and creative juices have been let loose on the humble gumboot on the West Coast.
Country Life chats to a mushroom grower who's been in the business for more than half a century, pops in on the pioneering couple behind New Zealand's manuka honey industry and shows off all the fun of the fair at the Selwyn Spring Show, up and runnig again after a two year break due to Covid.
Flour is being ground the old fashioned way, powered by wind in Foxton's 17th century style Dutch windmill. Country Life takes a tour.
The Timperlea Angus bull sale is one of the biggest days of the year for stud breeder Marie Fitzpatrick. It's also a time when her family get together to celebrate their love for farming and that makes mum Linda shed tears of pride.
Throughout our quarter century we've relied on good hearted and informed people from around the country to share with us what's happening in their region. Their comments are compiled into the rural wrap and one person who has been contributing voluntarily for just about the whole time is Stan Clark from Pukekohe.
Country Life is at a bull sale in North Canterbury, hears from long-time Pukekohe correspondent Stan Clark and learns how flour is ground the old fashioned way, by wind, in Foxton.
Bay of Plenty kiwifruit growers are counting their losses this week after a frost last Friday caused irreparable damage. Central Otago sheep farmers are nearing the end of shearing and lambing is in full swing.
Cold and extremely wet is how most are feeling in Waikato. About 110 millimetres of rain has fallen this week. Snow fell across Canterbury this week to sea level. Grass growth remains very slow with many farmers still feeding out.
False teeth and wedding rings are among Mac McLaren's finds during his decades in the business of cleaning out septic tanks.
Thirteen-year-old budding scientist Finlay Ludbrook has had success with an experiment to see whether giving copper to cattle calves improves their condition.
This week Country Life hops on board a truck heading out to clean septic tanks, chats to a 13-year-old budding scientist who's helping beef up cattle with an experiment involving copper and discovers hidden treasures in a secluded gully in South Canterbury.
On the ceiling of a limestone cave in South Canterbury, a long, elegant sea creature has been drawn. Centuries after this taniwha [supernatural being] was carefully illustrated, the artist's pigments are still visible. Yet the story behind this ancient Māori artwork remains a beautiful enigma.
Oxford farmer and YouTube vlogger Alistair Bird gives a monthly taste of his life on the land. In this episode he tells Cosmo Kentish-Barnes what been happening on farm in September and heads to the Timperlea Angus bull sale in search of a fine yearling bull.
Oxford farmer and YouTube vlogger Alistair Bird gives a monthly taste of his life on the land. In this episode he tells Cosmo Kentish-Barnes what been happening on farm in September and heads to the Timperlea Angus bull sale in search of a fine yearling bull.
Oxford farmer and YouTube vlogger Alistair Bird gives a monthly taste of his life on the land. In this episode he tells Cosmo Kentish-Barnes what been happening on farm in September and heads to the Timperlea Angus bull sale in search of a fine yearling bull.
A new educational programme beams farmers into urban classrooms to talk about agriculture with school children. Brigid Ladley and her Year 2 students at St Michael's Church School in Christchurch are engaging with Pat Crawshaw who livestream's from a paddock on his Hawkes Bay farm.
A new educational programme beams farmers into urban classrooms to talk about agriculture with school children. Brigid Ladley and her Year 2 students at St Michael's Church School in Christchurch are engaging with Pat Crawshaw who livestream's from a paddock on his Hawkes Bay farm.
A new educational programme beams farmers into urban classrooms to talk about agriculture with school children. Brigid Ladley and her Year 2 students at St Michael's Church School in Christchurch are engaging with Pat Crawshaw who livestream's from a paddock on his Hawkes Bay farm.
In the Bay of Plenty gold kiwifruit are in their full bud stage and the new red kiwifruit vines are starting to flower. In Otago one farmer says it' been one of the best lambing seasons in his 50 years.
Country Life's new monthly series with Oxford farmer and youtube vlogger Alistair Bird starts this week - he'll be giving a monthly taste of his life on the land. In the first episode he tells us what he's been up to in September and heads to a local bull sale in seach of a fine yearling bull. Also ... a new educational programme beams farmers into urban classrooms to talk about agriculture with primary school children and further North on Mahia Peninsula, a local historian reveals the story behind ancient groves of trees used for perfume hundreds of years ago.
Country Life's new monthly series with Oxford farmer and youtube vlogger Alistair Bird starts this week - he'll be giving a monthly taste of his life on the land. In the first episode he tells us what he's been up to in September and heads to a local bull sale in seach of a fine yearling bull. Also ... a new educational programme beams farmers into urban classrooms to talk about agriculture with primary school children and further North on Mahia Peninsula, a local historian reveals the story behind ancient groves of trees used for perfume hundreds of years ago.
Country Life's new monthly series with Oxford farmer and youtube vlogger Alistair Bird starts this week - he'll be giving a monthly taste of his life on the land. In the first episode he tells us what he's been up to in September and heads to a local bull sale in seach of a fine yearling bull. Also ... a new educational programme beams farmers into urban classrooms to talk about agriculture with primary school children and further North on Mahia Peninsula, a local historian reveals the story behind ancient groves of trees used for perfume hundreds of years ago.
A plantation of ancient tītoki trees used for perfume is among the secrets unveiled by historian and writer Mere Whaanga who has researched the story of Taipōrutu - her ancestral land on Māhia Peninisula.
A plantation of ancient tītoki trees used for perfume is among the secrets unveiled by historian and writer Mere Whaanga who has researched the story of Taipōrutu - her ancestral land on Māhia Peninisula.
A plantation of ancient tītoki trees used for perfume is among the secrets unveiled by historian and writer Mere Whaanga who has researched the story of Taipōrutu - her ancestral land on Māhia Peninisula.
It's been 70 years since fresh mountain water rippled through the east branch of Glenariffe Stream in Canterbury's Rakaia Gorge. Now, thanks to a generous bequest, it will soon flow again.
It's been 70 years since fresh mountain water rippled through the east branch of Glenariffe Stream in Canterbury's Rakaia Gorge. Now, thanks to a generous bequest, it will soon flow again.
It's been 70 years since fresh mountain water rippled through the east branch of Glenariffe Stream in Canterbury's Rakaia Gorge. Now, thanks to a generous bequest, it will soon flow again.
Country Life takes a tour of a high-tech strawberry farm in Foxton. The strawberries are grown in an old carpet factory under lights. The firm 26 Seasons is hoping to export its system abroad and grow other types of berries.
Country Life takes a tour of a high-tech strawberry farm in Foxton. The strawberries are grown in an old carpet factory under lights. The firm 26 Seasons is hoping to export its system abroad and grow other types of berries.
Country Life takes a tour of a high-tech strawberry farm in Foxton. The strawberries are grown in an old carpet factory under lights. The firm 26 Seasons is hoping to export its system abroad and grow other types of berries.
In the Bay of Plenty it's still wet and boggy around kiwifruit vines. Bud burst is a bit slower than usual which is a relief for orchardists still trying to finish pruning. Ewe scanning percentages are down about 10 percent in Southland and that's being attributed to this year's drought.
Horowhenua asparagus grower Geoff Lewis tells Sally Wenley about some of the challenges of growing a commercial crop of the vegetable and the best way to eat them.
Horowhenua asparagus grower Geoff Lewis tells Sally Wenley about some of the challenges of growing a commercial crop of the vegetable and the best way to eat them.
Horowhenua asparagus grower Geoff Lewis tells Sally Wenley about some of the challenges of growing a commercial crop of the vegetable and the best way to eat them.
Young salmon urged to linger for longer in fenced off waterway, Aiming for Sweet Success - from old carpet factory to vertical strawberry farm, Asparagus season about to start in North Island and On the Farm - a wrap of farming conditions around NZ.
Young salmon urged to linger for longer in fenced off waterway, Aiming for Sweet Success - from old carpet factory to vertical strawberry farm, Asparagus season about to start in North Island and On the Farm - a wrap of farming conditions around NZ.
Young salmon urged to linger for longer in fenced off waterway, Aiming for Sweet Success - from old carpet factory to vertical strawberry farm, Asparagus season about to start in North Island and On the Farm - a wrap of farming conditions around NZ.
