Category: Rural

Source: Radio New Zealand

In the weeks before Chinese New Year, Clyde Orchard’s packhouse is a hive of activity as rich, red cherries freshly picked from surrounding Central Otago orchards are brought in to be washed, packed and prepped – ready for export.

The auspicious colouring of the sweet stone fruits – shades of deep plum and ruby jewels – makes it a sought after treat to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

“We’re now packing fruit today that was picked this morning,” explained Kris Robb, the manager of Clyde Orchards headquartered in Earnscleugh.

“We want to keep the cherries fresh, we want to keep the stalks fresh, and we want to really maintain that crispness of the fruit before it gets into the cool store.”

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Clyde Orchards is a family business, started by the Paulin family in 1921.

Today it’s run by third-generation brothers Kevin and Raymond “Musso”, with the next generation also starting to come on board.

The orchards total over 105-hectares on three different sites throughout Central Otago – the Earnscleugh blocks, some in Bannockburn near Cromwell and another in Bendigo.

Robb explained the orchard is “reasonably unique” in that it grows, packs, exports and markets all its own fruit.

“That vertical integration for us is probably a real driver of the success of the business, and the viability of it going forward. It really means that we’re in charge of our own destiny.

“We’re focusing on high-end niche products [so] that we are able to control how it’s grown and when it’s packed, how it’s packed, and how it’s sold.”

With hot, dry summers and cold winters, Central Otago is a region of extremes. It also makes it ideal for growing summer fruit varities.

“The trees need those cooler temperatures in the winter – it’s called winter chilling – and they need a certain amount of hours, the lowest degrees for them to know that it’s time to wake up again when the spring comes,” Robb told Country Life.

“Then that hot, dry summer helps us with pest and disease control, but it also assists with those flavours of the fruit that everyone loves, you know, those juicy, sweet flavours come out with the heat.”

The “core business” is cherries and flat peaches, he says.

Clyde Orchards grows about 10 different types of cherries across half its orchards, which means the harvest period runs for about 8 weeks starting in mid-December. These are largely destined for export, markets such as Taiwan, China, Malaysia and Singapore.

Clyde Orchards is also the only commercial grower, packer and distributor of flat peaches, or flattos, in New Zealand.

Central Otago’s wet summer has made for a challenging growing season this year and delayed the cherry harvest by a week or so.

Robb says it’s more important to allow the fruit to mature properly and pick when it’s at it’s best rather than rush the process.

It’s not quite been the harvest they hoped for, with volumes down, but it’s far from a disaster and they are now turning their attention to bringing in the peaches.

Key to the harvest is the more than 150 staff who help pick and pack the produce.

The team comprises locals ranging in age from high schoolers to retirees, backpackers from around the globe, and 20 ni-Vanuatu, who are part of the Recognised Seasonal Employer, or RSE, programme.

Clyde Orchards has been involved with the programme since its inception in 2007.

It is a grower-initiated scheme to fill the shortfall of available labour in the horticulture and viticulture sectors and is also aimed at supporting economic development in the Pacific region.

Many of the workers at Clyde Orchards have been coming for almost 20 years.

Robb says they’re “very, very efficient”, averaging about 50-odd buckets a day. The team of five picking cherries in the orchard today, harvest as much as 15 or even 20 new pickers, he told Country Life.

“It’s great to have them here.”

This season Clyde Orchards opened a new 10-room accommodation unit for the RSE team, inspired by a traditional Vanuatuan meeting house.

For RSE workers like Mike Mangau it is an opportunity to support those on his home island of Tanna.

“When we earn money here, it’s good to take something back home.”

Mike has invested the money earned in a coffee plantation and beekeeping business, as well as building a local kindergarten.

It can be hard being away from home for so long though – he arrived in October and will stay through the harvest period until May.

“It’s good to come over here and help somebody to help our communities and some other things.”

Learn more:

• Find out more about Clyde Orchards and what they’re growing here

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Apprentice farmer Archie Davidson is learning a thing or two from his dogs.

