Among his many duties, Senior Sergeant Alasdair Macmillan is responsible for co-ordinating the movements of New Zealand's two police tractors.

This week Country Life meets a Tapanui farmer who breeds head-turning cattle, visits an old dairy factory being saved from ruin and heads to Northland to meet a rural woman who wears many hats. Merilene Horsford is a farmer, mother of six, grandmother, nurse, music and te reo teacher, Maori medicine producer and firefighter.

This week Country Life's spending time with a rural woman who rarely stands still. Merilene Horsford is a farmer, mother of six, a grandmother, nurse, music teacher, te reo teacher, is active at her marae and church, produces Māori medicines, and is a firefighter.

Twenty-three years ago Otago farmer Allan Richardson and his wife Sonia decided to start farming their 1300 hectare sheep and beef farm organically. Allan's father Colin, who had bought the farm at Heriot in 1956, wasn't convinced. "He said that if you're going to do a trial plot make sure it's at the bottom of the farm where no-one can see it." Allan was awarded a Nuffield scholarship to study organic farming. Part of his 'tool kit' is using homeopathy which he says builds up sheep immunity. He's also using regenerative farming methods to improve the quality of the soil.

Dr Jessica Hutchings, (Ngai Tahu, Gujarati), is an organic farmer, yoga teacher and "recovering" academic who's written books on Maori food security. She has been a leader of the hua parakore or Maori organics movement. She's putting her ideas into practice on her small family farm at the bottom of the Remutakas, north of Wellington.

More kiwifruit blocks are being planted in south Auckland and lambs are skipping around paddocks with the sun on their backs.

Agro-ecologist Nicole Masters is living her dream out of a horse truck in the US helping ranchers and croppers shift mindsets to improve their soils and become more resilient.

Full Episode for Friday September 11 2020; soil doctor Nicole Masters, Dr Jessica Hutchings has been a leader of the Maori organics movement and is putting her ideas into practice on her small family farm, Otago organic farmer Allan Richardson and the Regional Wrap.

A micro-farming movement in the Hutt Valley is helping to feed hundreds of local people. Urban Kai set up by The Common Unity Project involves keen gardeners, state house tenants and inmates at Rimutaka Prison and demand for the veggies they produce has soared during these pandemic times.

HoneyLab is a New Zealand company that develops health products from natural sources. It's just signed a multi-million dollar deal with a North American pharmaceutical company which will market and sell a patented topical kanuka honey formulation for the treatment of cold sores, rosecea and acne.