Glen Chen sees huge potential in New Zealand for growing ginseng, a root which has been harvested for use in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years. He grows wild-simulated ginseng between rows of pine trees around the centre of the North Island. Country Life is there as a small team digs out the delicately shaped root and finds out how Glen came to farm ginseng far from the busy Chinese city where he grew up.
Glen Chen sees huge potential in New Zealand for growing ginseng, a root which has been harvested for use in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years. He grows wild-simulated ginseng between rows of pine trees around the centre of the North Island. Country Life is there as a small team digs out the delicately shaped root and finds out how Glen came to farm ginseng far from the busy Chinese city where he grew up.
Glen Chen sees huge potential in New Zealand for growing ginseng, a root which has been harvested for use in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years. He grows wild-simulated ginseng between rows of pine trees around the centre of the North Island. Country Life is there as a small team digs out the delicately shaped root and finds out how Glen came to farm ginseng far from the busy Chinese city where he grew up.
Pig hunting competitions are seen as a good community fundraiser and they're particularly popular just before lambing because it reduces pig numbers, stopping them preying on newborn lambs. The hunters see it as a great social day out as well as a food source, so Susan Murray joined a gang of guys hunting near Whangamomona in Taranaki.
Pig hunting competitions are seen as a good community fundraiser and they're particularly popular just before lambing because it reduces pig numbers, stopping them preying on newborn lambs. The hunters see it as a great social day out as well as a food source, so Susan Murray joined a gang of guys hunting near Whangamomona in Taranaki.
Pig hunting competitions are seen as a good community fundraiser and they're particularly popular just before lambing because it reduces pig numbers, stopping them preying on newborn lambs. The hunters see it as a great social day out as well as a food source, so Susan Murray joined a gang of guys hunting near Whangamomona in Taranaki.
Growing stone fruit at Waitaki Orchards is a family affair. Justin and Julie Watt bought the 34-hectare property in 2003 and their six children all learnt how to prune, pick and pack. Their 27-year-old daughter Ellen manages the orchard now with some of her siblings. She's also developed a range of fruit sorbets that are made on site.
Growing stone fruit at Waitaki Orchards is a family affair. Justin and Julie Watt bought the 34-hectare property in 2003 and their six children all learnt how to prune, pick and pack. Their 27-year-old daughter Ellen manages the orchard now with some of her siblings. She's also developed a range of fruit sorbets that are made on site.
Growing stone fruit at Waitaki Orchards is a family affair. Justin and Julie Watt bought the 34-hectare property in 2003 and their six children all learnt how to prune, pick and pack. Their 27-year-old daughter Ellen manages the orchard now with some of her siblings. She's also developed a range of fruit sorbets that are made on site.
Country Life is in a secret location in the centre of the North Island digging under pine trees for ginseng, a root which is prized in traditional Chinese medicine. The team is also at the only commercial orchard left in the Waitaki Valley, and as part of the 25 Years of Country Life celebration there's a step back in time to a pig hunting competition in steep Taranaki hill country.
Country Life is in a secret location in the centre of the North Island digging under pine trees for ginseng, a root which is prized in traditional Chinese medicine. The team is also at the only commercial orchard left in the Waitaki Valley, and as part of the 25 Years of Country Life celebration there's a step back in time to a pig hunting competition in steep Taranaki hill country.
It's been one of the wettest springs for a while in Hawke's Bay which makes it physically hard on farm as everything is sodden. In South Otago the weather has been perfect for those in the thick of lambing and pasture covers are as perfect as they can be for early spring.
Country Life is in a secret location in the centre of the North Island digging under pine trees for ginseng, a root which is prized in traditional Chinese medicine. The team is also at the only commercial orchard left in the Waitaki Valley, and as part of the 25 Years of Country Life celebration there's a step back in time to a pig hunting competition in steep Taranaki hill country.
With crossbred wool prices remaining low, some sheep farmers are having a serious crack at adding value to the fibre they proudly grow. Canterbury farmers Jane and Mark Schwass are producing exercise mats with their wool clip.
With crossbred wool prices remaining low, some sheep farmers are having a serious crack at adding value to the fibre they proudly grow. Canterbury farmers Jane and Mark Schwass are producing exercise mats with their wool clip.
With crossbred wool prices remaining low, some sheep farmers are having a serious crack at adding value to the fibre they proudly grow. Canterbury farmers Jane and Mark Schwass are producing exercise mats with their wool clip.
This year the whitebaiting season for most of New Zealand has been cut short by six weeks to help boost declining fish numbers. Country Life spent a morning keeping up tradition with some long-time whitebaiters dipping their nets in Lake Onoke.
This year the whitebaiting season for most of New Zealand has been cut short by six weeks to help boost declining fish numbers. Country Life spent a morning keeping up tradition with some long-time whitebaiters dipping their nets in Lake Onoke.
This year the whitebaiting season for most of New Zealand has been cut short by six weeks to help boost declining fish numbers. Country Life spent a morning keeping up tradition with some long-time whitebaiters dipping their nets in Lake Onoke.
New Zealand start-up, Daisy Lab, is making milk protein from microbes through precision fermentation, a technology which has the potential to be a major disruptor of NZ's multi-billion dollar dairy industry.
New Zealand start-up, Daisy Lab, is making milk protein from microbes through precision fermentation, a technology which has the potential to be a major disruptor of NZ's multi-billion dollar dairy industry.
New Zealand start-up, Daisy Lab, is making milk protein from microbes through precision fermentation, a technology which has the potential to be a major disruptor of NZ's multi-billion dollar dairy industry.
A southerly cruised through the Bay of Plenty making it miserably cold for staff continuing to prune kiwifruit. Bud burst has started in Marlborough vineyards. Some growers have been fighting frosts this week with windmills and helicopters.
Country Life is out whitebaiting on the first day of the season and chats with the co-founder of a NZ start-up developing a process which could disrupt the dairy industry and Cosmo Kentish-Barnes talks to a sheep farming couple making yoga mats from their wool clip.
Country Life is out whitebaiting on the first day of the season and chats with the co-founder of a NZ start-up developing a process which could disrupt the dairy industry and Cosmo Kentish-Barnes talks to a sheep farming couple making yoga mats from their wool clip.
Country Life is out whitebaiting on the first day of the season and chats with the co-founder of a NZ start-up developing a process which could disrupt the dairy industry and Cosmo Kentish-Barnes talks to a sheep farming couple making yoga mats from their wool clip.
Fewer people are raising calves in some parts of the country this season, and concern is growing about a potential shortage of cattle further down the track.
The search for a non-herbicide weed control method has led to the development of novel electrical weeding technology.
Early fruit trees are blossoming, asparagus heads are peeping out and lambing is in full swing as spring touched down this week after a miserable winter.
Lambing is starting on Makatote, a sheep and beef station near Taihape. Mairi Whittle is the fourth generation of her family to farm the steep hill country, with the fifth generation, two tiny tots, in tow.
Country Life is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. As part of that, we are re-surfacing some of the stories which have engaged listeners and readers over the years. This is one of them. Castle Hill is a large and spectacular Canterbury high country station. Back in 2008 Cosmo Kentish-Barnes was there to meet Christine Fernyhough, who was learning how to be a successful farmer. Just four years before, the philanthropist, educator and author of The Road to Castle Hill had made a huge change midlife, going from the bright lights of Auckland to hands-on farming. In 2019, Christine moved to 25 acres on the clay soils at Hakaru in Northland, midway between Mangawhai and Kaiwaka, an hour and a half north of Auckland.
Country Life this week profiles two women with quite different farming journeys. Christine Fernyhough's farming experience at Canterbury's Castle Hill Station is a story of a woman midlife having a go at something completely new. A delve back into the archives to celebrate Country Life's 25th anniversary. At the other end of the spectrum, young fourth generation farmer Mairi Whittle works her stock and runs the family's Taihape farm with two tiny tots at her side.
Back in the 1950s, a group of wallabies turned up at Wainui Station... and never left. Before farmer Walter Cameron was allowed to use poison on the pesky marsupials, a hired gun was killing up to 3,500 a year.
