Country Life

Country Life this week digs deep into the world of kūmara and finds out about farm training for young people with disabilities.

A training initiative in Southland is giving young adults with high-functioning disabilities the skills required to work on a dairy farm.

It's nearly time for the kūmara harvest at Kai Rotorua and this year there's something new to weave into the legends, poetry and traditional knowledge surrounding the staple crop.

A look at what's been making headlines on the rural news desk this week.

This week the Country Life team catch up with some sheep farmers busy with docking and crutching on the land, and then a taste of the sea, as they sample different seaweeds.

Farming in the wake of the Mt Tarawera eruption has tested the Ford family for nearly a century. But dam-building and a lighter footprint on the land in the sensitive Rotorua Lakes area has earned them environmental accolades.

As part of Aotearoa's first seaweed festival, Pacific Harvest hosted a seaweed tasting event where people could sample various red, green and brown dried seaweeds.

Sometimes it takes an outsider to come in and give a dyed-in-the-wool farmer a wee nudge. This is where Southland entrepreneur Laura Todd comes in.

A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.

This week on Country Life the team head to a luxury lodge where farming is all part of the experience, and Tuatapere's domain is transformed into a sensory celebration of rural life during the annual Waiau A&P Show.

Tuatapere's picturesque domain is transformed into a sensory celebration of rural life during the annual Waiau A&P Show.

Farm manager Bradley Riggs has more than just sheep and cattle to think about. He has high profile guests and celebs staying at the farm's luxury lodge and enjoys showing them the kiwi farming life and traditions.

Geoff Allott, a former Black Cap and co-founder of exporting company Quality NZ, has been in the Indian market for 12 years.

A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.

We take a bite of the apple breeding process and learn what it takes to make the fruit of tomorrow and the team visit a farming commune in Golden Bay that's still going strong after 50 years.