“That heading dog, he knows everything.

“You send him one way; he goes the other way.

“He’s like, uh-uh, and I’m like, ‘Oh, should have sent you that way’.”

Seventeen-year-old Archie is in his second year on the three-year Pāmu apprenticeship scheme finding his feet at Te Wharua Station, a 1900-hectare sheep and beef farm in central King Country.

Sky, his heading dog, and Grace, his huntaway, are invaluable tools for mustering sheep on the steep hill country.

“[They] teach me patience, teach me how sheep move, sheep flow.”

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He jumps in the side-by-side and heads off up a steep track with me alongside.

The sheep are due for dagging the next day and Archie needs to bring them down from the tops to a paddock closer to the yards.

He’s on a shepherd’s wage now, after learning the basics – on training pay – with the other apprentices at the scheme’s headquarters in Taupo.

Archie got a place on the first intake of the scheme which started in January 2025. Up to nine school leavers earn while they learn and don’t need any prior experience farming.

In their first year, as well as learning the basics of dairying and livestock farming, they do some academic study with the aim of gaining Level 3 and 4 agricultural papers.

In the second year they move into an apprentice’s job at one of Pāmu’s farms around the country while they continue their studies.

The son of dairy farmers, Archie decided to move onto Te Wharua, under the wing of farm manager Alan “Micky” MacDonald.

The teen did OK at school but loves the “hands on” nature of on-farm learning.

“I like being out in the hills and there’s hunting on your doorstep.”

He’s in and out of the side-by-side, his whistle clenched between his lips, practising the signals which direct the dogs to bring the sheep out of some tricky gullies.

Micky, waiting down below, says it’s important to have the apprentices do valuable jobs on the farm.

“It’s trying to keep it interesting, but it does take time, and sometimes you could do it faster, but then you think, well, these are the future, so give them the space and the time.”

Te Wharua, with its hilly back country and more forgiving finishing paddocks, covers a fair bit for an apprentice, Micky told Country Life.

“If someone does a good stint here and picks up a school level and all those aspects of it, they’re ready to go farming anywhere, really.”

His biggest concern with the cadets is on-farm safety, particularly with Te Wharua’s terrain.

“I sort of try and work them into it, you know, without putting them in a situation where they’re scared or out of their depth.

“We keep them pretty close to one of the team for a bit to see where their skill level’s at, and then we try and build on that while they’re here.”

Pastoral care is part of his job too, encouraging the apprentices to get off farm during their time off, and keeping them focused.

“I just straighten them up if they need it, or just talk to them, as I would expect from anyone else.

“They accept it and learn from it and go forward.”

The sheep are safely mustered and in the paddock, ready for dagging tomorrow.

Archie’s looking forward to shearing time and learning more from Micky, a champion in his day.

While the dogs take a break, Micky gives Archie some final instructions, with a bit of banter thrown in.

The partnership is one of the reasons Archie chose this farm for his placement.

“Me and Micky got along well.”

“I liked him from the from the word go,” Micky says about Archie.

“He came here with a good attitude, and he had all the things I like, in a young person, cheeky smile, and, you know, very good work ethic and respectful.

“And there’s some poor old bugger that did that for me once, so it’s my turn now to give it back.”

Learn more:

• Learn more about Pāmu’s apprenticeship scheme here (PDF)

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Regenerative sheep farmers could muster an above-market pay cheque for their sustainable wool clip, thanks to a new industry deal.

Wools of New Zealand signed a new contract to supply American-owned company Keraplast, based in Ōtautahi, with hundreds of tonnes of strong wool over the next five years.

Keraplast extracted keratin, the main protein in wool, that was then used as an ingredient in haircare, skincare, nutraceuticals and medical products.

Wools of New Zealand chief executive John McWhirter said the contract linked growers to high-value end uses, rather than the traditional textile markets based on commodity prices, to improve returns.

“This agreement demonstrates how strong wool can move beyond traditional textile markets into advanced, high-value applications.

