Fifth generation dairy farmer Jason Christensen took a break from the family farm to try life as a DOC ranger. His experience in the world of conservation, evident on the Mt Bruce farm in the foothills of the Tararuas, saw him awarded two of this year's Greater Wellington Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

Country Life visits a food garden in Taranaki, where whānau are getting their hands in the soil and finding out how to sustain themselves from their own backyards.

Neil and Sandra Chesterton and their two sons escaped Afghanistan over the mountains on horseback after 9/11. The Inglewood vet was working for a charity there. He and Sandra chat to Country Life about helping vets in the country and their extraordinary departure.

A round-up of the week's agricultural news.

This week on Country Life we hear about a country vet's daring horseback escape from Afghanistan over the mountains on horseback after 9/11. We meet Pounamu Skelton who is on a mission to help Maori grow their own food and later we head to the foothills of the Tararuas, where a former DOC ranger has put his conservation background to use on the family dairy farm.

Who knows what goes on among a herd of cows as they walk to the milking shed? Plenty, according to Inglewood vet Neil Chesterton who has made this his life's work and become a world-renowned expert in lameness in dairy cows.

Have you ever wondered where all the food for Wellington Zoo's 500 animals come from? The answer might surprise you... Gianina Schwanecke meets with the zoo's animal science manager to find out more and joins a group of otters for dinner.

It's the last day of the kumara harvest at Dunsmore Gardens, a farm on the outskirts of Dargaville. It's also time to celebrate after the grower lost 99 percent of his crop last season.

A round-up of the week's agricultural news.

This week Country Life is at the last day of the kumara harvest in Northland, joins a quartet of otters at Wellington Zoo for dinner to learn more about where the animals' food comes from and speaks to Inglewood vet Neil Chesterton about a lifetime of treating lameness in dairy cows.

On the rural outskirts of Taupō a young couple have started a mushroom venture far removed from their previous life in Auckland. Maggie Tweedie took a trip to a small block of land amid the green hills of Wairakei to meet Benson Thomas and Hattie MacLennan.

In 1973 Alan Wilkes was out with his Labrador Zara and comrades at the opening of the duck shooting season. This story from the Spectrum archives was recorded on Kohangatera, a network of lagoons along the Palliser Bay coast.

West Otago farmer, Adrian McIntyre, says the late grain harvest down his way means there are plenty of ducks around for the opening of the duck shooting season. The first weekend is a bit like Christmas, he says

Many drought-declared areas have now had some rain, but farms still have very low pasture covers going into winter. There's been superb weather for the gold kiwifruit harvest in Bay of Plenty which only has a couple of weeks to go and the Hayward variety is underway. Lamb prices remain depressed making some question the future of the sector. 

This week Country Life meets a young couple who left their city life to set up a mushroom farm and heads to the maimai with a hunter at daybreak at the start of the duck shooting season half a century ago.

One of the last rehab soldier farms in Wairarapa has been sold for forestry, and the farm gear is going under the hammer. Gianina Schwanecke is at the on-farm sale and finds out why the owner is selling up.

Steve Muggeridge's beloved Clydesdales have returned to Taranaki. From his father's stud at the base of the maunga, he chats about the changing use of the heavy horse and hitches a pair up to a vintage wagon for a ride along the mountain's flanks.

A round-up of the week's agricultural news.

Panadda Chittock is the pastoral care co-ordinator at Thomas Brothers Orchards in Riwaka. She supports about 80 Recognised Seasonal Employer or RSE workers from Vanuatu and Samoa who work on the orchard.

This week Country Life is behind a team of Clydesdale horses on a vintage wagon, finding out about the increasingly rare breed, and heads to a sale of farm gear in Wairarapa, where one of the last local rehab soldier farms has been sold into forestry.

Country Life takes a walk with mountain ranger Tāne Houston through the forest on the slopes of Mt Taranaki. We head up the volcano along a trap line, resetting bait, foraging and chatting about the progress made in restoring the landscape.

A 40-litres-of-milk-a-day Friesian called Evie has been Supreme Champion Holstein at the New Zealand A&P Agricultural Show for two years in a row. Cosmo Kentish-Barnes meets the farmer behind the cow.

A lot of urban dwellers get their information about farming from supermarkets, new research suggests. A Massey University research project surveyed over 1300 urban and rural people about their views on farming.

This year's annual Canterbury A&P show has been canned, while there's mixed results at the meatworks where venison sales have bounced back but lamb prices remain at historical lows, and new research suggests growing demand for alternative proteins could change the future of farming.

This week Country Life is out with a mountain ranger foraging and checking traps on the slopes of Mt Taranaki and meets the farmer behind a champion milker. Also, a Massey University research project reveals what New Zealanders really think about farming.

Farmers and growers around the country have been getting together to hear about research which might help New Zealand agriculture adapt to future challenges.

Rural Riders is a chance for farmers to get off the farm on a bike, spin some yarns and focus on the dips and the jumps rather than the weather and the milk price.

A round-up of the week's agricultural news with RNZ rural news reporter Sally Murphy.

Eric Fa'anoi has gone from helping farmers protect the environment to being a farmer himself. A visit to his ancestral village in Samoa also helped this young man from Porirua unearth his interest in agriculture.

This week on Country Life, farmers and growers around the country have been getting together to hear about research which might help New Zealand agriculture adapt to future challenges. The team also catches up with Rural Riders, a group of farmers taking some much needed time off-farm by mountain biking.

Morgan Kane moved back home when she lost her job at a tech start up. It was the start of her move, with her husband, into market gardening. She and her parents welcome the advantages of multigenerational living and the chance to put a large lifestyle block of rich Taranaki soil into production.

Every year on Easter Saturday unwanted bric-a-brac goes under the hammer at a huge Paddy's Market and White Elephant in Akaroa. It's run by the Akaroa and Bays Lions Club which raises thousands of dollars for the local community

Brothers Callum and Archie Woodhouse have been named the top two finalists in this year's East Coast Young Farmer. We catch up with the siblings as they prepare for the next round of the competition.

Rain is still needed in many parts of the country. Hay and baleage is being trucked around to ensure stock get their feed they need. The grape harvest is well through in Central Otago with good yields and clean fruit.

This week Country Life meets a young woman who lost her job in the tech industry and turned things around by getting her hands in the soil and starting up a market garden. The team also heads to Banks Peninsula where unwanted gear in farm sheds has been turned into cold hard cash for the benefit of the community.

