A wrap of the week's news from the primary sector.

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Country Life is back for 2026 with a classic tale of the bush, bullocks and camp ovens at an old woolshed in King Country. The team check in on a forest growing wood into products for Ikea and find out how farmers can make the most of the demand from international tourists for a taste of life on the farm.

You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.

In this episode:

• 0:44 - On The Farm
• 8:25 - Growing demand for on-farm fun from international tourists
• 18:09 - Ikea owner's first New Zealand forest: 'Timber production first and foremost'
• 31:00 - Camp ovens, bullockies and other tales from the bush

With thanks to:

• Marijke Dunselman, Agritourism NZ
• Josh Cairns, Southern Forests
• Lew, Julie and Craig Pickens, and Julie Tannneau

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Old-timer Lew Pickens' passions hark back to his days clearing land in Northland - camp oven cooking and driving bullock teams. He has a woolshed full of early tools and farming machines on the farm now run by son Craig. He is keenly aware that his stories, culture, traditions and old ways will be lost when he, and a few like him, are gone.

You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.

With thanks to:

• Lew, Julie and Craig Pickens, and Julie Tannneau

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Ingka Investments, the parent company of furniture giant Ikea, now owns 30,000 hectares of forestry in Aotearoa. It's first purchase saw the conversion of Wisp Hill Station in southern Otago from farmland to timber production forestry.

You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.

With thanks to:

• Josh Cairns, Southern Forests

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Agritourism NZ's Marijke Dunselman outlines how farmers and growers can take advantage of growing global demand for authentic experiences on the farm.

You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.

With thanks to:

• Marijke Dunselman, Agritourism NZ

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A wrap of conditions on farms and orchards around the country.

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Country Life heads to an arboretum where dozens of different types of trees are grown, including a few for Christmas. We travel up the Whanganui River on the rural mail run, delivering a few early Christmas presents and go behind the scenes of a family-run berry orchard in King Country to see what it takes to bring summer berries from the orchard to the Christmas dinner table.

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The Roy family all pitch in getting berries from orchard to Christmas plate over the festive season. They have been growing berries in Piopio for more than three decades, and nearly all are sold from the farmgate. We go behind the scenes of the Christmas berry rush.

You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.

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Rural postie Tracy Marshall takes visitors along her mail delivery route which winds along the Whanganui River.

You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.

With thanks to:

• Tracy Marshall, Original Mail Tour

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"You can come here and see nearly every type of forestry system that can be applied," Blair Jamieson says of Tāmata Hauhā's demonstration farm near Palmerston North.

You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.

With thanks to:

• Blair Jamieson, Tāmata Hauhā

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