“It shows strong wool has a future when we combine quality farming and innovative global manufacturing.”

Regenerative farmers focussed on enhancing the health of their soil, waterways and their animals, practices which were auditted for certified farmers.

The new super-premium wool contract was paying 40 percent or $2 a kilogram above market pricing for 2025, at $6.88 per kilo clean – and prices will increase $0.50 a kilo each year.

Keraplast chief executive, Howard Moore said the deal was about shoring up the supply of low-carbon New Zealand strong wool.

“We really do want to encourage the supply of regeneratively-farmed wool, but we also do feel it as an obligation from the company for us to to share in the value that we are adding to wool, sharing that with our farmer suppliers.”

Moore said the wool-only company was committed to net positive, a business strategy about creating more positive impacts than negative on the environment, society and the economy.

He said its industrial American customers were very focussed on sustainability.

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“We sell to industrial customers and these industrial customers are concerned about their carbon footprint,” he said.

“And so we are able to demonstrate to these industrial customers of ours that we are doing our bit to source wool that’s got a reduced carbon footprint.

“That commitment to sustainability through using regeneratively farmed wool does help us with with our customers.”

Overseas competitors making products from keratin instead sourced the protein from chicken feathers, he said.

Moore said its 40 employees were working towards processing up to 100 tonnes of wool each year at its new factory near Hornby.

Since around August, wool prices in the North and South Islands had increased, exceeding levels in 2023 and 2024.

However, the national sheep flock was continuing to decline and major broker PGG Wrightson announced last month it was going to end its historic North Island from May.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The forestry sector is calling for a cap on rates increases after one forestry blocks rates bill went up 570 percent in a year.

The 1100-hectare block near Wairoa managed by agri-advisory firm Lewis Tucker was originally farmland but was bought in 2019 and planted in pines in 2020.

Lewis Tucker said in July last year the Wairoa District Council lifted the annual rates bill from $30,000 a year to $200,000.

The company has submitted on the government’s proposal to simplify local government.

In its submission, it said while it broadly supported the intent to simplify local government it urged limits on differential rates were critical for business confidence.

Executive director Colin Jacobs said the 570 percent rates increase on that one forestry block amounts to $5 million over the lifetime of the forest.

“There’s been no reason given to us as to why a forestry company should pay such large differential rates, what costs are we causing that justifies that increased rate.”

He said the rates increase raised questions about the financial viability of the forest.

“While there has been no explanation for the increase, the assumption is that the extra $5m that this property will now pay in rates over the life of the forest will go to pay for the impact of forestry on roads come harvest time.

“However, Wairoa District Council has applied the differential rating only to forests planted after 31 December 1989, not those planted earlier.

“This suggests that the council’s concern is not the impact of forestry on roading, as a differential rate is being applied only to forests registered in the ETS,” Lewis Tucker’s submission said.

It said there will not be a harvest truck anywhere near this property for at least 25 years.

The company is calling for a cap on or doing away with entirely the amount councils can charge in relation to different land use.

“A cap on rates increases will not prevent exorbitant rates increases for industries targeted by differentials.”

Wairoa District Council’s forestry differentials were changed in 2022 following a review, which sought to better recognise the negative impacts caused by forestry, particularly the hollowing out of rural communities as farmland is converted.

The Forest Owner’s Association unsuccessfully challenged this by Judicial Review in the High Court with the Court of Appeal upholding the council’s rating review.

Association chief executive Dr Elizabeth Heeg said it would like a “soft cap” on differential rates.

“Foresters just want to be a fair member of the community, there are times when it’s appropriate to have differential rates but having a differential where the rates are going up over 500 percent is not fair.

“We’ll be proposing a soft cap that is accompanied by the introduction of good taxation principals and to local government legislation to ensure that when councils are rating us that its based on an actual need in the community and that it’s not just a differential that’s just a secondary form of regulation.”

Wairoa District Council’s chief executive Matt Lawson said the increase in rates related to the change in land use, with the property categorised as vacant forestry before the 2024 Quotable Value revaluation saw it reclassified as exotic forestry.