For more than fifty years Whanganui man Mike McGee hunted and tramped in the bush and ranges of the North Island. The love of the outdoors was in his blood and spurred him to write many poems about the back country.
A cute detection dog called Toby is helping an Otago pest control team track down wily wallabies crossing the Waitaki River. The Aussie imports are escaping South Canterbury's Wallaby Containment Area in search of greener pastures.
Lambing percentages are looking positive In King Country with plenty of twins frolicking around the paddocks. In Marlborough some vineyards are still tying and pruning their vines behind schedule due to staff shortages and last week's horrendous weather.
Sheep farmer struggles to control huge hungry hoppers, Sniffing dog stops wallabies hopping south, A dive back in time with poet Mike McGee and On the Farm - a wrap of farming conditions around NZ.
The name of beef farmer Adam Thompson's business says it all - Restore Native. Half a million native plants have left his nursery this winter. Many have gone to farmers wanting to restore gullies, stream banks and steep sidlings, and those farmers are spending tens of thousands of dollars in restoration work.
Every morning during lambing Alistair Bird heads out with his binoculars and a Go Pro camera to look for new born lambs and birthing ewes that are struggling. He uses the GoPro to record the highs and lows of farming for his Kiwi Farmer Youtube channel.
A start-up called Magic Beans is helping connect people and save money by swapping home grown food.
Northland, Tasman/Nelson, Marlborough and West Coast farmers are once again dealing with flooded paddocks, slips, access roads blocked and significant damage following huge volumes of rain falling this week.
Restore Native, Moving to the lambing beat, Food and friendship with Magic Beans and On the Farm - a wrap of farming conditions around NZ.
Two brothers have combined their skills to launch a paddock to plate business selling purebred Galloway meat products. Chopped Butchery is based on a farm at Morven in South Canterbury. The cattle are reared by farmer Adam and butchered by Eddie.
A garden is being developed on the slopes of Te Mata Peak to enable more people easy access to rongoā Maori - traditional Maori healing with the help of plants. Tyne Nelson is among those leading the project and took Country Life for a stroll.
Farmers In Waikato say they don't want any more rain for some time as July had double the usual amount. Calving is well underway In Southland and cows are munching their way through beet and swede fodder crops.
Putting a steak in the ground with heritage breed, The mandolin and the man behind the Country Life theme, Rongoā - a pathway to wellness on Te Mata Peak and On the Farm - a wrap of farming conditions around NZ.
Echo loves rolling in the snow but he has an important job to do while he's in the white stuff. He's an avalanche rescue dog and we are out with him and his handler keeping up his finely tuned skills to help save lives on the slopes and in the back country.
Country Life is at one of the oldest saleyards in the country watching sheep and cattle go under the hammer and meeting the team who run weekly auctions at Coalgate.
Lincoln University graduate Anna Craig has overhauled the marketing story for her family's free range egg farming business in North Otago.
Country Life heads to the slopes with a very special dog who's training to sniff out people buried in avalanches. The team also meet a 23 year old poultry farmer and visits one of the country's oldest stock saleyards.
Dairy farmers near Tauranga say their paddocks are drying off nicely during drier weather this week and in Southland ewes are being moved onto crops before lambing next month.
The Onuku Maori Lands Trust is just starting its third season milking sheep near Rerewhakaaitu, south of Rotorua. One of its dairy cow farms was converted to dairy sheep in 2020 and the business is going better than expected.
In celebration of Country Life's 25th birthday we will be delving into the archives over the next few months. This week we're hearing a selection of stories that the team covered in the first year of Country Life. From drought, to flood, to cramped rural health facilities and the rabbit killing virus RCD.
Children in war-torn Ukraine will hopefully have some winter woollies from New Zealand to keep warm in this winter. Knitting groups from around the country have taken up their needles for the long-running Operation Cover Up which sends hand-knitted blankets and clothing to eastern Europe.
Aaron Dodd, Chief Investigator and Deputy Director of the Centre for Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis, based at the University of Melbourne, chats about the foot and mouth disease risk for New Zealand.
Biosecurity Risk expert, Onuku Maori Trust Sheep Milking enterprise, 25 Years of Country Life - Year One 1997: A Retrospective, Knitting needles are clicking for Operation Cover Up and the Regional Round-up.
Around Taumaranui it's been time to get firewood stacked in the shed between showers. Scanning's done and lambing starts about mid August so the ewes are being moved to their set paddocks. Calving is going well in Southland but winter is only half way through and farmers are wondering whether they need to buy in more feed.
A group of farmers in Canterbury's Selwyn district are focused on improving water quality in streams that flow through their properties. Ellesmere Sustainable Agriculture has received government money to help fund its work and other projects in the community.
Kids cooped up because of Covid are being encouraged to pick up a fly fishing rod and learn how to catch trout. The Tongariro National Trout Centre also has big plans for education about the fishery, natives, freshwater and aquaponics.
Truffles are in hot demand but one grower says the wet season means her harvest is down considerably.
Wet rules around the country, with good dumpings of snow on higher altitude South Island properties.
Country Life heads out with a very young fisherwoman - 9 year old Isla Vahry - to find out how she's learning to fish for trout and the benefits of fishing especially for families cooped up because of the pandemic. And a sustainable agriculture group works on improving water quality.
People swoon when they visit what was once a bare block of land in Hawke's Bay, according to Natalie Tolchard, who launched full tilt into growing dahlias without any experience but plenty of passion. Country Life takes you back to the autumn when her commercial dahlia crop was a riot of colour and hears how good research and plenty of determination has opened up a new direction in horticulture.
This week an open letter was sent to the prime minister by the New Zealand Women in Medicine Charitable Trust warning that New Zealand's health system was at risk of a "catastrophic collapse." Anthea Prentice is a Cheviot rural GP who took part in the survey.
Sheep and beef farmers In Northland are dealing with sodden ground and surface water up to seven centimetres high. Southland farmers say they missed the worst of this week's bad weather and some early lambs are already skipping around paddocks.
The 64th annual Ashburton cattle and sheep dog sale was held last week at the Mayfield A&P Showgrounds. PGG Wrightson auctioneer Greg Cook says people came from all over the country to buy and sell working dogs.
Authorities are seeking to reassure farmers about the threat of foot and mouth disease for New Zealand livestock. Biosecurity New Zealand's Deputy Director-General, Stuart Anderson says vaccines here could be rolled out within days.
The Dahlia Field, Working dogs go under the hammer, A Rural GP Speaks Out, Keeping a close eye on foot and mouth, and the Regional Wrap.
Paul Ensor farms sheep and cattle at Glenaan Station in the Rakaia Gorge and co-owns a clothing brand that blends merino wool with hemp fibre.
Can dairy farmers be tempted to put aside some of their pasture for human digestible protein? New Zealand scientists have developed the technology but how would it work in the paddock?
This April, volunteers from all over Aotearoa headed to South Westland to clear gorse from the shores of the stunning Ōkārito Lagoon.
Ross Ainsworth is a consultant vet living in Bali which has just confirmed foot and mouth disease among livestock on the island. He says wandering animals near tourist areas heighten the risk of the disease entering New Zealand.
Foot and Mouth, Okarito GorseBusters, Grass burger, Wool meets hemp on high country station and the Regional Wrap.
Farmers in Wairarapa have been crutching and watching ewes. Conditions underfoot have dried out in Canterbury so stock are utilising fodder crops well.
Waikato farmer Chris Falconer is the first farmer in New Zealand to trial the Happy Cow milk processing and distribution system. He farms the Happy Cow way, with a strong focus on being green and kind to the animals. The milk is pasteurised on farm and sold direct to customers.
While many teenage boys get stuck into gaming after school, you'll find Fletcher Keen in a paddock. Last year a pig named 'Ashley Bloomfield' won the 14-year-old Cantabrian 'Best Boar Over 5 months And Under 8 Months' at NZ's national agriculture show.
Two retired Auckland University lecturers put the case for correctly acknowledging the role native trees can play in carbon sequestration.
Happy Cow Happy Customers, Indigenous Forest and Carbon, Growing and showing pigs for fun and On the Farm - a wrap of farming conditions around NZ.