Jersey milk from Murray King's farm on the lower Waimea River flats is crafted into award-winning ice cream. "We had to find a way of generating better income than we would by producing whole milk powder with the major dairy companies," he said.

A search is underway for descendants of hundreds of British boys sent out for farming training in New Zealand a century ago. Flock House, a flagship agricultural school in New Zealand was set up 100 years ago. What ever happened to its first cadets?

A hen rescued from floodwaters in Cyclone Gabrielle is helping bring back life to farms one year on. Hawke's Bay farmer Sally Newall hatched the idea to gift chicks to families impacted by the cyclone to help get them back on their feet and have fun with some feathered friends.

A round-up of the week's agricultural news with RNZ rural news reporter Sally Murphy.

Appleby Farms, Flock House centenary and Cyclone Chicks

A distinctive booming sound is returning to the Wairarapa Moana. Most of the surrounding wetlands have been lost after land was drained for farming. Now, after years of rehabilitation work, more of the Australasian Bittern have been heard lately. Country Life heads out at dusk to listen for the matuku-hurepō.

A start-up in Marlborough is busy repurposing damaged vineyard posts, that were used to hold up the canopy, into sustainable posts for farm fencing.

Justin Gregory tries Daisy Lab's prototype precision-fermented products, which aim to have the texture and mouthfeel of dairy product, but are made without input from a cow.

A declaration of drought for Otago and Canterbury unlocking new funding support for struggling farmers.

This week Country Life takes you to an Auckland lab making cheese without the need for a cow, and a start-up in Marlborough which is busy recycling damaged vineyard posts into low cost posts for farm fencing, to wetlands in South Wairarapa where a rare bird has returned. 

How did two sisters design throws and blankets using lambs wool from the family farm? Kate Cullwick and Prue Watson share the secret to their Foxtrot Home business success and why it's essential to spread the good word about New Zealand wool.

It's 1956 and in the heat of February seven shepherds, a pack train and 40 dogs drove 4000 ewes from remote Bluff Station, 90 kilometres down the back country to Kekerengu for shearing.

Kaahu Birdling and Jordan Popata are supervisors at Thomas Brothers Orchard in Riwaka. They manage their own teams and are embracing every opportunity to learn about leadership and orchard management.

From woolshed to bed - two sisters spin their homeware dreams, Young fruit growers climb the hort ladder, A blast from the past - Mustering in Marlborough and a wrap of the week's rural news

More government support will be heading the way of farmers and growers in the Marlborough, Tasman and Nelson districts where an intense dry spell has been labelled a medium-scale adverse event.

Every Thursday afternoon, Banks Peninsula farmers head to the beach in Hickory Bay and ride waves to forget about work. Farmer and surfing coach, Kristin Savage, runs the Surfing for Farmers initiative, which doubles up as an apres surf catch-up and BBQ in the farmyard.

Sarah Maxwell goes from inseminating cows in the morning to shifting cows and sheep in the afternoon, working at the local sale yards and more besides.

Karolin van Onna reminisces about a dream come true, riding 1500 kilometres from Bluff to Picton through the back country

'Give us a break!' say surfing farmers, a back country dream comes true on horseback, Sarah Maxwell's farming journey and a wrap of the week's rural news.

A chat about the top stories this week from RNZ's rural news team with Susan Murray in Kirikiriroa Hamilton.

A catchment restoration project in the Marlborough Sounds is bringing a farming community together to tackle water quality issues and achieve wider conservation goals

The Golden Shears is underway in Masterton, and from early Thursday the War Memorial Stadium has been buzzing to the sound of shears, woolhandlers' brooms and the cranking of wool presses.

Many wine growers in Australia's largest wine region are in crisis mode due to plummeting prices for their grapes. Chris Archer works in the Australian and New Zealand wine industries and has been following developments.

Behind the scenes at the Golden Shears, a conservation project in the Marlborough Sounds, crisis among Australia's winegrowers and On the Farm

Kiwifruit are looking good in Hawkes Bay. Some flooded vines have died but generally recovery is better than expected. Conditions are very dry in Marlborough so many farmers are offloading stock due to concerns over feed and water levels.

Tartan, bagpipes, sheafs and cabers were out in force at the Turakina Highland Games, billed as New Zealand's longest-running such event. They're into their 160th year.

Rick Martin and Nairn Illingworth farm a drove of happy heritage pigs on their small farm in Marlborough's Onamalutu Valley

A large blue truck and trailer unit has become a common sight in the Marlborough Sounds as it's barged to farms to pick up and drop off livestock.

A round-up of the week's agricultural news with RNZ rural news reporter Sally Murphy.

This week on Country Life, how stock are barged in and out by sea after roadways are blocked, a visit to the Turakina Highland Games, and a chat with heritage pig farmers in Marlborough.

Haysley MacDonald was born and bred on the family farm near Marlborough's Wairau Bar, or Te Pokohiwi. The coastal land, that overlooks Cloudy Bay, is where his ancestors first landed over 800 years ago, and have lived there ever since those early migrations.

Former Wellington Percussionist, Jeremy Fitzsimons, is now based on the family farm in the Kauaeranga Valley near Thames. Bryan Crump paid him a visit.

Jana Gabert runs a dairy farm about 30 kilometres south of Berlin. She is among farmers around Europe who have taken to the streets in protest about increasing costs and regulation amid high competition, loss of tax breaks and climate change. Last month she rode in a farm tractor to Berlin's famous Brandenburg Gate to press home farmers' concerns.

A round-up of the week's agricultural news with RNZ rural news reporter Sally Murphy. This week marked a year since Cyclone Gabrielle tore through the East Coast of the North Island, causing wide spread damage to farms and orchards.

Ancestors roots run deep at Wairau Pā vineyard, Farming to the beat of his own drum, Farmers from around the world: Jana Gäbert, dairy farmer from Germany and the Rural News Wrap.  

Summer at a sportsground in Hawkes Bay means the thud of hooves and the knock of mallets under the hot summer sun. 

Students in Christchurch are getting involved in projects to help bring about positive environmental change at the Climate Action Campus

A year ago the Wilson family's apple trees were bowled like nine pins when logs came crashing through stop banks and silt drowned many areas. Did the trees come good? 

A round-up of the week's agricultural news with RNZ rural news reporter Susan Murray.

Country Life this week - a chat with a Hawkes Bay apple orchardist one year on from Gabrielle, the Climate Action Campus in Christchurch and a polo match under the hot summer sun

Former ag scientist, Ian Knowles, likes to lead from the front when it comes to sheep and plant trials and comparative experiments on his diverse hill country farm.

