RNZ: Country Life

The Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust was formed in 2008 in Waitati, Otago and provides support for transition initiatives such as Waitati Edible Gardens, a low oil commuting group and the Blueskin Energy Project. Trust manager Scott Willis, and Blueskin Energy Project trustee Ross Johnston take Cosmo Kentish-Barnes to a hilltop where two testing towers are recording wind data for what will be New Zealand's first community owned and developed wind cluster.

Retired farmer Ken Vincent has been breeding chickens for 70 years.

Bitterly cold weather has been sweeping the country. Heavy snow's fallen in the south.

The National Agricultural Fieldays attracts thousands of teenagers and young people each year. Some come for a day out but others are interested in a career in the agriculture sector. Country Life speaks to some of the education providers trying to attract the students and to the young people themselves about a possible future in agriculture.

Farmers at the National Ag Fieldays update us on life in their patch. Most dairy farmers are feeling reasonably okay going into winter, the drought seems to be well behind them in terms of pasture growth, although the financial cost is still there. Sheep and beef farmers however are struggling with the volatile sheep meat prices.

PhD student Stephen Archer talks about his love of Antarctica and the science he has been doing there.

The CEO of the National Fieldays Society Jon Calder talks about taking New Zealand exhibitors to similar events in developing markets overseas. They'll have a trade presence over the next 12 months or so, in China, India and hopefully Russia.

Slipping on his overalls to supervise thousands of pigs and then getting the laptop out as chairman of the New Zealand Pork Industry Board is all in a day's work for North Otago farmer Ian Carter, who believes that the three potential barriers to growth in the industry are bio-security threats, high grain costs and cheap imports.

A selection of agricultural news from the week. For further rural news go to the Radio New Zealand website.

Massey and Lincoln Universities have slowly lost ground with farm business management research, but now, thanks to financial backing from Dairy NZ, both are boosting their expertise with a Centre for Excellence in Farm Business Management. They hope to communicate with many more farmers through the interactive web site www.onefarm.ac.nz

Dairy farmers are enjoying the calm before the calving storm and are very happy their payout's on the move up.

Expat Kiwi Daniel Smith works for a cheese manufacturer in Shanghai. He says the market for soft, fresh cheese is growing in the metropolitan city and there's little competition at present as many dairy companies were shut down after recent milk contamination scandals.

Colin Cox lives in Fordell near Wanganui. No one would guess he's credited with being New Zealand's first commercial deer farmer, he helped develop the idea of blending possum and merino wool, and now he's developed a possum skin belt which people like Mahe Drysdale are wearing to help fight muscular aches and pains.

Stewart Paul looks after the Macraes Flat hatchery that produces thousands of rainbow trout annually for release into "put and take" fisheries throughout Otago.

A chilly blast has stopped grass growth in its tracks this week in the North Island, while in the South Island snow has fallen but it's impact so far is minimal.