Northland soils are extremely wet so dairy farmers are continuing to stand cows off pastures where possible. Central Otago farmers are shifting breaks and feeding out stock and shearing is underway on half-bred sheep.
Isaac Beach felt like Neil Armstrong on the moon when he first stepped foot on a block of land he's now planting up with hemp. The crop is part of efforts to heal the land and involve its Maori landowners. Matauranga Maori - traditional knowledge - is being fused with contemporary technology to produce nutritious food products including hemp milk.
Five years ago Himiona Nuku started capturing eels full of eggs and helping them on their migratory journey. That was because two power stations on the Rangitaiki River were blocking their path.
When Taumarunui student Rayne Bradley arrived in the big smoke of Hamilton earlier this year to study tourism she was nervous and homesick. A couple of weeks later she was feeling a bit more confident. So how is she faring now, five months down the track and into semester two. [audio_play]
Kohutapu Lodge was humming four years ago, it was welcoming international backpackers and living up to its five word motto "Changing a town through tourism". Overnight all that changed. After many tears they picked themselves up and started running 12-week-long life skills courses for local tamariki. Into the third course things are going well and the owners plan to blend the tourism business with teaching.
A farmer on the East Coast has just finished pregnancy scanning ewes, while some of the very early flocks are starting to lamb. Cows in Southland have settled on winter crops and sheep are break feeding on grass and getting a top up of sheep nuts or oats.
A wrap of farming conditions around NZ, Tourism venture pivots to Teaching, Rayne Bradley reaches the halfway mark, Capturing Tuna and Healing Maori land through hemp.
Northland farmer Roger Ludbrook is planting pine trees and reducing stock numbers so he can pay for greenhouse gas emission bills with carbon credits from his trees.
Could cows be toilet trained and how close will dairy farmers be to slamming emissions a decade from now? Dairy farmer Pete Morgan and agritech entrepreneur Craig Piggott ruminate on dairy farming in 2032.
In celebration of Country Life's 25th birthday we will be delving into the archives over the next few months. This week we're watching expert fencers face off with their tools and technique at the Golden Pliers event during the 2014 Fieldays.
Many farms in the North Island are drenched after all the rain and heavy money's being paid at Canterbury bull sales.
Producer and presenter Carol Stiles bows out from Country Life after 23 years. She shares anecdotes of some of the stories she's made and the characters she's met during her time on the show.
In a forest block near Tokoroa a 60-year-old tree is felled and turned into a cubic metre of wood. It will end up at the Mystery Creek Fieldays at the end of the year to give a visual representation of carbon sequestration and there's a discussion about farming and forestry.
Tons of perfectly good produce from New Zealand farms, orchards and processing plants, once destined for landfill, is being saved and filling fridges, pantries and hungry children's tummies around the country. Country Life goes behind the scenes of a food rescue charity, Nourished for Nil, and finds out what makes it tick.
Ewe pregnancy scanning results are down in King Country but well up in Wairarapa and some farmers have stopped looking at the rain gauge in the Nelson region, it's been so wet.
Country Life joins the queue to get free food at Nourished for Nil, a food rescue charity in Hawkes Bay and heads to a forestry block near Tokoroa for a discussion on forestry and farming. And we farewell Carol Stiles after nearly quarter of a century reporting from the heartland of rural New Zealand.
Country Life joins Lot 8's twenty first olive harvest and talks to the olive oil brand's owners Nalini and Colin Baruch who are among the Wairarapa's pioneering olive oil producers.
Shannon Munro is the young and vibrant face of the Dairy NZ campaign Join Us. It's been a multi-media campaign aiming to show a personal side of dairy farming and it was Shannon's tiktok exploits during lockdown that caught the eye of industry leaders looking for good role models. @shannyapril.
Neville and Leonie Walker are New Zealand's largest alpaca farmers by a country mile. They have 1100 animals, the next biggest farmers - and there are only about three of them - have 400. The Walkers have slashed their sheep numbers to make room for the alpacas which earn ten times more than sheep.
Country Life joins Lot 8's 21st olive harvest and talks to the olive oil brand's owners Nalini and Colin Baruch who are among the Wairarapa's pioneering olive oil producers. The show heads back to an alpaca farm in King Country and chats to a TikTok star who's encouraging other young people to join the dairy industry.
Hawke's Bay had a 23 degree day on June the first and Balclutha farmers have been reaching for their stubbies - it's been very warm there too.
Growing veggies is in Robin Oakley's blood. The fifth generation grower was running a three hectare market garden before he'd even finished school. He started Oakley's Premium Fresh Vegetables in 1999 and now the business grows produce on over 400 hectares in Canterbury.
The Ngawha Innovation and Enterprise park is currently being built on 240 ha of land near Kaikohe. It is expected to create hundreds of jobs.
There's been a bit of badly needed rain in King Country and it has warmed up again after a very cold week last week. Farmers are getting into winter mode in Canterbury with stock starting on winter feed crops.
Country Life this week visits an avocado grove on Banks Peninsula, a spud grower in Canterbury using solar power and finds out about the Ngawha Innovation and Enterprise park being built near Kaikohe. It is expected to create hundreds of jobs.
Celebrations have been held this week to mark the 140th anniversary of the first shipment of frozen New Zealand lamb arriving in the UK. George Berry has been researching the history of that first voyage for many years.
Richie Bocock believes his avocado grove on Banks Peninsula could be the southernmost in the world.
Northland produces a tiny fraction of New Zealand's but it now boasts 40 keen grape growers, up from just two in the 1980s.
A state-of-the art fish screening facility in mid-Canterbury prevents fish from entering the Rangitata diversion race intake at Klondyke and being swept into the 67km-long canal scheme.
Cheyenne Wilson is it's first chair of the Food and Fibre Youth Network. She tells Country Life it was established last year to give young people a voice and a place at the table in the agricultural sector.
Waikato dairy farmer Peter Le Heron estimates this year's drought has cost his farm $100k in lost milk production.
Northland's wine industry is expanding, the region produces a tiny fraction of New Zealand's but it now boasts 40 keen grape growers, up from just two in the 1980s. And, a new fish screening facility in mid-Canterbury prevents fish from entering the Rangitata diversion race intake at Klondyke and being swept into the 67km-long canal scheme.
Akaroa Salmon's ocean farm floats discreetly in a tranquil bay near the heads of Akaroa harbour. Seventeen huge round netted pens are home to thousands of King salmon of varying sizes. Duncan Bates built the farm with his father Tom from scratch nearly four decades ago.
On the slopes of Hawke's Bay's Te Mata Peak, many hands have been busy harvesting large plump feijoas. Country Life joins the pickers on a beautiful autumn day to find out more about Heather Smith's innovative uses for the fruit.
Wool needs all the help it can get and Richard Kettle of Animal Health Direct says he has the answer to rejected wool due to staining.
Frosty temperatures nipped the heels of many North Island regions this week while in the South Island much needed rain fell in Marlborough and Canterbury.
Country Life this week heads out to sea with an Akaroa salmon farmer and meets pickers helping out with a bumper feijoa harvest in Hawke's Bay.
Jack and Eleanor Patterson started with a dozen Polwarth sheep but that's grown into a flock of over 200. It wasn't the original plan though and now the hobby has turned into a business and the flock's fleece is turned into fine yarns for the couple's own Starcrest Farm brand.
Tiny country halls in Hawke's Bay are ringing to the sound of music as creator, curator and roadie Jamie Macphail takes his Small Hall Sessions around the province.
Farmers at Hamilton's Frankton sales are buying in the hope that rain will eventually arrive.
In Hawkes Bay a lamb finisher currently has 27,000 labms on his farm, about 5,000 more than last year, because there's so much feed.
Country Life this week is having a yarn about Polwarth sheep and joins the audience at a country hall in Hawke's Bay which is among several in the district playing host to live music by top musicians.
Nine hundred East Coast farmers are being surveyed to get a real understanding of how much damage was caused by a storm in late March.
Each week in Northland, people with excess garden produce meet to give it away to others. The crop swap meetings are about living sustainably, building resilience and strengthening communities.
Environmental and social trials are underway on a dairy farm near Ashburton. Rhys and Kiri Roberts are comparing conventional farming with a regenerative system, they're giving staff more work flexibility and are providing them with free farm-grown food.