Geoff Mansell is growing bananas and many other subtropical fruits to supply local supermarkets and he hopes others will do the same.

People in Raglan have access to a community seed bank so they can plant their own vegetables and ensure local cultivars thrive.

A round-up of the week's agricultural news with RNZ rural news reporter Susan Murray.

Country Life goes bananas, meets an award-winning Waipara farmer and checks in on Raglan's seed bank.

Scott Jimmieson sold cars to upskill for his paddock-to-plate free range egg business. It was tough-going but good training for understanding his customers. Country Life hops in the delivery van taking eggs to the people.

"It's going to be a tough year. Do you want to talk to the bank manager or me?" Sheffield farmer Tom Ferguson tells Cosmo Kentish-Barnes after his on-farm lamb sale.

Are farmers around the world telling their story well enough? Scottish ag journo and Nuffield Scholar Claire Taylor has been visiting New Zealand and spoke to Country Life

All stock are doing very well in Waikato and the maize crop is outstanding. In Canterbury grass growth is slow and even farms with irrigation have been battling to keep enough water going on.

Country Life checks in on a paddock-to-plate free range egg venture and a Canterbury lamb sale as well as consitions on farms and orchards around Aotearoa.

Country Life visits Pamu's deer milking operation near Taupo, learns about farming by the Maori lunar calendar - maramataka - and hears about the potential for banana-growing on the West Coast.

Stories from the 2023 archive: Cosmo's at a high country station in the far south, Leah checks in on a toy treasure trove in Te Puke and Sally's off grid with a former Wellington mayor.

Stories from the 2023 archive: Leah meets a Northland olive grower, Cosmo's scratching cows with Loulou the Cow Whisperer and Sally's out hunting for a good cause.

Stories plucked from the 2023 archives: Cosmo's with chooks on a cliff edge, Sally's picking apples and Leah meets a dairy farmer who hails from Japan.

A rural entrepreneur is pasteurising and bottling A2 milk from his families farm and delivering it to people's doors, just like his grandfather did.

Colyton Clocks' Bill Williams reckons he has the largest clock collection in the world. A converted church in the village of Colyton is home to his ticking, chiming, talking timepieces dating from the 1700s.

The Grinch is surfing through paddocks and cows are driving tractors on the rural roadside of Taranaki...but who won the festive farm art competition?

Watermelons are growing well in Pukekohe and potato crops are producing good yields at harvest. In Canterbury, baleage is being made and jersey bulls are being taken out of the dairy herd.

"My pop owned a milk run" says farmer who bottles his own milk, All the time in the world, Festive farm art in Taranaki and On the Farm - a wrap of conditions on farms and orchards around the country.

Country Life goes on the trail of the elusive whio at Blue Duck Station while learning about the efforts to conserve the history and preserve the biodiversity.

Country Life meets former dairy farmer Lance Gillespie, who's launching a kiwi style chicken trailer. Pasture-raised egg production fits with his interest in regenerative farming practices and, alongside the trailer business, he runs workshops to help other farmers improve their soil heath.

Cam Booker is hoping a good crowd will turn up on Christmas eve to dig their own spuds and pick peas at his market garden in Sefton.

The soggy ground has put East Coast arable farmers behind schedule. Only about half this season's maize crop has been planted. Also, the Big Feed Rural Telethon has raised more than 639-thousand mince and milk meals for food banks round the country.

This week Country Life heads to a chicken trailer in the middle of a paddock which is producing eggs and helping the soil and goes on the trail of the elusive whio at Blue Duck Station.

A dairy programme in Sri Lanka is lifting rural communities out of poverty. Selina Prem Kumar and charity Tearfund set the programme up in 2009 and with support from Kiwi farmers, it's grown from helping eight farmers to five-thousand.

When Geoff Crawford started trapping for pests on his farms, he was catching 70 possums a week. Now he's lucky if he gets seven...and the community have jumped on board too.

A visit to the dairy shed to find out about AI and how to keep cows cool during El Nino.

A round-up of the week's agricultural news with RNZ rural news reporter Sally Murphy.

This week on Country Life; A dairy programme in Sri Lanka is lifting rural communities out of poverty. Selina Prem Kumar and charity Tearfund set the programme up in 2009 and with help from Kiwi farmers, it's grown from helping eight farmers to five-thousand. Selina's been travelling around Aotearoa thanking the farmers for thier support.

A wetland at the bottom of a dairy farm in South Wairarapa is reducing most of the nitrates being drained from the paddocks. The project at Kaiwaiwai Dairies is nearly a decade old and one of the owners takes us on a tour.

Chanelle Dickie has taken dozens of retired racehorses under her wing. She's part of a rehoming and re-educating programme that cares for standardbreds that have fallen off the pace.

Frank Erceg was victim of New Zealand's first helicopter hunting accident, but now his story, and that of the deer culling industry has come to life through his niece, Louise Maich.

Cake convener Christine Beaton has a tip for fruitcake bakers at the New Zealand Agricultural Show, "you don't really cook a christmas cake, you dry it out."

Changeable weather has prevailed in Pukekohe. Farmers in Otago are busy marking lambs and bulls are going out to the cows

Christmas cakes, a deer hunting legend, rehoming racehorses and building a wetland on farm

Sheep farming and wool innovation took centre stage at the New Zealand Agricultural Show. The new Wool Zone section showcased the versatility of sheep and educated visitors on the myriad uses for wool.

Bryan Baker has been making knives for over 40 years in Waiuku - and now the legacy keeps growing as the next generation comes through.

Jono Walker, chair of Farmers' Markets New Zealand, is Country Life's guest this week. He's been in Rome mingling with other farmers' market representatives from around the world.

A round-up of the week's agricultural news with RNZ rural news reporter Monique Steele.

Wool's versatility showcased, knives out in Waiuku and a chat with farmers' market rep Jono Walker.

George and Diana Turney went from tragedy to starting Mangaweka Asparagus three decades ago. After the community came to their aid, they have enjoyed giving back and helping others gain a living from the land.

Pigs, cattle, fruit and honey processing are all part of a sustainable farming business plan for first-time Motukarara farmers, Stacey and Ode Gielen.

Eleven rare equine breeds, including the only black Percheron in the country, are on display in a quiet and sunny corner of the Canterbury A&P Showgrounds.

