Country Life

Former forester Tim Forde believes the humble poplar is one of the most under-rated trees in New Zealand. The trees on his farm are being milled and used for decking, polo mallets, toys, furniture, fence battens and panelling.

Simon Guild runs the High Peak Game Estate on the family farm in the Canterbury High Country. Trophy hunters from around the world visit the scenic property to shoot red stag, fallow bucks, wild goat, feral sheep and wild boar.

Caddisflies, mayflies and stoneflies are considered 'canaries of the waterways' as they thrive when water quality is good and the first to disappear when it isn't.

Rural people often have poorer health outcomes than their urban counterparts so with that in mind, for the first time at fieldays there was a dedicated health hub.

The price of kumara has shot up because a bad growing season, coupled with appalling weather during the main harvest time in autumn, has seen a 35% drop in volume compared with normal years. Heavy frosts hit Marlborough this week but the days were gloriously fine for pruning grape vines.

In the past few years there's been a new feature on the rural landscape. Pink Bales of silage have appeared - and when they're lined up and interspersed with white bales they look like giant marshmallows in paddocks. Farmers have made a conscious decision to go pink as part of a fundraising effort for a breast cancer charity Sweet Louise.

Popular Poplars, A Hunting We Will Go, Canaries of the Waterways, Dr Tom: Health Checks @ Fieldays, Perfectly Pink and the Regional Wrap.

Big River FM hit the airwaves in the Northland town of Dargaville on Valentine's Day 1997. Today, thanks to the determination of passionate volunteers, the radio station is stronger than ever.

Karin Bos and Tineke van de Heide – registered nurses originally from the Netherlands – are living the dream on a farmlet in Banks Peninsula.

Drones are increasingly being used in forestry, farming and orcharding. They're zeroing in on diseased trees in forestry plantations, are making sure kiwifruit growers haven't planted more gold kiwifruit than their license allows and are identifying dangerous slopes on farms.