Rain in Waikato has been just what the doctor ordered. Pasture is growing but moisture is really needed to wet up the subsoil. It has been another stunning week in Canterbury with warm and mostly dry conditions. Farmers have been able to plant catch crops after early grazed fodder beet which is much earlier than normal.

Winning Ways in Waikato, A Sign of the Times, Mobile Farm and the Regional Wrap.

Groundwater scientists are using John Saywell's Canterbury farm to measure how well buried trenches filled with woodchips and bacteria break down nitrates in drainage water.

Paul Francis used to be a train driver and then a country cop but he has gone back to what he absolutely loves. He's set up his own tourism venture, Awakeri Rail Adventures, which allows him to spend his days chugging along through the countryside on the Taneatua branch line in the Bay of Plenty.

A Plant and Food Research principal scientist John Monro says if some carbohydrates in a meal are swapped out for kiwifruit it will help reduce blood glucose levels.

Waikato dairy farms and cows are looking a lot better now than they were a month ago, and West Coast dairy cows are getting feed supplements to keep them topped up.

Mike is just back from China and says African swine fever is having a huge affect on local pork production with a flow-on affect to world protein prices, and as Brexit negotiations continue, the volume of NZ sheepmeat exports to the UK have reduced this year.

When the Chips are Down, Train Traffic, Sweet and Safe - Kiwifruit are back the menu for diabetics, NZ Trade Envoy Mike Peterson and the Regional Wrap.

Colville sits at the end of windy unsealed roads, has pohutukawa-fringed beaches on its doorstep, and boasts a strong, vibrant community. Country Life meets some locals.

Marc Lloyd Jones and Nia Wyn Jones have been keeping tabs on the New Zealand dairy industry for years. They moved here in 2016 and this year were named Waikato's share-farmer of the year. Last weekend they were announced runners-up in the NZ Dairy Industry Awards' national share-farmers competition.