A round-up of the week's agricultural news with RNZ rural news reporter Sally Murphy

Country Life is at an asparagus harvest near Mangaweka and meets some of the harvesters from Vanuatu. The team checks out some rare horse breeds at the Canterbury show and meets a Banks Peninsula farming couple.

Twenty-five years ago on a Mediterranean island a retired doctor learnt about olives. Now he's brought that knowledge, and the pursuit of their health benefits, to Kerikeri at Puketi Olive Farm.

89-year-old Fraser Ross has been restoring a podocarp forest remnant for nearly half a century. Arowhenua Bush near Temuka was damaged after a severe norwesterly gale struck the district in 1975.

A vintage photo of a little girl called Molly Mabel sits above racks of pint-sized traditional woollen jumpers, booties and beanies in a Hunterville shop. Who was Molly and how is she helping to warm up desire for wool?

Country Life meets 89-year-old Fraser Ross, who has been lovingly restoring a podocarp forest remnant for nearly 50 years. Arowhenua Bush near Temuka was damaged after a severe norwesterly gale struck the district in 1975.

A round-up of the week's agricultural news with RNZ rural news reporter Sally Murphy.

Rhoda McWhannell ran her Waikato farm almost single-handedly when her husband went to war during WWII. She wrote a journal of her daily struggles weaving in her wry observations about war and love of the natural world. 

The main theme at Ashburton's A&P Show were bees, bugs and butterflies. "It's covers the local gardener through to the cropping farmer and everthing in between!" says show president Victor Schikker.

How do you garden when you are blind? One of Taranaki's pioneering environmentalists shows his ingenious method using ropes to help the visually impaired continue to enjoy growing things. This story was first aired in February 2022.

Cattle prices have peaked and it's hard work selling sheep at spring fairs in Northland. In the Nelson region the late chill of August has set hops up well for strong growth.

The story of a woman left to farm alone when her husband went to war, Ashburton's A & P show, gardening for the blind and the monthly wrap of conditions on the land.

For over 20 years NIWA scientists have been researching the feasibility of growing fish on land - now they believe it's ready for commercial uptake.

A rural addiction rehabilitation facility near Christchurch runs a farm-focused social enterprise that connects its residents with planting, growing and sharing.

After being encouraged to drain wetlands on their farm in the 80s a Golden Bay couple are already seeing the benefits of transforming the land back to its natural state.

Rural news reporter Sally Murphy takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

Kingfish farming, returning paddock to wetland, and drug rehabilitation through farming  

A two-year farm cadet programme is turning fresh-faced school leavers in hardy, no-nonsense shepherds on a high-country station in Canterbury.

Porangahau farmer Bayden Andersen shares the unique challenges and triumphs of managing an estate like its his own, while raising a family in the Central Hawkes Bay.

Take a trip with Country Life to Auckland's northernmost school, Tomarata School, where kids are found tending to chickens and planting fruit trees.

A young man who switched from working in insurance to working the land was one of the finalists for Beef and Lambs emerging leaders award.

The Rural Contractors body wants the new government to make it easier to get skilled workers and the seaweed sector is hoping some changes will be made so it can grow and profit from the lucrative wild algae, which is worth more than $20 billion a year globally.  

Country Life takes you back to school this week, where rural students plant fruit trees and tend to chickens. We also meet James Robbie who switched from working in insurance to working the land and a two-year farm cadet programme is turning fresh-faced school leavers in hardy, no-nonsense shepherds on a high-country station in Canterbury.

An idyllic lifestyle change for Kim and Graham Gilkison from Taranaki to the Far North saw them also purchase a languishing vineyard. Five years later, they're producing award winning wines.

The newborn lambs hide amongst gorse to escape the chilly winds and Alistair plants poplar poles on erosion-prone hill country.

From the Country Life archives - we meet former shepherd Anna Holland who trains people to train dogs.

A year on the farm: Lambing is in full swing on the Bird's hill block, Canine Control, a feature from the Country Life archives by Carol Stiles, From water to wine: The story of Dancing Petrel and the Rural News Wrap.

Duncan Smith and Sally Murphy take a look at the week's agricultural news.

Sows lounge in the sun as their piglets play, while others feed their litters in the privacy of their own cozy shelter at Hamish and Angela Cottle's free range pig farm near Timaru.

Champion dog trialler Clark Chrystal fosters his daughters love for the sport.

Alan Wilcox of Pukekohe celebrated his 100th birthday. He walks down a lifetime and legacy of growing with Country Life.

This week on Country Life it's farrowing time when Cosmo visits a free-range pig farm near Timaru, Leah meets a horticultural legend and proud centenarian, and a dad and daughter dog-trialling duo chat with Maggie Tweedie.

Duncan Smith and Sally Murphy take a look at the week's agricultural news.

The fruit preserving business was founded in the late sixties by Anthony and Gillian Barker as a way of supplementing their farm income. Now it employs over 250 people and produces about 800 finished goods.

Veteran New Zealand actor Sir Sam Neill takes Country Life on a tour of his Central Otago vineyard just before the 2023 season got underway.

Ruawai kumara grower Warwick Simpson hopes seed contingency schemes will bring hope to the paddocks.

Despite a dry period in Pukekohe in the middle of the month, warmer temperatures and residual soil moisture has stimulated crop growth. Most farmers are through calving on the West Coast and are busy dehorning cows.

This week on Country Life; Since the late sixties, Barkers of Geraldine has been filling Kiwi pantries with jams, syrups and sauces, and since linking up with a French jam maker the rural business continues to grow.. And.. Veteran New Zealand actor Sir Sam Neill takes Country Life on a tour of his Central Otago vineyard.

So what hemp cultivars grow best on a Karamea dairy farm? Jake Gibbons is working towards finding out. One of his goals is to get local farmers using hemp to reduce carbon emissions.

Kelsie Meads and her sidekick heading dog Sass are one of 12 duos taking part in this year's Trans-Tasman Cobber Dog Challenge. Small in stature but not in attitude, Sass is vying for the top spot.

Ian Knight has a passion for monarch butterflies. He used to farm them at his property in Hope, near Nelson, to be released at weddings all around the country. Now he just enjoys watching them hatch and grow.

Fonterra makes a record profit, the wine sector is trying to make use of its by-product, a far north strawberry grower has had to diversify their crops and it's mental health week - what's the message for farmers?

Polar veteran turns to industrial hemp farming, Passion unfurled at a butterfly house in Hope, Porangahau's love of winter sports , Must Love Dogs - the Cobber Dog Challenge and the Rural News Wrap.

