Country Life

This week Country Life is inside one of Fonterra's large dairy plants and meets a Canterbury farming couple making beautiful wool coats from their family's flock.

Driven by a desire to find a pure New Zealand wool coat, and to find more use for the bales of wool sitting idle in the shearing shed, Charlotte Bell started her fashion business The Clip. She and husband Hamish farm in Hakataramea Valley in Canterbury

A growing taste for pastries, cakes and dairy-topped drinks in China and southeast Asia is fuelling demand for New Zealand-made cream cheese. Country Life takes a tour of Fonterra's high-tech factory at Darfied to see how it's made.

Feilding livestock agent and saleyards auctioneer Alex Stewart on breaking into an old man's game, human calculators and conducting the sale.

A wrap of conditions on farms and orchards around the country.

This week Country Life meets a couple who've had a lifetime on the same farm, and some newcomers to the truffle industry, and the team also talk fitness with a farming-focused physiotherapist.

Indie has just finished her first harvest as a truffle hunter, showing outstanding skills for a pup. Her owners have just finished their first harvest too and are relishing life on the land after years searching for a place to call home.

Farmer Ian Buckingham was born at Lansdown Farm at Hook near Waimate 85 years ago and he's never left.

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

Constant wet weather on hilly Te Tai Rāwhiti farms has led to an uptick in injuries among farmers there. Our guest this week, physiotherapist-cum-farmer Storm Baynes-Ryan, gives in-paddock advice to help them recover, stay strong and keep fit.

This week Country Life delves into the world of the harakeke plant and its many uses - from fashion to paper - and finds out about skincare products made from wool.

Whanganui couple Marilyn and Marty Vreede have been making paper from leftover harakeke from the district's many weavers. Between processing the strong fibre and making sheets of paper, they also help revitalise te reo Māori.

Huhana Smith grows olives, fruit and harakeke on six hectares of land at Kuku north of Wellington. It's a productive testing ground for growing healthy food and, potentially, a sustainable fashion industry.

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

Southland sheep farmer Megan Seator is unravelling new uses for Romney's strong wool in a range of skincare products.