Country Life

Every Thursday afternoon, Banks Peninsula farmers head to the beach in Hickory Bay and ride waves to forget about work. Farmer and surfing coach, Kristin Savage, runs the Surfing for Farmers initiative, which doubles up as an apres surf catch-up and BBQ in the farmyard.

Sarah Maxwell switches from inseminating cows in the morning to shifting cows and sheep in the afternoon, working at the local sale yards and more besides.

Karolin van Onna and her friend had dreamt about horse trekking the length of the South Island for years - and last summer they finally did it.

A chat about the top stories this week from RNZ's rural news team with Susan Murray in Kirikiriroa Hamilton.

'Give us a break!' say surfing farmers, a back country dream comes true on horseback, Sarah Maxwell's farming journey and a wrap of the week's rural news.

A catchment restoration project in the Marlborough Sounds is bringing a farming community together to tackle water quality issues and achieve wider conservation goals

The Golden Shears is underway in Masterton, and from early Thursday the War Memorial Stadium has been buzzing to the sound of shears, woolhandlers' brooms and the cranking of wool presses.

Many wine growers in Australia's largest wine region are in crisis mode due to plummeting prices for their grapes. Chris Archer works in the Australian and New Zealand wine industries and has been following developments.

Kiwifruit are looking good in Hawkes Bay. Some flooded vines have died but generally recovery is better than expected. Conditions are very dry in Marlborough so many farmers are offloading stock due to concerns over feed and water levels.

Behind the scenes at the Golden Shears, a conservation project in the Marlborough Sounds, crisis among Australia's winegrowers and On the Farm

Tartan, bagpipes, sheafs and cabers were out in force at the Turakina Highland Games, billed as New Zealand's longest-running such event. They're into their 160th year.

Rick Martin and Nairn Illingworth farm a drove of happy heritage pigs on their small farm in Marlborough's Onamalutu Valley

A large blue truck and trailer unit has become a common sight in the Marlborough Sounds as it's barged to farms to pick up and drop off livestock.

A round-up of the week's agricultural news with RNZ rural news reporter Sally Murphy.

This week on Country Life, how stock are barged in and out by sea after roadways are blocked, a visit to the Turakina Highland Games, and a chat with heritage pig farmers in Marlborough.

Haysley MacDonald was born and bred on the family farm near Marlborough's Wairau Bar, or Te Pokohiwi. The coastal land, that overlooks Cloudy Bay, is where his ancestors first landed over 800 years ago, and have lived there ever since those early migrations.

Former Wellington Percussionist, Jeremy Fitzsimons, is now based on the family farm in the Kauaeranga Valley near Thames. Bryan Crump paid him a visit.

Jana Gabert runs a dairy farm about 30 kilometres south of Berlin. She is among farmers around Europe who have taken to the streets in protest about increasing costs and regulation amid high competition, loss of tax breaks and climate change. Last month she rode in a farm tractor to Berlin's famous Brandenburg Gate to press home farmers' concerns.

A round-up of the week's agricultural news with RNZ rural news reporter Sally Murphy. This week marked a year since Cyclone Gabrielle tore through the East Coast of the North Island, causing wide spread damage to farms and orchards.

Ancestors roots run deep at Wairau Pā vineyard, Farming to the beat of his own drum, Farmers from around the world: Jana Gäbert, dairy farmer from Germany and the Rural News Wrap.