Country Life

In a forest block near Tokoroa a 60-year-old tree is felled and turned into a cubic metre of wood. It will end up at the Mystery Creek Fieldays at the end of the year to give a visual representation of carbon sequestration and there's a discussion about farming and forestry.

For 23 years, the warm, lively voice of Country Life presenter and producer Carol Stiles has been synonymous with RNZ's rural storytelling As she moves on from the job, Carol chats to Sally Round about what she saw and learned.

Tons of perfectly good produce from New Zealand farms, orchards and processing plants, once destined for landfill, is being saved and filling fridges, pantries and hungry children's tummies around the country. Country Life goes behind the scenes of a food rescue charity, Nourished for Nil, and finds out what makes it tick.

Country Life joins the queue to get free food at Nourished for Nil, a food rescue charity in Hawkes Bay and heads to a forestry block near Tokoroa for a discussion on forestry and farming. And we farewell Carol Stiles after nearly quarter of a century reporting from the heartland of rural New Zealand.

Ewe pregnancy scanning results are down in King Country but well up in Wairarapa and some farmers have stopped looking at the rain gauge in the Nelson region, it's been so wet.

Country Life joins Lot 8's twenty first olive harvest and talks to the olive oil brand's owners Nalini and Colin Baruch who are among the Wairarapa's pioneering olive oil producers.

Shannon Munro is the young and vibrant face of the Dairy NZ campaign Join Us. It's been a multi-media campaign aiming to show a personal side of dairy farming and it was Shannon's TikTok exploits during lockdown that caught the eye of industry leaders looking for good role models.

Neville and Leonie Walker are New Zealand's largest alpaca farmers by a country mile. They have 1100 animals, the next biggest farmers - and there are only about three of them - have 400. The Walkers have slashed their sheep numbers to make room for the alpacas which earn ten times more than sheep.

Hawke's Bay had a 23 degree day on June the first and Balclutha farmers have been reaching for their stubbies - it's been very warm there too.

Country Life joins Lot 8's 21st olive harvest and talks to the olive oil brand's owners Nalini and Colin Baruch who are among the Wairarapa's pioneering olive oil producers. The show heads back to an alpaca farm in King Country and chats to a TikTok star who's encouraging other young people to join the dairy industry.