Country Life

On a busy day Jamie Sleep and his fish processing team at High Country Salmon near Twizel can fillet up to 200 salmon. Business operations manager Tracey Gunn says the farm employs 30 staff, produces 200 tonnes of salmon a year and, with nearly 400,000 visitors annually, the canal-side cafe at the farm has become a gourmet tourist attraction.

Auckland company Aroa Biosurgery manufactures wound-care products made out of the lining of a sheep's stomach.  They're used in the United States and are successfully healing wounds that haven't responded to other treatments.

Towards the end of the week organic vege growers, artisan butchers, bread and cheese makers get busy preparing for farmers' markets around the country. There are 30 or so farmers' markets in New Zealand and 24 of them belong to the Farmers' Markets Association which has a new chairperson.

In Waikato a dairy consultant says it's been the best winter he can remember. A good week of weather in Canterbury has allowed cropping farmers to get on with planting spring barley.

Serving up Salmon, The Healing Power of Sheep, A New Chair for the Farmers' Markets Association and the Regional Wrap.

Dave and Anne Jordan say the world would benefit from the widespread planting and use of hemp. They have been working for more than a decade to build a hemp industry in New Zealand.

Liz Duke is the riders co-ordinator and head coach at North Canterbury Riding for the Disabled. Her team of equine volunteers provide riding activities that increase the ability, strength and confidence of people with physical, intellectual, emotional and social challenges. Liz says they often find that the relation with a pony is one of the best things that happens with a rider who has a disability. The local group owns several horses that live on 25 hectares of leased land near Rangiora.

Agricultural economist Barnett Sporkin-Morrison says there's been a growth in the availability of alternative proteins in the United States but not a wholsale shift away from meat. He says consumers are taking a 'flexitarian' approach often choosing to eat the new products sometimes but not always.

It's been wet and warm in northern parts of the North Island. Lambs are appearing in Canterbury and calving is in full swing on dairy farms.

A Helping Hand from Hemp, Riding High in the Saddle, Alternative Proteins - What's at Steak? and the Regional Wrap.