He said most benefits arising from forestry go out of Wairoa – wages, profits, and opportunities – while, Wairoa was left with the challenge of rural roads impacted by heavy logging trucks.

Meanwhile, Local Government New Zealand has said the proposal to cap rates could undermine efforts to strengthen emergency management.

LGNZ president Rehette Stoltz said while the government has included proposed variations to rates caps for unforeseen and urgent situations, as they are proposed to be primarily available only after a significant event, it limits councils’ ability to invest proactively in reducing risk.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Along the banks of the Wangapeka River in Tasman, a new hop variety named after the grower’s love of beer and music is being commercially released after more than a decade of research and development.

The Bioeconomy Science Institute and the country’s biggest hop grower, Clayton Hops, have spent the last five years getting the new variety, NZ Rhapzody, ready for commercial use.

Glen Clayton runs Clayton Hops with his two brothers. He said they planted around 120 plants in a trial block, several years ago as part of a joint initiative called the Clayton Innovation Project.

The Rhapzody variety has been trialled by brewers in China, Canada and Australia and was getting good reviews.

“We’ve put the whole different array of beer styles from lagers to pilsners through to big IPAs and it has been through a rigorous set of testing there and it has really come up trumps, it has picked out really well and in our view has outperformed some of the other NZ grown hops.”

“Brewers are saying that it really brings something quite different than what they are used to in a NZ hop, but still that massive tropical mango, pineapple, even stonefruit and pink grapefruit.”

Clayton said the new variety had a good yield and was late to harvest, and they had since planted more Rhapzody across each of their four farms.

“Agronomically it means we can leave these until late and we can harvest all our other varieties beforehand, which is really important when you got have a big piece of infrastructure that does the processing so it’s really important to have hops that fit outside existing harvest windows.

The name Rhapzody was coined by Brian Clayton and came from the team’s shared love of music and beer.

“We expect to get meaningful volume into the market over the next couple of years and current demand suggests there’s appetite and room for that.”

Bioeconomy Science Institute hop breeder Kerry Templeton, who worked from the Motueka research centre, said the new variety was first created in 2014 and had shown promise from around 2019.

“We have a little pilot brewery and do small two or three litre batches and every time it’s been through the brewery, it produced stunning beer.

“It really takes five or six years to even get to the point where you go, oh that hop has got some potential, then once you have that, you get it out into a grower trial and you have another five years getting real data in the location where it is going to be grown.”

He said brewers in the craft beer industry were always on the lookout for new and different hop varieties and breeders aimed to replace some of the lower value hops at certain points during the harvest window with higher value hops that had different flavours.

“Hop breeding is really culling hops, you start out with thousands and you end up with one or two every five years, it has got to yield well and it has got to have good flavour.

“Growers are going to have to want to grow it and brewers are going to have to want to brew with it.”

Clayton Hops chief executive Paul Teen said the company was affected by the Tasman floods last year, with the second flood causing the most damage and leaving about 25 hectares under water.

“It can have an impact on yield with all the sediment that comes in, so while it’s good for them long term it does have an impact on the season.”

He said Rhapzody was one of five varieties being trialled by the company, and the first to go commercial.

“Last year it was the last hop we picked and it was vibrant green, we had customers here from Massachusetts over here visiting and when they picked it up off the ground and rubbed it they said it was hands down the best hop they’d had in New Zealand.”

He said staff were now getting ready for this year’s harvest, which included about 10 hectares of Rhapzody.

Teen said they were hoping for another few weeks of fine weather, to allow the oils to develop in the hop cones before harvest got underway.

“We try and pick our hops at their ultimate aroma, testing is done on them for the analytics but on the day of each harvest we come in and rub the cones as a team and decide which one we are going to pick next.

“You can’t do anything by looking at them, there’s the dryness, the sound, how they fall apart in your hand and how that aroma translates.”

