During the election campaign NZ farmers – and the rural community in general – came under attack from politicians and the public, and felt they were being demonised.

Ireland's Origin Green initiative will be a focus of Richard and Dianne Kidd’s trip as national winners of the 2016 Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

An assessment tool known as the Carbon Navigator is used to assess each beef and dairy farm under Ireland's sustainability scheme Origin Green.

Origin Green, a scheme that verifies the sustainability of Ireland’s food and drink production, now has 100% of the country’s dairy farmers and 90% of beef farmers signed up to its extensive auditing.