Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor says if a new research project is successful, farmers and growers will be able to collate and share environmental compliance data digitally.

Strong farmgate prices for red meat have also flowed through to better returns for processor and exporter Silver Fern Farms (SFF).

Typical of the farms damaged in the storm in the south of the East Coast is Mangaroa Station, owned by Nuku and Bart Hadfield - winners in 2015 of the Ahuwhenua Trophy for the top Māori sheep and beef farm.

Hawke’s Bay sheep and beef farmer Bruce Wills has been elected the new chair of Ravensdown.

In late March the soil just seemed to melt off the steep hillsides as unbelievably heavy rain poured down on the North Island's East Coast in what's been described as one of the biggest storms to hit the region since cyclone Bola in 1988. Peter Burke reports.

Southland's normally wet climate is counting against it as the region struggles under what is thought to be its worst drought in 80 years.

Farmers are being warned that they need to adapt to consumer-led change or risk going out of business.

Rachael is with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise in Dubai, Mike's a technology entrepreneur based in the United States, and Garry is an administrator in Nelson.

The Covid-19 vintage of 2020 and labour-tight chaser of 2021 were merely a warm-up for 2022, with Omicron's peak running in painful parallel to harvest.

Those who don’t know Southland could be excused for not understanding that the province is in the midst of a drought, according local farmer Dean Rabbidge who is also Federated Farmers local Meat and Wool chair.