The coastal village of Pōrangahau in Central Hawkes Bay has a rich history of supporting winter sport. Like many small farming communities in Aotearoa, sport brings people together.

An injured hawk rests on Remus Coman's arm. He found it in a ditch on his cattle grazing farm. Hidden under it, an inked wolf forms part of a tattoo that tells stories from his youth in rural Romania.

Former cop, Lee Askew, traded her police vest for farmer's boots to rear a herd of Red Devon cattle near Gisborne. There have been plenty of challenges rearing artisan meat for her stall at the farmer's market.

Young kiwi chocolatier Johnty Tatham traces the origins of the cacao beans he uses for his handcrafted chocolate - farmers in Peru.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Sally Murphy, takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

A cattle grazing farmer in South Canterbury is caring for an injured hawk he found in a ditch, Johnty Tatham's Lucid Chocolatier brand has been made from his family's sheep and beef farm and the team meets a hard-working producer bringing artisan meat to farmer's markets.

Jacqui Friedrichs has almost reached the limit in her lamb orphanage east of Carterton. It's been a tough lambing season and there is high demand for her intensive care. Her husband thinks she's mad but she can't help herself giving the newborns the best lives until it's time to head off in the truck.

Native tree species in Rotorua are at risk of being lost forever, and yet the project to restore them has helped more than trees.

The cash crops are going in and the last of the trading lambs are heading off at Tim Cookson's farm near Hororata in Canterbury.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Sally Murphy, takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

This week Country Life finds out what crops are being sown in mid-Canterbury, heads to a lamb rescue centre in Wairarapa and finds out how scientists and tangata whenua are working together to save native trees from myrtle rust.

Jon and Tae are preparing their rented land near Otaki to start producing "pay-what-you-can" vege boxes in the spring. It's a small-scale social enterprise aimed at making healthy food more accessible to people who can least afford it.

There were no tractors in sight when Cosmo Kentish-Barnes visited Erewhon Station. Instead a team of eight Clydesdales were churning the soil over in preparation for sowing.

Rural Change founder Elle Perriam is proud of the efforts of rural New Zealand to help those who need it most.

Just pay us what you can, says Ōtaki vege grower,  Home of the working horse, Wellbeing programme "Incredibly grateful for rural New Zealand" and On the Farm - a wrap of conditions on farms and orchards around the country

Nelson is a picture, positive mindsets are coming back in Hawkes Bay and there's a feeling that a genuine spring is around the corner. August's farming conditions around the country.

Morrinsville farmer Peter Le Heron gives an update on the calving season.

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.

Country Life checks in with Hawkes Bay apple grower, Lesley Wilson. It's just over six months since the family orchard was struck by Cyclone Gabrielle and a lot has happened since then.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Leah Tebbutt, takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Leah Tebbutt, takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

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.

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 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.

A look at the week's agricultural news.

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 the bacon and the ham categories of the 100% New Zealand Bacon & Ham Awards.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Sally Murphy, takes a look at the week's rural news.

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.

Kauri Forno, Jen Chrisp, Clean Stream Nursery, Japanese farmer and conditions wrap.

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. With none of their four children keen on taking over the farm, it's now up for sale - lock, stock and barrel.

Two organisations have teamed up to encourage hunters to cull high-density goat populations across the country with prizes up for grabs.

Kim Swan, joins Country Life this week for a chat about her latest book and what it takes to be a woman on tough terrain.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Sally Murphy, takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

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 could melt one of the nearby West Coast glaciers. The couple have finally achieved their long-term goal of farm ownership and now have their own slice of paradise.

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.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Leah Tebbutt, takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

This week on Country Life; It took ten years of scimping and saving for Christopher and Siobhan O'Malley to achieve farm ownership. Last year they bought an 80 hectare dairy farm on West Coast and with their 'licorice allsorts' herd of cows, they're loving the new challenge. The team also find out about a new form of agricultural training in NZ without classrooms or a campus and meet a forester making the most of his 30 year old exotic plantation.

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.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Sally Murphy, takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

Oyster farm, Jack Raharuhi, Opepe and the Ag news roundup

Kokopuru Station in northern Hawke's 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. 

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.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Sally Murphy, takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

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".

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.

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.

Lettuce man, Knocker the toy man, deer hunting, monthly wrap of conditions on farm.

The Good Farm – a raw milk producer and market garden in the Bay of Plenty – is a real family affair. Former chef Loren Gibbs tells us about trading in the heat of the kitchen for digging in the dirt and dawn milking.

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.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Leah Tebbutt, takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

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.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Leah Tebbutt, takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

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 to the best-smelling cow shed in the North Island. Where cattle once sheltered, Mike Jobling now roasts coffee beans.

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.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Sally Murphy, takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

Cow shed has the essence for coffee roasters, A quacking good win for Willow and the Rural News Wrap.

It's ancient, niche, sour and prickly - but what's not to love about yuzu? Country Life talks to Neville Chun about his passion for the fruit and follows it from the harvest to the brewery where yuzu zest is crafted into a Garage Project beer with the wow factor.

"It's going to be painful to go back to milking in a herringbone parlour after the speed that we're able to milk out in the rotary here," says Tom Everall, aka Tom the Young Farmer. The Shropshire native is working on a Canterbury farm for a few months before returning home to the UK.

Frano Volkman's cows will soon be snuggling up on a thick bed of woodchips and sawdust in their new 6,300m2 composting barn. The organic fertiliser formed underneath Volkman's herd will be spread onto the paddocks of his Little Wanganui dairy farm.

Wet conditions in Northland have not stopped all year destroying kumara crops. Arable farmers in Canterbury have been battling to get autumn-sown crops of winter wheat and barley in the ground as paddocks have been too wet.

Growing and brewing yuzu, a composting barn and Tom the Young Farmer, plus a round up of farming conditions around Aotearoa.

With the help of a cultural land advisor, North Canterbury farmer John Faulkner is creating a diverse mahinga kai - Māori food gathering site - on his riverside property.

With a spare acre or two wrapping around the house, Damian Paine's turned his paddock into purple. Acre Lavender Farm

If you've got an old Massey Ferguson tractor sitting in your paddock, the Pasifika Safe Shelter Trust would like to hear from you. Farmers in Tonga could do with them because ash from the huge volcanic eruption just over a year ago still needs tilling into the soil.

