Editorial: Having a rural voice
OPINION: The past few weeks have been tough on farms across the North Island: floods and storms have caused damage and disruption to families and businesses.
OPINION: This old mutt has been around for a few years now and it seems these ‘once in 100-year’ weather events are occurring nearly every year.
That doesn’t deter the old “I’ve seen worse, back in my day” comments, but tell that to the poor buggers that have to clean up the mess, year after year.
And that’s the only real silver lining here – seeing how Kiwi communities, particularly in remote rural areas like the recently-hammered Far North, pull together, look after each other and get on with what needs to be done to protect lives, then restore farms and properties when the sun finally reappears.
The Northland Civil Defence chairman rightly praised local coastal communities, saying they were well prepared, worked in with Civil Defence and helped each other out.
The Kiwi Way is alive and well in the provinces!
Matt McRae, a farmer from Mokoreta in Southland who runs a sheep, beef and dairy support business alongside a sheep stud, has been elected to the Beef +Lamb NZ Board as a farmer director.
Ravensdown's next evolution in smart farming technology, HawkEye Pro, was awarded the Technology Section Award at the Southern Field Days Farm Innovation Awards in February 2026.
While mariners may recognise a “dog watch” as a two-hour shift on a ship, the Good Dog Work Watch is quite a different concept and the clever creation of Southland siblings Grace (9) and Archer Brown (7), both pupils at Riverton Primary School.
Philip and Lyneyre Hooper of the Hoopman Family Trust have tonight been named the Taranaki Regional Supreme Winners at the Ballance Farm Environment Awards.
We are not a bunch of sky cowboys. That was one of the key messages from the chairperson of the NZ Agricultural Aviation Association (NZAAA) Kent Weir, speaking at an education day at Feilding aerodrome for 25 policymakers and regulators from central and local government and other rural professionals.
New Zealand's dairy and beef industries say they welcome the announcement that the Government will invest $10.49 million in the Dairy Beef Opportunities (DBO) programme.