Country Life

Country Life heads to Waipara for the Underground Festival, looks at the tradition of whiskey making in Southland and meets a biochar-maker north of Wellington.

Hops from a Wellington brewery, cotton offcuts from a fashion label and forestry slash has turned Matt Welton into a bit of a Heath Robinson. His first job was collecting scrap metal in London's East End and after careers as a prison officer and cartographer, he has come full circle, this time turning the organic waste he collects into biochar for farmers and growers on his Akatarawa property.

A look inside the Hokonui Moonshine Museum where the manufacture of this legendary spirit continues in the modern day.

A round up of news from RNZ's rural news team

Underground Festival organiser Fran Bailey chats with Anisha Satya about the idea, the execution, and what makes it different from other farming forums.

Country Life gets the latest on the beef market and cherry harvest, learns how pairing solar and horticulture could help with growing and joins one of Pāmu’s young apprentices on a King Country farm. Follow Country Life on your favourite podcast platform or listen on the RNZ website.

A look at how Clyde Orchard's recent cherry and stonefruit harvest has gone and a tour of a new purpose built accommodation for its RSE workers.

Archie's 17 and an apprentice to Micky, champion shearer and Pāmu farm manager on King Country sheep and beef farm Te Wharua. We head out mustering and Archie shows how he's working with his whistle and his dogs.

Growing crops alongside solar farming is a new field for New Zealand, so researchers here have been analysing studies of these sorts of systems around the world. Dr Pieter-Willem Hendriks from the research team at Lincoln University spoke to Sally Round.

A wrap of the week's news from the primary sector.

A little bit of luck as well as good management is behind our guest's entry into the roaring beef market. Craig Pickens has been farming in King Country since 2005 and his present farm, Waimiha, has gone through some changes, lately the move to finishing beef cattle.

This week the Country Life team takes you riverside to find out about an unusual ferry which has been running for 130 years, they delve into the science of insect vibrations which may be a way of protecting crops, and getting a taste of Americana at Burkes Pass.

Producer Mark Leishman goes on a personal journey to Burkes Pass, a place with deep family ties. A fire in the 1990s destroyed most of the Burkes Pass Hotel run by his grandparents and has been replaced by a replica 1950s Americana village complete with its own "Pin Up Queen".

Researchers from the Bioeconomy Science Institute are investigating whether they can apply the vibrations of insects to disrupt pests in the greenhouse. Our Changing World's Claire Concannon heads along to the tomato growing greenhouse where they're trialling the use of biotremology.