A buoyant local economy should help make this year’s Southern Field Days a big success, says event chairman Logan Evans.

The rising fortunes of global farming are raising the demand for European-made tackle, which might signal supply problems for Kiwi farmers and contractors looking to hit the new season with new toys.

The dictionary defines ‘panoramic’ as “an unbroken view of the surrounding region”, so the newly arrived Claas Arion 400 series tractors are worth a closer look, but more on that later.

The science underpinning New Zealand’s TBfree programme has earned an award for its researchers.

High temperatures and humidity are prompting questions about farm animals’ production, along with their welfare, AgResearch says.

Over the next decade, the global middle class will grow from two billion to nearly five billion — an explosive rise considering the entire world population was only five billion in 1990. 

The kiwifruit industry is progressive and developing rapidly, says Stu Hutchings, who takes over as chief executive of Kiwifruit Vine Health (KVH) in March. 

A project to put fine-grained environmental mapping into the hands of farmers has been awarded one of the larger amounts in the latest round of Sustainable Farming Fund grants.

Dairy farmers buoyed by higher forecast milk payout are spending more on artificial breeding, says LIC.

Many young people, especially from urban backgrounds, don’t realise how broad the opportunities are in the rural sector, says Waikato University agribusiness and marketing student Celine Walters.