Aeroplane pilot finds balance with lavender, Culverden dairy farm bridges cultural gap and tractors for Tonga plus the wrap of agricultural news

RNZ's rural news reporter, Sally Murphy, takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

Hinds at Pāmu's Aratiatia deer milking unit are finishing up providing rich creamy milk for the season. Country Life is there at milking time to see how it's done.

The Rural Change Fund saw demand increase from 5 applications a week to 25. Now, when rural people need it most, the wellbeing programme has been put on pause.

Australian food writer-turned-food activist Matthew Evans was in North Canterbury last weekend talking to local growers about what keeps the earth, and us, healthy.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Leah Tebbutt, takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

Country life this week spends the morning in a milking parlour with a difference. All the stalls are highsided, tailored for the deer which are providing rich creamy milk. Also Australian chef and farmer Matthew Evans shares his enthusiasm for soil.

A dispute between the Waiau Rivercare Group in Southland and Meridian Energy over the health and flow levels in the Waiau River has been at a low ebb, but both parties are keen to bridge the gap.

Adrian Worsley designs and constructs unique one-off sculptures from recycling scrap metal, tools and farm implements.

Arthur Anae sleeps four hours a night and wakes in plenty of time to get his free range eggs to market in person. The former politician never thought as a young boy from Samoa he would end up with two big farms and he wants other kids to know where their food comes from too.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Sally Murphy, takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

The banks are closing in over a troubled river, from scrap to sculpture, Arthur Anae - from politics to farming chooks and the Rural News Wrap.

Country Life turns back the clock ten years to our visit with the late Far North farmer Ken Vincent. Back in 2013, he'd been breeding chooks for 70 years.

Episode Six of A Year on the Farm finds out what happened in April at Alistair and Genna Bird's sheep and beef farm near Oxford in North Canterbury.

Lesley Wilson lost her home and most of the apple crop just before harvest when floodwaters filled with logs and other debris swept through the orchard in Puketapu. Nearly three months on, the clean-up continues and patience over funding is running out.

Autumn in Manawatu has been one out of the box. As a result, farmers are taking a fair bit of feed into winter. There won't be much work being done on farms in Southland this weekend - duck shooting season has arrived.

Chicken Champion, A Year on the Farm - Part six, Future still uncertain for apple grower post Gabrielle, Community gets behind organic garden and a wrap of the week's ag news.

Green-fingered locals in the Canterbury town of Kaiapoi love mucking in at their community garden.

The winemaking process starts in the middle of the vineyard at Greystone Wines in the Waipara Valley. Juicy pinot noir grapes are poured into a large vessel among the vines and exposed to wild yeasts for four weeks.

Melissa and Aaron Jacobson are trying to live as sustainably as possible on their small property perching ontop a hill outside of Eltham, Taranaki and plan to turn their way of life into a full-time business.

Teens from Flaxmere College are saddling up ponies and swinging mallets, learning to play the sport of polo. 

RNZ's rural news reporter, Sally Murphy, takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

Country Life is at Greystone Wines in Waipara, finds out how humanure is helping a Taranaki family's sustainability journey and chats to a polo club owner who wants to shed the game's elitist image.

Scientists are researching how "jumping genes" can be used to develop more robust pinot noir grapes that still have an iconic New Zealand flavour. Dr Ross Bicknell and Philippa Barrell from Plant and Food Research are leading the project, which involves developing new genetic variants.

Former Wellington mayor Celia Wade-Brown lives in a tiny off-grid house and regenerates native forest on a former sheep and beef farm on the flanks of the Tararua mountain range. The carbon sequestered raises enough funds so she can spend time trapping pests, improving tracks and nursing seedlings.

It's 100 years since the distinctive all purpose Farmall tractor was introduced on a Texas farm aimed at replacing horses between the rows and reducing the need for a hired hand on small family farms. An enthusiast shows off his New Zealand collection.

Marlborough's Pinoli Premium Pine Nuts was crowned supreme champion at this year's Outstanding New Zealand Food Producer Awards. Co-founder Lee Paterson speaks to Susan Murray.

Off-grid and farming carbon, scientists develop new variants of Pinot Noir grapes, a tractor with the X-Factor, pinnacle reached for pine nut producer and the wrap of ag news.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Sally Murphy, takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

When Anna Penn's flock of 3,000 hardy hens stop pecking and look up, they can watch waves crashing into the shore. They're residents at New Zealand's southernmost commercial egg farm, overlooking Te Waewae Bay in Southland.

Sunflower-growing and virtual fencing are just the beginning at Rachel Short forward-looking organic dairy farm.

A three-month stint with New Zealand shearing gangs has brought life changing skills to four Mongolian herders.

Country Life has previously spoken about the damage to forest estates due to the cyclone - but are crews back at work? The cyclone has also affected the annual Kaimanawa Horse Muster, to control the wild population.

Cracking good eggs on a cliff, Mongolian scissors shearers, Sunflower paddocks on a Taranaki farm and a wrap of the week's ag news.

Patrizia Vieno is originally from Italy but now farms sheep and beef at Tinui's Rewa Rewa Station. The farm has suffered after Cyclone Gabrielle but Patrizia has not given up her aim of establishing a hub for wool in the station yards.

A Year on the Farm - Episode 5. Alistair and Genna Bird tell Cosmo Kentish-Barnes about their recent success at the Canterbury Ballance Farm Environment Awards and what happened on farm in January and February.

A French agriculture professor developing new indoor plant varieties and an Auckland man installing vertical farming tech in private homes were two of the attendees at Aotearoa's first-ever Controlled Environment conference this week. Farming tech experts told the Hamilton gathering that New Zealand and Australia are perfectly positioned to feed the world's rapidly growing population.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Sally Murphy, takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

Country life this week heads to a sheep and beef station near Tinui which was badly damaged in Cyclone Gabrielle. But the scars on the land are not stopping the Italian owner from fulfilling plans to turn it into a hub for producing bespoke yarn, employing locals and boosting the profile of the wool industry. Also, A monthly account of life on the land with Oxford farmer and YouTube vlogger Alistair Bird and his wife Genna. In this episode, the couple talk about their recent success at the Canterbury Ballance Farm Environment Awards and what happened on farm in January and February.

Taranaki sheep farmer Murray Jackson is looking forward to retiring his woolshed in a couple of years. He's phasing his family farm out of wool production to rear hardy and hairy Australian White sheep.

The shearers' quarters at Davaar Station are a popular stop-off for locals and tourists on the Te Anau-Mossburn Highway. Inside, Anna Macdonald tickles their taste buds with sweets while her older sister Kate fits them with luxury jerseys made from wool grown on the family farm.

Golden Bay dairy farmer Tim Rhodes says virtual fencing is a worry for the dairy cow, the farmer and the consumer.

Country Life meets two ambitious farming sisters who've developed a roadside fashion and food hub, a Golden Bay farmer opposed to virtual fencing and heads to Taranaki to find out about hairy sheep and drone mustering.

Sunshine's brought a sharp lift in fruit growth as kiwifruit begins its harvest, cooler temperatures are setting in and with grass growing in the South lambs can be fattened.

In the last few years, Tom O'Brien's Southland farmland has become home to a hand-built bike and hiking track and an organic market garden.

Country Life is among drones, driverless tractors, nude sheep and comfy rocking chairs at the Central Districts Field Days, seeing what products are on offer to make the work of hard-pressed farmers and growers a little easier.

Kyle Davey took a winter off two years ago, but what sprouted from his boredom turned out to be some pretty fungi.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Sally Murphy, takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

Sally gets in amongst it at the Central Districts Field Days to find out what's new in the ag world, Cosmo tracks down a bike trail that follows one of New Zealand's longest gold-mining water races and Leah meets a farmer, turned builder, turned mushroom grower in Taranaki.

Harvesting is about to get underway at Garston Hops which has gone from traditional sheep farming to a two tier operation with big plans afoot.

Nearly 50 years ago, Dan Hickman swapped a freezer for a sewing machine. These days, you won't find many people in Otorohanga that aren't proud owners of a colourful Danzbagz bag.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Maja Burry, takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

Amid the shiny tractors, new sheep breeds and delicious smelling spit roast at the Central Districts Fieldays in Feilding this weekend, was a stand featuring different types of pest traps. People were hunched over computers finding out about the digital support system, Trap.NZ, which is connecting thousands of trappers around the country.

NZ's southernmost hop farm, a small town business which has it all in the bag, an online trapping network tightens the net on pests and the ag news wrap with Maja Burry.

It's a return to the old days for the Cooke family of Greytown who are inviting people to come with their buckets and baskets to pick their own apples fresh off the tree. It's been a struggle for Molewood Orchard to keep going in the pandemic and it's hoped PYO will stop apples going to waste and houses from taking over the fertile soil.

Capturing beautiful South Island landscapes is more than just a hobby for agricultural entrepreneur and aspiring mushroom-grower Edwin Mabonga.

Kihikihi Bowling Club has said goodbye to their mower and hello to a vacuum cleaner. Their new carpet green has doubled the clubs membership proving a smooth roll plays an important role in the community.

Get your collars ready - a rush of Jack Russells are about to race through Wānaka. The annual K9 Natural Jack Russell Race is an undisputed highlight of the Central Otago town's two-day A&P show and this year over 60 dogs are expected to attend.

Country Life meets ag-entrepreneur Edwin Mabonga who also takes beautiful photos of Southland and drops in on a Wairarapa apple orchard throwing open its gates for a touch of nostalgia.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Maja Burry, takes a look at the week's agricultural news.

Cows are Laura Murdoch's passion. She shares her everyday interactions with them on Facebook and Tiktok and some of her Cow Whisperer videos have racked up quite a few views.

With over 800 acres of protected land on the farm, Ben Stubbs shares the hidden treasures deep in caves that motivate him to never make the same mistake.

Karl Russell has been gathering food from local rivers all his life and has witnessed the decline in water quality. Now he educates farm leaders on the importance of protecting the waterways for future generations.

The effects of cyclones are still being felt, while the added rain in summer has grass growing berserk across the North Island. However, the south could do with a bit more and more supplementary feed is being dished out to stock.

On Country life this week, a Southland farmer who has a knack of bonding with cows, the hidden treasures in caves on a Waitomo farm, a kaumātua who educates farm leaders on the importance of protecting the waterways for future generations and a wrap of farming conditions from around the country.

The Rural Support Trust is planning support hubs in remote places for those farmers and growers impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle.

Orchardist Lesley Wilson and her family plan the next steps for their apple growing operation after a traumatic escape from flood waters.

The Greer family kitchen is headquarters to a group which is no stranger to dealing with hard times in rural communities. The Collective Hug, sparked by Hawkes Bay's 2020 drought, is on fire again - cooking and stockpiling meals for those affected by the cyclone. They'll need to be sustained during the tiring months ahead.

Light planes and helicopters are among the workhorses helping in the cyclone recovery effort. Hundreds of kilometres of farm fences need fixing and donated feed is leaving as fast as it's being delivered.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Sally Murphy, takes a look at the week's agricultural news dominated by the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Country life meets some of the people doing the mahi to help cyclone-ravaged Hawkes Bay including those feeding people, fixing fences, choppering in supplies and dishing out feed for stock. And the show also features its new segment, the rural news wrap of the week.

From regenerative agriculture and Japanese beef cattle to solar panels that run the irrigation pumps, Ryan Cockburn is changing the farming landscape on his grandparents farm near Ashburton.

Angus McKenzie has spent the past ten years as a guide on the Heaphy Track in the Kahurangi National Park in the northwest corner of the South Island.

From golf course turf to your well known Kikuyu, Mark Eman grows it all and has done for almost 40 years.

Many farmers and people living rurally will be dealing with the issue of flood-stricken animals. Will Halliday of Beef and Lamb NZ has some tips for those handling stressed livestock.

RNZ's rural news reporter, Maja Burry, takes a look at the week's agricultural news which is dominated of course by the destruction caused by Cyclone Gabrielle.

Country Life visits a regenerative farm near Ashburton farming wagyu beef and hears some of the harrowing stories from rural areas hard hit by Cyclone Gabrielle. The show takes you onto the Heaphy Track and a turf farm and shares tips for dealing with flood-stricken livestock.

Children and teens with mental health issues are entranced when they spend time at Fossil Creek Farm just outside Nelson. The donkey Holly senses when she should snuggle close and the rhythm of egg collecting and duck feeding brings a sense of stability to all who spend time there.

700 hectares of hill country on Nigel and Cathy Graham's Kaikoura farm is being retired. Income from honey and carbon credits are repacing livestock on the regenerating land. The couple have also protected a wetland that has one of the best examples of a raupo reedland in the district.

Once on the outside of Hamilton sits an urban farm keen to deliver vegetables that don't cost the planet. Run by five women, Earth Stewards practices poly-cropping on their organic vegetable beds.