It's been another great week in Canterbury with weather as good as you could expect for the time of year. Conditions are excellent for newly establishing seed and grain crops.
Market garden on farm provides staff with healthy vege boxes, Swapping crops and building communities, Success comes from hard work and on the Farm - a wrap of farming conditions around NZ.
Sunny Singh is a kiwifruit contractor based in Waikato. It's a job he loves and says it's earning him a good income. But success hasn't come without a lot of hard work. After arriving in New Zealand in 2008 he spent a number of years as a kiwifruit labourer during the day, learning the ropes, and at night he worked for Pizza Hut. By 2018, along with sending money home to his family, he'd saved enough to buy a house, and he's aiming to be mortgage free within the next couple of years.
Rob Schulter grows coffee in Doubtless Bay in the Far North. He's just sold two thousand coffee tree seedlings to locals in the hopes they'll add to Northland's commercial coffee production.
Kees Huizinga is back at his cropping and dairy farm in Ukraine, trying to plant spring crops as war rages in many parts of the country. His 15,000 hectare farm, about 200 kilometres south of Kyiv, has been spared the Russian invasion, but Kees still faces many challenges.
Alison Watson has extensive international experience dealing with the fall army worm which can wipe out crops. The pest was found in Tauranga and near Hamilton this month. She heads ASEAN's fall armyworm action plan in south-east Asia.
Gisborne vegetable growers are sick of being blamed for food price hikes which means people are chosing less healthy food options, and grass growth in mid and south Canterbury is exceptional for this time of year.
Country Life is drinking coffee in Northland and, at 60 dollars for 130 grams it makes a cup of coffee a tad more than even the recently talked about $7 cup. There's gritty determination from a farmer who's returned to Ukraine to plant crops, and an expert on the fall army worm talks about the destructive pest.
Central Otago fencing contractor Scott Watson is a busy man. He says more and more farmers are calling on him to do their fencing because they no longer have time to do the work themselves. The Ranfurly man also leases 170 hectares near Gimmerburn where he runs sheep and cattle.
Jennifer and David Rodrigue have a small herd of bell-wearing goats at their Waipu farm. The goats browse on trees, shrubs and grass and produce milk that's transformed into award winning cheese.
Sheep with fur - not wool - are among the latest trials being undertaken by one of New Zealand's top breeders Derek Daniell of Wairere Stud, who is at the forefront of trends in sheep rearing.
Little has changed inside Gilchrist's Store in Oturehua since it first opened in 1902. New goods share the old shelves with retail collectables dating back to the turn of the century. Helen and John Hellier are the third owners to lease the store and building off the local farming community, who are keen to keep it open for business.
The East Coast suffered more slips and roading damage from former Cyclone Fili, but nearly all other regions of New Zealand would rather welcome some rain - just not too much.
Full Episode for Friday April 14 2022 - Belle Chevre Creamery, sheep with hair and a visit to a store brimming with history and the Regional Wrap.....
Tom Oskam has built mountain bike trails in Australia and Canada and has returned to his family land on the Whanganui River to create tracks through the regenerating forest. The old woolshed is now used for fixing up bikes, the sheep dip's a shower and the former stockyards under the trees are a pleasant spot for MTB enthusiasts to cool down after a day on the trails.
Wellingtonians Gijs and Trish Veling were looking for the perfect place to retire - they found it up a gravel road near Kaeo and live as gently as they can on the land. They have a bountiful organic vegetable garden, a flock of ageing chooks and a 14-year-old blind and deaf duck.
It's been a bit of a slow start for the early green kiwifruit harvest in Bay of Plenty with warm nights and mornings and some Southland dairy farmers are drying their herds off well over a month early because of the extreme dry.
Each vine has an individual voice at Rippon according to winemaker and viticulturalist Nick Mills. Established by his parents Rolfe and Lois, the vineyard's now in the hands of the next generation who are farming the land biodynamically and proudly growing and producing wine.
Can New Zealand grow peanuts suitable for peanut butter? Eight varieties are being trialed in Northland and one looks particularly promising...
The cycling boom has helped a King Country rural tourism business keep ticking over during the pandemic but the border opening to Australians this month can't come soon enough for Epic Cycle Adventure's Paul Goulding.
Stock are getting through broken fences on sodden farms in the North Island and gobbling feed normally shut up for the lean winter months while in Southland and parts of Otago no substantial rain has fallen for the past four months leaving paddocks dry and feed supplies low.
Country Life heads to Rippon Vineyard on Lake Wanaka, checks in on the peanut growing scene in Northland and meets a rural tourism operator looking forward to the arrival of Australian tourists.
Rich and Jose van Alphen say people either love or hate cherimoyas. They've been growing them organically in the Far North for more than 30 years.
It doesn't take long for Rochana Moon to fill her wicker basket with wild plants and fungi. The medical herbalist and naturopath is foraging beside the Cardrona River in Central Otago.
Stock are pushing a mouthful of feed into the ground every step they take on the East Coast after downpours this week and in dry South Otago, some sheep farmers are having to tup ewes on supplementary feed while dairy farmers are thinking of drying off early.
WAI Wānaka is working with local farmers and landowners to safeguard and improve the quality of their waterway ecosystems.
Rayne Bradley is 17 years old. She is leaving her safe home environment in the King Country town of Taumarunui and hitting hostel life in Hamilton city. She's the first person in her extended family to leave home for tertiary study. She's nervous, knows she'll be homesick and cry, but wants a different life for herself. Country Life is following her as she makes the move.
Wānaka Willows gardener Martyn Sinkinson is on a mission to supply the local community with fresh organic vegetables. He's transformed an overgrown section near Albert Town into a compact food farm using a biologically intensive cropping systems developed by Canadian farmer, Jean-Martin Fortier.
Conditions on Horowhenua dairy farms are challenging enough to keep people on their toes. It's been nearly a month since the last rainfall. Grape harvesting's kicked into gear this week in Marlborough. Winter crops are struggling and grass growth is slow in Southland.
Pioneering fruit grower Kevin Jackson and his team go out on a limb to ensure the harvesting season runs smoothly at Jackson Orchards in Cromwell.
Gordon the Clydesdale horse has been roped in to help plough between the rows of Churton Vineyard in Marlborough. It's a return to the old ways and, according to vineyard owner Sam Weaver, it is helping his vines. He has the help of a Frenchwoman who learnt the skill on her family's St Emilion vineyard.
Ukrainian villagers and farmers have been thrown back into the Middle Ages, slaughtering pigs and milking cows by hand in an effort to keep the country fed, a farmer in Ukraine says.
In the Pukekohe district the fine weather is ideal for kiwifruit harvesting but vegetable crops are still relying on irrigation. Contactors in Central Otago are doing a third cut of lucence and lambs are being drafted and going away at good weights.
Country Life hears how farmers are doing in Ukraine, Cosmo chats with pioneering fruit grower Kevin Jackson in Cromwell and Sally finds out how a horse and plough is bringing a touch of romance, beauty and gentle tilling to a Marlborough vineyard.
A hobby has turned into a business for organic Central Otago farmers John and Susie Elliot. They make single malt whisky in the farmyard distillery using their own barley and peat from a local swamp.
Every Thursday morning the five women from the Floral Collective Waikato set up their buckets in the Frankton Railway Institute Hall to sell field grown blooms to local florists. Varieties that don't travel well so aren't available on the main commercial auction floor in Auckland.
Mobile Health's surgical bus can no longer offer some operations in rural New Zeland because of the increased demand for cancer surviellance.
Cool and damp conditions in Gisborne have been good for leafy crops but not so good for grapes and squash which love the hot and dry over ripening. On the West Coast a farmer at Hari Hari has been making silage and putting in the last of the winter crops this week.
MyNoke is the world's largest worm farming operation and it's growing. The Taupo-based operation produces 40,000 tonnes of nutrient rich vermicast a year after feeding waste from milk plants, the paper industry, market gardens and sewage treatment plants to worms.
Black Siberian cherry trees are thriving on the river flats at Nigel Wilson's deer farm in North Canterbury. Thier fruit is proving popular with local chefs wanting foraged ingredients to add to their dishes.
Beef farmer Bex Trotter has transformed a roadside paddock into a strawberry field at Luggate in Central Otago. Despite a lack of tourists Red Bridge Berries has been well supported in its first season by locals wanting to pick their own fruit.
Rain and now sun mean grass growth has been phenomenal around the country but the grain and seed harvest in Canterbury have suffered.
Country Life heads to the world's largest worm farm, Black Siberian cherry trees are growing wild on a farm in North Canterbury and a beef farmer in Central Otago transforms a roadside paddock into a pick-your-own strawberry field.
After single-handedly running Rees Valley Station for nearly 20 years, Iris Scott was more than happy to hand over the reins to her daughter Kate. The 18,000 hectare property at the head of Lake Wakatipu is home to about 5000 merino sheep and 200 cattle.
One of Taranaki's pioneering environmentalists shows his ingenious method using ropes to help the visually impaired continue to enjoy growing things.
Rhys Roberts is the winner of the 2022 New Zealand Zanda McDonald Award which recognises young people making a difference in agriculture.
The weather in Taranaki has calmed down and farms are drying out after storms two weekends in a row. The early variety Smitten, Breeze and Gala apples are being picked and packed for export in the Nelson/Motueka region.
An onion exporter estimates Europe will take just half the volume of New Zealand onions it usually sells this year.
Twenty eight years in prison and painful memories of being abused as a child are swept to the back of his mind when Casey heads out into the North Canterbury hill country on horseback. He is taking part in equine therapy with the help of other male PTSD sufferers. Country Life heads out trekking in the St James Conservation area with Casey and a "band of brothers" who are hoping to heal through horses.
Fourteen years ago Christopher Vila switched careers and countries and turned up to milk cows in street clothes. He can hardly believe he's now New Zealand's Dairy Manager of the Year...
Significant rain has caused damage on farms in parts of the country but elsewhere it has been welcomed.
The new Roxy apple has taken 20 years to develop, is currently being picked and has customers waiting for it in China, Vietnam, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
We head out on horseback to find out how horses are helping to heal sufferers of post traumatic stress, the breeder of the new Roxy apple says it has the flavour of yesteryear and 14 years after a young dairy assistant turned up to milk the cows in street clothes, he's been named New Zealand's dairy manager of the year.
Dozens of curly haired kids browse under the watchful eyes of their nannies at Joseph Burstons' Angora goat farm in North Canterbury.
Dairy farmer George Moss used to be a climate change skeptic, now he's a climate change ambassador the dairy industry.
Marty Hubbard used to grow thousands of lettuces - they rotted during the first lockdown when markets dried up overnight.
Waikato is teetering on the edge of a drought and grape crops are looking bountiful in Marlborough.
Dozens of curly haired kids browse under the watchful eyes of their nannies at Joseph Burstons' Angora goat farm in North Canterbury. Dairy farmer George Moss used to be a climate change skeptic, now he's a climate change ambassador the the dairy industry. In Taupo, Marty Hubbard used to grow thousands of lettuces - they rotted during the first lockdown when markets dried up overnight.
An exquisite palate of seasonal colour covers Birch Hill Flower Farm in North Canterbury. Nicky Paul grows an array of spray-free flowers to sell at her local market.
Harry Millar is a catchment farm advisor for the Hurunui District Landcare Group. He provides support and expertise to farmers to understand and develop farm environment plans and meet their evolving regulatory requirements.
Would-be shearers are seeing if they can fill up the comb and cut down the number of blows it takes to shear a sheep. We meet a catchment farm advisor for The Hurunui District Landcare Group and Nicky Paul is in her second season of producing of spray fee cut-flowers at the Birch Hill Flower Farm. She also runs workshops and garden tours at the North Canterbury property.
Nets are going on in a Hawke's Bay vineyard. Grapes are at or just past the veraison stage. In Canterbury there are large areas of grass seed crops cut waiting for warm dry weather for harvesting.
Transforming an old limestone quarry into a vineyard has been a labour of love for Marcel Giesen and Sherwyn Veldhuizen. Their viticultural journey at the site near Waikairi in North Canterbury began in 1997 and now, several blocks of grapevines grow with little intervention on the surrounding slopes.
Christmas is the season of traditions and for many people one of those is to collect a Christmas tree to decorate their home over the festive season. It may be a branch of pohutukawa, a pine tree in the flush of growth or spruces and cypresses trimmed to perfection. At a Christmas tree farm on the outskirts of Greytown, 14 varieties have been grown from North American spruce to a special Korean variety.
Teemu Kinnari is the 14th generation to toil on the family farm. It has been in the family since 1667.
Manawatu and Rangitikei farmers will spend much of summer cleaning up the mess after this week's flooding, and in the south, boysenberry crops have suffered in the wet.
On Country Life, a couple of wine-mad viticulturists have transformed a limestone quarry into an organic vineyard that pays homage to the grape-growing traditions of the Burgundy region in France, and Christmas trees galore at a Wairarapa Christmas tree farm.
A bird highway is taking shape across the south of the North Island. Farmers and landowners are getting in behind the Tonganui Corridor - a project to link up pockets of old forest with new plantings so that birds and other endemic creatures can travel from the Remutaka range across to the Aorangi forest in the east.
Scotty Newman and his team clean out woolsheds - not inside - but underneath. They dig out decades worth of compacted sheep manure.
Three farming systems geared towards sustainable dairy farming practices are being tested at Lincoln University's demonstration dairy farm. Farm manager Peter Hancox is trialing a variable milking programme, the inclusion of plantain in the forage base and a reduction in the herd replacement rate.
Shearers are running behind in King Country because they haven't been able to get dry sheep and Marlborough winegrowers are keeping a close eye out for black spot and powdery mildew.
Clearing out decades of sheep manure under woolsheds is a specialist job; and farmers at the southern tip of the North Island are creating a forest highway to lure endemic wildlife into the valley.
Fresh off the hills the merino wethers are being shorn at Lake Heron Station in Canterbury. The low micron wool is contracted to the Icebreker brand. The mountainous 19,600 hectare property is also used for adventure heliskiing in winter.
New Zealand's beautiful rivers and lakes are likely to get an influx of anglers over the summer months so it's a good time to catch up with Fish and Game ranger Richie Cosgrove.
Travis Wasko often has to tend his beef herd in minus 20 or even minus 30 degree temperatures. When it's that cold the first job of the day is to ensure the animals have access to water.
Unvaccinated shearers are a vexing issue for East Coast sheep stations, the feed situation's come right in Manawatu and between showers, everyone's making baleage in Canterbury.
Fine wool fills the shearing shed, Covid lockdown sparks fishing fever, Canadian beef rancher battles poor prices and the Regional Wrap
Dave Swney and Alice Trevelyan have converted a tennis court on a dairy farm into a native plant nursery. They're using as much recycled material as they can.
Implementing farm environment plans has been at times confusing for Lees Valley farmers Craig and Marilyn Dalzell, so they've called on their son Alex to help out.
Rabobank is relocating its HQ to Waikato and its CEO insisted the new premises be fitted out with woollen carpet - even if it meant using a crane to lift the rolls onto the fourth floor.
Welsh dairy farmer Iwan Francis uses New Zealand genetics. He says they produce cows with a superior ability to turn grass into milk.
Pukekohe's potatoes are being harvested and Marlborough's pear crop is looking light so very little thinning's required.
On Country Life tonight, farming couple struggle to get their heads around new rules and regulations, and a bank has gone to great lengths to ensure its staff and clients get to walk on woollen carpet.
Her parents were among New Zealand's first macadamia nut growers but Janet Charteris has taken over the original orchard shed near Oakura in Taranaki and installed a big and shiny copper still. Janet says forget gin, there's a rum revolution happening and her brews have the added flavour of homegrown fruit.
The new farm manager at one of New Zealand's biggest sheep and beef properties in North Canterbury has hit the ground running. As well as getting up to speed with a holistic grazing system established by the farm's US owners, Michael Whyte is also dealing with extensive damage to infrastructure caused by the devastating floods in June.
The Canadian Province of British Columbia has been inundated with floodwaters - 18,000 people have been stranded, roads, houses and bridges have been destroyed and farms are awash. Country Life speaks Chris Kloot who is a dairy farmer in the affected area....
Hot, windy weather has been very drying for Hawke's Bay and in Nelson, the bees have been taken out of gold kiwifruit blocks and are now in with the green.
A group of farmers near Palmerston North are taking the lab into the paddock and learning to understand and measure what's running off their land into streams and creeks and eventually the Manawatu River. Kakahi and other aquatic wildlife depend on their careful management of the land.
Fencing contactor James Ewing has two years of work ahead of him at Lees Valley Station in North Canterbury. He was erecting a deer fence along the valley road when Cosmo Kentish-Barnes stopped for a chat. Nearby, digger driver Daniel "Horse" Wycliffe repairs a damaged bridge. Farm manager Michael Whyte says the June flood event washed out the approaches to three bridges in the valley.
Lincoln University soil scientists have developed a new method to treat farm dairy effluent to produce clarified water for recycling and to reduce the environmental risks from the land application of effluent. Professor Keith Cameron says it's phenomenal how much water can be saved at a milking shed by recycling it.
Rain and hot weather has split cherries in Hawkes Bay. Southland's had a stunning week for getting crops in the ground,
Building bridges and fencing farms in an out-of-the-way valley, cleaning milking sheds made easier with clear water, testing Manawatu water and the Regional Wrap.
Sharing produce and growing know-how is rooted in Vanya Maw's philosophy. She's been running Wyenova Organics since 1992 and farms just about anything edible that grows with passion and pride.
Gaynor and Colm Tierney bought their dairy farm nine years ago. They didn't start farming it themselves until last season.
Benthem Farms in northern Michigan farms 2500 cows. They're milked three times a day and housed year round. In winter temperatures can drop to -28 degrees C.
On Country Life, a wrap of farming conditions around NZ; Farm talk with Benthem Farms in Michigan and Vanya Maw has been running Wyenova Organics since 1992 and farms just about anything edible that grows with passion and pride.
Damaging winds around Opotiki in the Bay of Plenty have blown over shelter trees in kiwifruit orchards and whipped flowers off the vines. On the West Coast of the South Island mating is going well on dairy farms and contractors are finishing making baleage on run-off farms.
Angus cattle and merino sheep share the rolling hills on a scenic farm near Culverden. Third generation farmer Jono Reed was only 14 when he started breeding cattle at the property. His wife, Sarah, uses the fleece from their hoggets to produce blankets and knitting yarn for her Grumpy Merino brand.
A western Australian farming leader says supermarkets have taken control of the fresh milk price and dairy farmers in his state are only just breaking even.
The tiny Staveley Museum displays a photographic collection that tells the story of the foothills area of Mid-Canterbury including timber milling, coal mining, limestone quarrying, farming and family life. Retired farmer and museum custodian Alan Totty says the earliest photo dates back to1860.
Farmers will need to know how much greenhouse gas their farms are producing by the end of next year. There are at least ten tools at the moment they can use including Beef and Lamb's GhG Calculator. It was built by Ben Hancock.
Country Life visits a sheep and beef farm near Culverden that has it's own brand of fine merino blankets and yarns, a Western AustralaTasman dairy farmer talks about the challenges he's facing, the team visiting a tiny museum in Staveley that celebrates local history and finds out about a new tool to calculate greenhouse gas emissions.
Find out what's happening on farms and orchards around the country. Hawkes Bay had a 29 degree day this week and a bit of rain. That makes it a risky time for fire-blight in apples. Spring sowing of next year's winter feed paddocks is in full swing in Canterbury.
Anthony Hampton has an impressive collection of Massey farm machinery and vintage tractors. Next year his farm is hosting the Wheat and Wheels Rally that is timed to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Massey brand.
A gully at the base of Mt Taranaki surrounded by dairy farms has been transformed into a food forest nourished by home waste. The family who live here save energy and water by farming on terraces and they're showcasing their closed system method in the Taranaki Sustainable Backyards Trail.
A new programme has been launched to help with the economic reintergration of seasonal workers returning to Vanuatu. People who have been working on orchards, vineyards and in packhouses in Australia and New Zealand now have the opportunity to build on their business and entrepreneurial skills.
There've been three days of sun in a row on the West Coast. Hawke's Bay sheep farmers are thrilled so many new-born lambs have survived.
It's hoped a dairy farm trial in Taranaki can provide some answers for dairy farmers needing to lower their environmental footprint. Country Life visits the Gibson Farm near Hawera to check out some of the results so far.
Tracey Topp started making merino socks for children sixteen years ago. It all began when she struggled to find woollen socks for her two boys. Now her Cosy Toes brand has expanded to adult socks as well as other woollen clothing. She now sells all over the world via her online shop.
Heiko Kaiser has a pest control business for all sorts of pests, urban and rural, but his interest in pests started when bed bugs were found in a resort he was running.
Waikato has hit peak milk production a couple of weeks early and in the south, heavy snow has fallen in Central Otago
Country Life visits a dairy farm which is helping to test methods which might lower the environmental footprint of dairying and meets an entrepreneur who's taken New Zealand wool socks to the world.
Taranaki sharemilker Kane Brisco has set up an outdoor gym in one of his paddocks to help his mates and neighbours get fit for farming, especially the busy calving season. He says farmers are often too busy and a long way from town gyms to attend regularly so his farm boot camps are helping fill a gap.
A child with food allergies and a dairy intolerance has led a Canterbury couple to start milking sheep. Matt and Tracey Jones were so impressed by the difference sheep milk made for their daughter they embarked on their new venture and have since created a skin care range using the milk. They are about to unveil a range of farm-made cheese and bottled pasteurised milk.
Hemp New Zealand says it has a list of farmers wanting to grow hemp but markets need to be built and infrastructure secured before growing the production base further.
People wanting to be a bit more self-sufficient in uncertain times has led to a lift in demand for chook houses.
Sheep milking at Kirwee, keeping fit for farming, hemp wool carpet is step closer, chook houses are in demand and the Regional Wrap.
Vines are in leaf and vineyard workers are shoot thinning in Hawke's Bay while Tasman dairy herds are heading towards peak production but need more sun.
Eighteen year old Kaitlyn Lamb sometimes works in her family's vegetable garden at night because her days are so crammed full volunteering to improve the environment. She's the only New Zealander selected to attend this year's Bayer International Youth Ag Summit.
The sowing season is in full swing at Andrew Currie's Avonmore farm near Methven in Canterbury. When Country Life turned up the third generation cropping farmer was drilling spring malting barley.
Bee science has been used to save an elephant and the Queen is a fan of pohutukawa honey - a former president of the Bee Keeping Association has been digging deep into the industry's archives.
Full Episode. Farming in the Future - Rotorua teenager takes her ideas to the world, Good seed makes a good crop, The Buzz on NZ's bee-keeping history and the Regional Wrap.
In Horowhenua a wet and cold period this week has slowed up asparagus production. Good weather in Canterbury has allowed for a range of tasks to be completed including spraying, drilling, dagging lambs and drenching cattle.
Beltex ram lambs are making farmers around the country lick their chops. Known for its heavy hindquarters and excellent kill weights, the breed is the sheep industry's new kid on the butcher's block.
Solicitor Alexandra Morrisey ditched her office job, linked up with her best friend Victoria Sala and, with a baby on the way, set up a veggie box business using the time-efficient no-dig method. They've dumpster-dived and upcycled to create their small market garden and packing shed on the outskirts of Masterton, building soil from sheep dags and coffee grounds, and, with a bit of social media savvy, their venture has taken off.
The New Zealand electric utility bike company UBCO is expanding in the US and United Kingdom and has recently moved into South Africa.
The north of the North Island has had a big dose of rain and West Coasters are looking skyward for sun...
The north of the North Island has had a big dose of rain and West Coasters are looking skyward for sun...
Farmers around the country have been paying big bickies for Beltex ram lambs. The new breed is a double-muscled, easy care sheep that offers meaty gains. Sheep dags are nourishing the soils of a Wairarapa market garden.
The cancellation of Daffodil Day and the temporary closure of an Auckland flower market because of Covid-19 restrictions has seen Waikato's Clandon Daffodils leave 75 percent of their daffodils in the paddock.
Matt Black says it felt like winning lotto when he and his wife Sarah were selected to became equity partners at Marble Point Station, a scenic 2400 hectare sheep and beef property between Culverdon and Hanmer Springs.
When adversity hits the rural sector, people often turn to the Rural Support Trust. Neil Bateup has been involved with the Trust since its inception and says thankfully, people are now more open to asking for help.
The Waiuku company making fence posts from used plastics has expanded into vineyards, is doubling its production capacity, wants to build a South Island plant and is exporting to Australia.
Hawke's Bay apple trees are bursting into blossom and Canterbury farmers are dealing with wind-damaged irrigators.
Tradition meets passion as four South Westland teams compete for the region's foremost rugby prize, the Woodham Shield. The 71st year saw Fox - Franz - Haast take on Whataroa in this year's final challenge, which took place at Whataroa Domain on a freezing August afternoon.
It's been two years since Country Life started following Te Hera vineyard's John Douglas through a vintage. 2020 turned out to be an interesting one, with harvest occurring during the pandemic lockdown and other disruptions caused by Covid-19. The Pinot Noir is about to be released so it was time to head back for a final visit to find out how it turned out.
The Covid pandemic has lead to a lift in sales for the tiny Rockit apple. The apples are exported in a tube and consumers like that the fruit is not touched by a human hand after it leaves New Zealand.
Gales in Canterbury have toppled trees and taken out power. Avocado growers are having a rocky start to the export season.
This week, Country Life is on the sidelines of a heartland rugby game on the West Coast - tradition meets passion as four South Westland teams compete for the region's foremost rugby prize, the Woodham Shield. The team also dip back into the files and find out how the little Rockit apple is taking off and taste the final wine produced after following Te Hera vineyard's winemaker through last year's vintage.
Internet learning is extending the horizon for children at remote Makuri School. They link up with teachers and pupils in other rural and remote schools around the country for lessons on astronomy, a second language and even song writing. Country Life spends a day at the primary school near Pahiatua.
Trays of greens are starting to fly out of the shed door at Jess Murchie-Brown and Don Murchie's vertical farming set-up on their rural lifestyle block south of Christchurch. It's proving to be a welcome income stream for the couple after an injury meant Don could no longer work as a builder.
The inaugural Gullies Art Residency will be taken up by Auckland artist Andrew McLeod early next year. He'll spend eight weeks at The Gullies, a sheep and beef farm in Rangitkei.
Three students from Mackenzie College / Aro o Te Tika in South Canterbury have developed a solution to stop water troughs from freezing over in winter.
Some farms are tight on feed on the East Coast and Southland farmers are having a great run of weather - great timing for lambing and calving.
Anthony and Angela Tringham's gorgeous heirloom tomatoes are ready to pick. They were destined for Auckland restaurants and the Clevedon Farmer's market - which are closed.
Country Life hears about a microgreens start-up in Canterbury and spends a day at remote Makuri School which uses the Virtual Learning Network to extend horizons and foster friendships between country kids around New Zealand.
North Otago vege grower Jim O'Gorman has spent the past 20 years studying the soil at his market garden at Kakanui. His research focuses on restoring to health and high productivity damaged land depleted by common agricultural practices.
Vet Samara Johstone has returned home to Islay after working in New Zealand. She's busy running the family farming and tending the island's animals.
Tests of a selection of plastics marketed as bio-based has found half of them are not all they claim. GNS and Scion have developed new tests that will verify if they are.
WorkSafe NZ's Al McCone says two simple things could save many deaths a year in rural NZ.
In Northland dairy farmers seem to be well set up for feed for spring but beef farmers are feeling the pinch a bit. The vines are waking up in Marlborough and sheep are spaced out for lambing in South Otago.
Country Life meets North Otago vege grower and soil expert Jim O'Gorman - otherwise known as Kakanui's dirt doctor - and catches up with a vet who has left New Zealand and returned to the family farm on a remote Scottish island.
It's calving season in the dairy sector and many farmers and staff are working huge hours to look after their animals. Country Life is up before the birds with Carterton dairy farmer Jody James to see what it's like.
Chef Ethan Flack has returned to Invercargill after years working in Michelin-starred restaurants in the UK. He plans to open a food space where he can tell the stories of Southland's farmers and growers and can show-case the province's primary produce.
A lifestyle hobby for a family in Cheviot has turned into a thriving business. Five years ago Kobus and Julie Venter purchased a dozen hens for their son Jack. Now his flock numbers over a thousand and lays about 200 dozen eggs a week. The eggs go to restaurants and cafes in Kaikoura, Amberley, Cheviot and Christchurch.
Harvesting of leafy vegetables has continued in unpleasant conditions around Pukekohe and on a Nelson orchard growth is about a week ahead of last year.
Country Life this week follows a dairy farmer and his team in the wee early hours as they help the herd through the calving season and what started out as a lifestyle hobby for a family in Cheviot has turned into a thriving egg business...
Sheep and cattle graze where whales and dolphins once swam 25 million years ago. Bones from their skeletons are fossilised in cliffs on Grant Neal's farm at Duntroon in North Otago.
Curly Troon is a stalwart of the gumboot throwing world in New Zealand. The Taihape local has been honoured this year with a Toyota Lifetime Legacy to Rural Sports Award for the sport. He is also the Chair of the NZ Boot Throwing Association.
LeaderBrand's CEO Richard Burke says seasonal workers are very difficult to attract so his company happily offers a range of benefits, including a bonus for turning up, in order to secure a committed workforce.
One of the biggest cocoa producers in Samoa has seen a huge surge in orders and says they're from Samoans abroad wanting a taste of home.
It's been cold and miserable in Taranaki where farmers are heads down, tails up calving and farmers would quite like some sunshine in Southland to help lift spirits.
Country Life this week learns about gumboot throwing and meets an award-winning Taihape local who promotes the sport. The show also takes you to a farm in Duntroon in North Otago. Millions of years ago whales and dolphins used to swim where sheep and cattle now graze and their fossilised remains can be found in the cliffs on the farm.
A Bluff-based operation is farming cocktail-sized pāua using the pristine waters of Foveaux Strait. The New Zealand Abalone Company (TNZAC) is hoping to sell two million of the mini pāua every year.
It's taken years for a team of dedicated Kurow locals to transform an island in the braids of the river from a messy landfill into a recreational and ecological park.
It's hoped the newly opened Southern Pioneers' Food Hub will help launch products developed from Southland's food bounty to the world.
The sap seems to be flowing a little earlier than normal in a Gisborne vineyard and sheep farmers in Central Otago are busy pre-lamb shearing but it's been hard keeping yards dry.
A team of Kurow locals transform an island in the braids of the Waitaki River from a messy landfill into a recreational and ecological area for people, wildlife and the environment. Farming mini paua, and developing new Southland food products for the world .
Lord Havoc has a passion for pigs. Ian Jackson runs the Havoc Pork free range piggery in South Canterbury. Sows at the outdoor farm spend their days fossicking for roots, grubs and worms while their litters play until mum calls them back for feeding.
Budou table grapes can fetch up to $160 a bunch in Japan. Third generation grape grower Tetsuya Higuchi is growing the enormous, sweet, picture-perfect Japanese style grape in Hawke's Bay. The grapes are trained and pruned quite differently from wine grapes and wear little umbrellas to protect them before harvest.
New born lambs in Wairarapa welcomed the sun on their backs at the end of the week after a wet start to the week. In Southland, calves are starting to appear across the countryside.
Daniel Eb founded Open Farms which aims to connect townies with agriculture by having farmers open up their farms for a day. Daniel's also one of the latest batch of Nuffield scholars - who are part of a prestigious international programme which helps develop new leaders in the agri-food sector.
Cosmo Kentish-Barnes speaks to a pig farmer known as Lord Havoc about his free range pig farm in South Canterbury and Sally Round finds out how highly-prized Japanese style table grapes are grown in Hawke's Bay. The Japanese market loves them picture-perfect so each bunch has a little umbrella to protect it harvest time.