Rhapzody joins almost 20 other New Zealand hop varieties that are grown almost exclusively at the top of the South Island and make up around one percent of the global hop market.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Illegal apple orchards in China have been torn down after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of New Zealand horticulture company T&G.

T&G owns the IP rights to its Scilate apple variety, which is marketed as ENVY – it’s grown both here and through a licensed grower in China.

But a company in the Shandong Province, China’s main apple growing region, grew and sold the variety using similar markings to T&G’s ENVY.

The Supreme People’s Court has issued a final judgment in favour of T&G in the dispute with a Chinese defendant.

The court has ordered the defendant to pay significant damages to T&G and to stop all infringement of the company’s Scilate plant variety rights.

The court has also supervised the destruction of a large number of illegally planted trees in the Gansu province.

T&G chief executive Gareth Edgecomb said this is a significant win for the company.

“We welcome this ruling by the Supreme People’s Court and the commitment it shows under China’s strengthened Seed Law to safeguard plant variety rights and put a stop to illegitimate production and infringement.

“With it being the second ruling in T&G’s favour, by China’s highest court, it establishes a strong judicial precedent for the handling of similar infringement disputes in China,”

Edgecomb said over the last 20 years T&G had invested significantly in the research and development of new varieties.

“The Court’s judgment, as well as the recent Regulations on the Protection of New Plant Varieties, which give the authorities strong powers to investigate and enforce infringement of plant intellectual property rights, will benefit plant breeders, growers, customers and the horticulture sector.

“It provides T&G with further confidence to continue investing in China knowing our intellectual property is well protected.”

Kiwifruit marketer Zespri has also been plagued by illegal plantings in China and has had successful prosecutions.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

In orchards and glasshouses around the motu growers make use of integrated pest management – a series of tools to minimise the impact of pest insects.

These can include bio warfare, growing pest-resistant crops and using chemical sprays.

But might there be more new tools to add?

Many pest insects communicate using vibrations and the study of this communication is called biotremology.

Researchers from the Bioeconomy Science Institute are investigating whether they can apply what they know about biotremology to use vibrations to disrupt pest insects in New Zealand.

Our Changing World‘s Claire Concannon went along to the tomato growing greenhouse where the tools had been tested.

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The trial’s finished now and they didn’t find a big difference between the control and treatment areas, although there was a trend towards lower egg laying in the plots being treated.

In the next trial they plan to play the vibration signal more frequently to see if that makes a difference.

Claire Concannon dives deeper into biotremology on the latest episode of Our Changing World.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Near where the muddy green of the Tuapeka meets the turquoise blue of the Clutha River there once stood a “bustling settlement”.

Back in the early days of Otago’s gold rush, Tuapeka Mouth – about 30 kilometres north-west of Balclutha – had houses on either side and at least two, maybe even three pubs, according to Tom Jones.

With no bridge, those looking to cross from one side of the river to the other had only one option – the Tuapeka Mouth Ferry.

“There used to be a lot of these crossings back in the day, gold mining days, early days of discovery.

“Between the sea and Roxburgh, there was 15 of them, so before bridges you’d float your way across,” Jones told Country Life.

“This is the last one in the southern hemisphere.”

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Jones has operated the ferry crossing for the past six years, taking people – and cars – from one side of the river to the other.

Though this is not the 1896 original, not much has changed in terms of how it functions, he explained.

“We’ve got two boats with wooden platform on the top.

“It harnesses the energy in the river in the same way that a yacht harnesses the wind in a sail, so you’ve got to turn on an angle to get any push forward or sideways as in the case of this.

“There’s a main cable upstream to stop it from being pushed downstream, and, as I say, it turns on an angle and the energy hits one side of the bow and pushes it, shimmies basically sideways.”

The vessel requires conditions to be just right to operate though. Too much wind, the river being too high or too low means it can’t run.

When Country Life paid a visit the Clutha River was high and flowing fast – too fast to safely operate the punt – after a few days of rain.

New Zealand’s largest river in terms of volume, it normally operates with a flow of about 500 cubic metres per second but that day the flow had more than doubled.

