This episode features Fenton Hazelwood, Rural Commentator discussing the ACVM and HSNO Reform Bills and whether the proposed changes will actually improve growers' access to new technology and products.

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This episode features Kylah Morrison, Head of Programmes and Partnerships, Sprout Agritech discussing six UK agritech companies visiting New Zealand as part of the Innovate UK Global Incubator Programme.

WANT TO LISTEN TO THE SHOW LIVE (11am-1pm NZST) ON THE GO? Download CountryWide Connect mobile app to stream the show via Apple Car Play or Android Auto. Or try the voice command ‘Play CountryWide Connect’ on Amazon Alexa or Google Home.

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• Red meat sector drives nearly fifty billion dollars through NZ economy

• Federated Farmers launches five-point election platform

• Mātai Pacific Iwi Collective wins 2026 Ahuwhenua Trophy

Rural News is in partnership with Farmlands as part of CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp - our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch / listen.

Red meat sector drives nearly fifty billion dollars through NZ economy

New research has put hard numbers on the scale of New Zealand's red meat sector, finding it generates forty-eight-point-seven billion dollars in annual spending across the economy and supports one in every twenty jobs.

The BERL study, commissioned by Beef and Lamb New Zealand and the Meat Industry Association, found the sector contributes seventeen-point-five billion dollars to GDP and supports one-hundred-and-twenty-thousand-five-hundred-and-eighty full-time equivalent jobs — roughly the population of Dunedin. Export earnings of twelve-point-eight billion dollars a year create a multiplier effect of one-hundred-and-thirty-three million dollars flowing through the New Zealand economy every day.

More than half that contribution flows beyond the farm gate and processing plants into supply chains, local services and household spending — particularly in rural and regional New Zealand.

Beef and Lamb New Zealand chair Kate Acland says the figures confirm the sector's role as an economic powerhouse well beyond farming. The sector's ambition is to grow export value to as much as twenty-three billion dollars by 2035.

Federated Farmers launches five-point election platform

Federated Farmers has launched its election platform this week, setting out five priorities it wants political parties to commit to ahead of the November vote.

The Backing Kiwi Farmers plan covers cutting the cost of farming, enabling technology and infrastructure, empowering community conservation, supporting young farmers and fixing local government. President Wayne Langford says specific asks include replacing resource consents with farm plans, ending permanent carbon forestry conversions, doubling QEII Trust funding and separating provincial local government from major cities.

Langford says the organisation achieved all twelve of its 2023 election priorities over the past three years and is now focused on the next step — unlocking the full potential of rural New Zealand rather than simply restoring confidence.

Federated Farmers wants engagement from all parties over the coming months.

Mātai Pacific Iwi Collective wins 2026 Ahuwhenua Trophy

Mātai Pacific Iwi Collective has taken out the 2026 Ahuwhenua Trophy, the premier award recognising excellence in Māori horticulture.

The Te Puke-based collective — Zespri's largest Māori shareholder — has grown its combined asset value beyond one-hundred-and-thirty million dollars since 2018. Chief executive Charles Russell says the win reflects generations of growing the land and a commitment to building prosperity one orchard at a time.

The competition, now in its ninety-third year, was contested by three finalists, with Otama Marere Trust from Paengaroa and Ngāti Hine Forestry Trust from Kerikeri also recognised for outstanding operations.

In the Young Māori Grower category, Te Rina Joe from Pakuratahi Orchard in Hawke's Bay took out the award. She began picking fruit with her whānau at fifteen and now oversees teams of forty to sixty workers across a fifty-five hectare apple operation — working on her iwi's land in Tangoio.

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