Farmers Weekly Added Insights

Second year Massey University agribusiness student Lauren Phillips is one of our 2026 Farmers Weekly Student Ambassadors.

From dance halls to lecture halls, we find out how Lauren made her way to Massey University and how she ended up as a Farmers Weekly Student Ambassador.

We also asked Lauren about her media habits. How does a 20-something ag student at Massey consume their general news and their rural specific news?

We also discover that University life may be a little different than it was when Andy was there 20 years ago.

A big thanks to Massey University for finding us a spot to record in during their busy 2026 Open Day.

In this episode, Andy visits Lincoln University to speak with Farmers Weekly's South Island-based student ambassadors Harriet Johnston and Sean Keating. They discuss their experiences in the fully sponsored programme, which gives students the opportunity to attend industry events and conferences, build professional networks and gain firsthand insight into New Zealand's primary sector while completing their studies.

For the past two years, Farmers Weekly journalists Richard Rennie and Neal Wallace have travelled across Asia, Europe and the United States as part of Meeting the Market – a series exploring the global trends and markets shaping New Zealand agriculture.

In this episode of the Farmers Weekly Media Insights podcast, Andy catches up with Richard in a place he's become very familiar with: an airport. They discuss what it's really like reporting from overseas, how Meeting the Market came to life, and the biggest insights and surprises Richard has encountered while covering agriculture around the world.

Jaiden Drought is the owner of Machinery Media, the publisher of Farm Trader and a suite of other niche machinery and automotive titles

As one of the most experienced and entertaining machinery content creators in the market, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to catch up with Jaiden at 2026 Fieldays, inside the cab of a Case IH Stage V Puma tractor – apparently the quietest tractor cab on the market.

We discuss what farmers actually listen to while in their tractor cabs, how Jaiden balances client needs with consumer needs when constructing machinery reviews, and what got Jaiden into tractors in the first place.

Mark Inman and his team at Blacksheep Design have mastered the craft of the April Fool’s Day prank for their client Udderly Organic, gaining national media coverage and international attention over successive years.

We sat down with Mark in front of the bright red phone box in the Blacksheep Design office to discuss how they gain such widespread attention; why April Fool’s Day can be the perfect vehicle for particular clients; and what the communication framework looks like after gaining that initial attention.

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There are over 100 On Farm Story videos in the Farmers Weekly archive. Alistair Thom is one of our talented videographers. 

In this episode of the Farmers Weekly Media Insights podcast, Added Insights, we talk to Alistair about how he gets farmers to be more comfortable in front of the camera, what a typical day looks like when shooting a video on farm, and why he thinks our On Farm Story videos will continue to endure – even in the age of AI.