This new segment looks at some of the major agricultural news of the week with RNZ's rural news team. Reporter Maja Burry chats about dragonfruit, deer milk, rural support for flood-stricken farmers and the departing of Dairy NZ boss Tim Mackle.

Country Life vists a suburban market garden delivering vegetables that don't cost the earth and a beef farm where hills are being returned to native bush. Also in the show, a trip to Fossil Creek Farm in Nelson where people are at the centre ... its animals and beautiful setting help nurture and heal troubled minds.

A new mountain bike park has the run of the hills at Rick and Julia King's farm at Clarence near Kaikōura. It's the brainchild of their daughter Genevieve and has replaced the Merino sheep and cattle at Middle Hill Station.

With no flora experience but the need for a new direction, Colin and Mary Birch have become the owners of a lily nursery in Cambridge.

Farmers in Tairāwhiti are looking forward to having more boots on the ground this month to help clean up their farms still littered with forestry debris from recent floods. Regional Federated Farmers president Toby Williams who farms sheep and beef talks about the pain his fellow farmers are going through after another major storm last month.

Assessment of damage is underway in Pukekohe after a deluge of rain saw onions floating down the street and farms turned into lakes. Kiwifruit vines and structures have also been wiped out - while parts of the South Island start preparing for a drought.

This week Country life is at a new mountain bike park that has the run of the hills at Rick and Julia King's farm at Clarence near Kaikōura. The team also visits flood-stricken growers south of Auckland, a farmer cleaning up after another Gisborne storm, and a lily nursery in Cambridge.

A monthly account of life on the land with Oxford farmer and YouTube vlogger Alistair Bird. In this episode, he explains what happened on-farm in December and gets some calves ready for living on the hills.

Billy Barton used to compete with ferrets as a past-time in his native Wales. Now he trains them and a pack of white shepherd dogs to hunt out rabbits and feral cats in NZ's war against pests.

The unique limestone hills of the Waipara Valley are home to Greystone's 50-hectare organic vineyard. General manager and founding viticulturist Nick Gill says that despite a lack of direct sunlight, the grapevines are approaching véraison, a French term that heralds the start of the ripening process.

Cows are laying in grass in Waikato, while pasture growth has dropped dramatically in Southland. Clinical signs of facial eczema are starting to show around the country and a tropical insect which could be hugely detrimental has been found on the West Coast.

Billy Barton - 'They call me the Ferret Man', A Year on the Farm - Part 4: Calves get health check before heading onto hills, Grape growth on track at organic vineyard, and On the Farm - a wrap of farming conditions around NZ.

Farmer Time gets kids focused on farming, Plenty of wriggle room for world's largest worm farm & From Mother to Daughter - A Smooth Transition for Multi-generation Farmers

Okarito GorseBusters, Horse and plough add French touch to Marlborough vineyard & Sheep farmers roll out woolen mat for the wellness market

Join Us, Sheep farmer struggles to control huge hungry hoppers & Healing by Horse

A scent of the past on Mahia Peninsula, Putting a steak in the ground with heritage breed & Nevalea Alpaca

Working dogs go under the hammer, Aiming for Sweet Success - from old carpet factory to vertical strawberry farm & Choice Cherimoyas

Veteran New Zealand actor Sam Neill returned to his Central Otago vineyard earlier this month to find vines shooting up, pet pigs waiting for a scratch and a young stand of native trees thriving on a ridge overlooking his Red Bank Vineyard. He's celebrating the 25th vintage of Two Paddocks wine.

Hundreds of chickens are up for adoption after clawing their way back to health. The birds are under the caring wing of volunteers at North Canterbury Chicken Rescue. Some are found abandoned on roadsides and others are cage farming rejects, a system that will be banned at the end of the year.

After pursuing a career in fashion, dabbling as a yoga instructor and a snowboard instructor, Laura Schultz has found where she was meant to be, was actually where she had been running from.

Heavy rain in Pukekohe mid-week made the ground too wet to dig potatoes or lift onions. Cherry picking is underway in Otago. The last two weeks have seen warm days and cool nights which has been good for ripening and flavour.

On the vineyard with Sam Neill, chook rescuers seek happy homes for hens, the full circle journey for a young avocado orchard manager and On the Farm - a wrap of farming conditions around NZ.

Look underneath and you'll know what's right for the land, says forest and soil consultant Ian Moore. He's hanging up his workboots and now has more time to spend nurturing stands of harakeke, redwoods, totara and eucalypts which all mingle together alongside sheep and cattle on his hill block near Whanganui.

It's a hot day in the yards as Oxford farmers Alistair and Genna Bird start the pre-summer task of crutching a mob of woolly sheep.

Fieldays being held in late-November wasn't the only difference to the annual offering. Mark Eager and Lizzie Stephenson were put in the drivers seat of a tractor in a race they dubbed against the tortoise and the hare.

Rain has come back to Northland in the past few days. It's a blessing to see conditions like these in the summer months as soil moisture levels won't be improving from now. Silage making is in full swing in Canterbury and vineyards are at the tail end of shoot thinning in Central Otago.

A Year on the Farm - Part 3: Dagging Ewes to prevent Flystrike, Ian Moore, tractor racing and On the Farm - a wrap of farming conditions around NZ.

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.

Hawke's 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.

In a series about a rural teen heading to the city to study, Country Life catches up with Taumarunui-born Rayne Bradley who is about to spread her wings.

Country Life takes a walk along a coastal trapline in Kaikoura, checks in with rural teen Rayne Bradley who's about to spread her wings and visits the Fieldays Innovation Hub.

Hawke's Bay farm manager Viliata Junior Fonoti Taulago has been known to bust moves in the paddock.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

Thirteen-year-old budding scientist Finlay Ludbrook has had success with an experiment to see whether giving copper to cattle calves improves their condition.

False teeth and wedding rings are among Mac McLaren's finds during his decades in the business of cleaning out septic tanks.

In this new series, Oxford farmer and YouTube vlogger Alistair Bird gives us a monthly taste of his life on the land. In part one, Alistair heads to the Timberlea Angus bull sale in search of a fine yearling bull.

Best of 2022 - A new educational programme beams farmers into urban classrooms to talk about agriculture with school children.

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.

Best of 2022 - 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 Peninsula.

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.

Best of 2022 - Country Life takes a tour of a high-tech strawberry farm in Foxton. 

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.

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.