The ferry is still used by locals but has also increasingly become popular with tourists in the post-Covid era, capturing a unique part of New Zealand’s history.

“There’s very little else here in Tuapeka Mouth itself.

“It’s in the middle of nowhere, but it’s something really worth discovering,” Jones said.

He estimates he does about 60 to 70 crossings each week in optimum conditions.

As a “public utility”, the ferry ride is free and it operates from 10am until 2pm most days – except for Christmas Day, Good Friday and Anzac morning.

Learn more:

• Find out more about the Tuapeka Mouth Ferry here

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The boss of a health organisation believes a rural equivalent of Tinder targeted at health professionals could be the key to solving the doctor shortages in rural communities.

A Royal College of GP workforce survey in 2024 found 35 percent of rural GPs and 21 percent of rural hospital doctors intended on retiring in within five years.

There’s a shortfall of at least 130 rural GPs nationwide.

Federated Farmers, Rural Women and the Rural Health Network are backing the Golden Key, a project to attract health professionals to rural areas.

Its secret weapon is a well-organised welcoming committee and match-making could be the next step, according to Mark Eager, who is CEO of Mobile Health Group and on the board of Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network.

Eager told Checkpoint there was one commonality that keeps people in rural areas.

“You can recruit as much as you want, you can do a whole lot of things, but there’s got to be a connection with the town,” he said.

“Love and sex seem to go hand in hand, and it keeps people grounded in rural areas.”

Eager wants an app, similar to Tinder, to help doctors find their perfect match in rural towns.

“I’ve been speaking with Health New Zealand about it, but for some reason, they’re not keen. But I am sure we could get reasonably entrepreneurial about this and make that work because it would help.”

Eager said rural communities tend to get locum doctors that come in temporarily for six weeks or so, and it would be beneficial to get people to stay long term.

“We joke about the whole love thing, but just having an interest in a rural town and connecting to it. So, ultimately, we would love for someone to fall in love with someone and stay in a rural town long term, but it’s more than that. It’s about welcoming people to rural areas.”

He said the welcoming committee, which includes organised local support and hospitality, was important to make people stay and develop routes to the area.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A Wellington marae is putting its hāngī made up of mostly koha kai underground on Friday, in preparation for the city’s Waitangi Day celebrations tomorrow.

Thousands are expected to gather at Waitangi Park in Te Whanganui a Tara on Friday for large community event Te Rā o Waitangi that honoured the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 1840.

Ngā Hau e Whā o Paparārangi marae in Newlands helped feed those celebrating Waitangi Day in the city for many years.

Marae assistant chairman and renowned Māori chef Joe Mcleod had previously led hāngī operations to feed thousands at Te Tii Waitangi Marae.

This year, he was helping his marae create around 500 ready-to-eat hāngī packs for the event in Wellington, featuring local kai like meat and huawhenua (vegetables).

“Pork, lamb chicken in our packs. Potato, pumpkin, kumara, cabbage and stuffing. That’s the standard pack, and then we have a vegetarian pack,” he said.

“They go real quick.”

Mcleod said much of the kai was donated by the community and local supermarkets, and he was amazed by the support.

“We have a very strong local network.”

He said helping feed the crowds there was a lovely experience, that recognised the important moment in the history of Aotearoa.

“We’re there to celebrate and be there to provide a service for our people,” he said.

“It’s a fun thing. We’re giving back to celebrate with our country, and it’s a special event to celebrate a special moment.”

Mcleod was classically trained in French cuisine and dozens more culinary styles throughout his long career.

These days, he was more focussed on sharing matauranga Māori kai with other marae to pass on his knowledge.

“Letting them know that our food culture is still alive.

“The resources our ancestors used are still here, most of them, and our primary resources are still accessible through various connections that marae networks have.”

Live music, kapa haka and local kai are some of the highlights expected in Wellington from midday tomorrow, ahead of Saturday’s Wellington Pasifika Festival also at Waitangi Park from midday.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand