The back-to-fat story was reinforced at the latest GDT event with butter up 3.3% to a fresh auction record high of US$5631/t, says ASB senior rural economist Nathan Penny.

Entries are open for the 30th annual New Zealand Food Awards.

You'll stand out if you're prepared to hand over the moolah for the Jeep Brute Sport. It won’t so much be a case of ‘keeping up with the Jones’, as driving over them.

For years the quad market has been nibbled at by side-by-side (SxS) vehicles with their better carrying capacity and driver protection and, depending on options, shelter from the elements.

About 400 fish were released recently into the Rangitata River in a joint salvage operation by central South Island Fish & Game and Mayfield Hinds Irrigation Ltd (MHIL).

The nostalgia button is being pushed with releases of chocolate bar flavours from the past, milk in traditional glass bottles and constant references to food “as it was meant to be”.

The retiring Federated Farmers president, Dr William Rolleston, is warning farmers that they will soon be “chasing the tail” of synthetic food producers because of their products’ lesser environmental footprint.

If too many houses replace vegetable growing operations, we may have to look at alternatives such as vertical farming, says Horticulture NZ chief executive Mike Chapman.

About 700 people in late May attended a gala awards night in Whangerei, to see Omapere Rangihamama Trust farm, near Kaikohe, awarded the Ahuwhenua Trophy.

LIC Sire Proving Scheme (SPS) Farmers of the Year Bryan and Suzanne Jackson have been in the programme for 18 years.