I was chatting to a mate the other day about mating when it dawned on me that we wouldn’t know each other if it weren’t for the Dairy Industry Awards.

Argentina, once seen as a world ‘bread basket’, today faces many obstacles in achieving this. Argentinean student Pablo Fraga reports on the challenges of dairy farming in his country.

The winner of the Massey Agricultural Student of the Year prize, DairyNZ scholar Jack van Bussel (20), is planning a future in rural banking.

Dairy farmers in most North Island regions are hard hit by rain which is hindering pasture utilisation and causing milk production to drop.

The future of the New Zealand wine industry is in good hands, if the competition for Bayer Young Viticulturist of the Year and Tonnellerie de Mercerey Young Winemaker of the year are anything to go by.

With the annual value of the New Zealand agricultural machinery industry put at a conservative $1.3 billion, and agriculture in general being the key driver of NZ’s GDP, you’d think it would be easy to recruit youngsters into the industry.

Strains of the helicobacter bacteria, which live in the stomach, are now believed a possible cause of abortion in ewes, following MPI investigations.

Two words I find invaluable when training dogs are “good dog”.

Despite wet weather in many regions, the outlook is encouraging and we are seeing plenty of good growth around the country as rural contractors start cranking up for their busy season.

From freshly elected city, town and country leaders, words and phrases such as ‘rebuilding trust’ and ‘increased involvement of the community’ have been heard sounding -- again.