Country Life

Country Life visits two farms embracing agritourism - a Bay of Plenty avocado grower and a Hawke's Bay hill country station offering farm walks. The team also steps into an enviro-friendly greenhouse growing year-round lettuces at scale.

Set on the coast of Hawke's Bay, Te Aratipi Station offers walkers on the farm views across the bay, from the Māhia Peninsula right around to Mt Ruapehu on a clear day.

Tour groups gather under the huge avocado trees belonging to orchardists Tim Rosamond and Michele Ricou to learn about the fruit and how its grown. The IT pros are relatively new growers and see agritourism as an important part of the venture.

Since officially opening last April, Leaderbrand's Future Farms facility has allowed them to grow salad greens all year round.

A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.

This week's Country Life is all about tech and science - from cutting edge ag drone, to collecting sheep poo samples to be processed in the lab as part of a national study, and the team helping breed the kiwifruit of tomorrow.

It takes years to perfect cultivars and to keep New Zealand's kiwifruit industry ahead of the game. Country Life takes a tour of the Kiwifruit Breeding Centre in Te Puke and meets those helping create the fruit of the future.

Wairarapa sheep farmer Paul Crick is one of hundreds out collecting poo samples from his flock as part of a national study testing for the presence of spores which cause facial eczema in sheep.

Two King Country farmers have trained up as drone operators to offer on-farm drone spraying services, a side hustle alongside their traditional farming work.

A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.

This week Country Life gets up close and personal with some of the animals at Massey University's teaching farm and heads to a high country station near Omarama where merino sheep run alongside shorthorn cattle.

There's a romance attached to living in the Mackenzie High Country, but does it still exist? For Simon Williamson it is the only life he knows. He grew up through the harsh winters and hot summers and loves the challenge of it.

Set on 40-hectares near the university's Palmertston North campus, the Large Animal Teaching Unit, is home to a menagerie of animals for veterinary students to work with.

A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.

RNZ reporter Kate Green has recently returned from parts of Southeast Asia as part of a Jefferson Fellowship exploring food security issues across the region.