Old dairy factories can be found throughout New Zealand. Some are crumbling and scrawled with graffiti but others have taken on a new lease of life. The Old Dairy Factory in Norsewood is now a community music hub with once-a-month concerts put on by its new occupant, award-winning musical director David Selfe.

Kim Tatham has recently won an award for her service to rural health. She has a dental practice in Piopio; a town with fewer than 400 residents.

We speak to former Speaker David Carter at home on his farm in Banks Peninsula and the Minister for Agriculture Damien O'Connor on his eight hectare lifestyle block in the Tasman district.

Winter's on its way with a chill in the air and snow in the south but not nearly enough rain to break drought. Farmers are feeding the soil to keep growth going with more stock than normal to feed.

Jono Walker of the Farmers' Markets New Zealand explains how artisan growers are coping during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Rural MPs during lockdown, the dentist in Piopio, Norsewood's old dairy factory now humming to new tunes, and a look and growing and farming conditions around the country.

Bridget and Richard Neeson grow kiwifruit deep in a valley 40 minutes drive south of Taumarunui. The fruit gets plenty of winter chilling. Their crop is one of the last to be picked in New Zealand.

A sawmill in North Canterbury produces hardwood timber products from eucalyptus trees. Owner John Fairweather, who was introduced to forestry as a teenager by his father, also grows several species at his 20 hectare plantation in Sefton. Currently he is milling the bearers and planks for the re-construction of the Governors Bay Jetty from 200 tonnes of logs that come from a farm on Banks Peninsula.

Farmers in drought stricken areas will be hanging out for the forecast rain this Easter weekend after months of looking out on parched pastures. There's now an 0800 number they can call for support around feeding their stock.

The beginning of the week was beautifully fine and far too dry in most of the North Island and in the South, snow has fallen on hills around the Mackenzie Basin.