Sally Rae

Suffering a car breakdown in Australia's Northern Territory proved to be a stroke of luck for Regina Bernbeck.

Robert Butson's farming philosophy has always been to keep it simple.

The fine-wool industry has to continually lift its game as it faces increasing competition, New Zealand Merino Company chief executive John Brakenridge says.

The future of the Clutha Agricultural Development Board will be on the agenda at the organisation's annual meeting in Balclutha tomorrow.

A suggestion that supplier workshops organised by Silver Fern Farms contradict the ''openness and transparency'' that farmers are demanding in the red-meat industry has been strongly rejected by chief executive Keith Cooper.

Dairy prices soared to record levels in this week's GlobalDairyTrade auction as drought hits local milk production, and it is predicted total production could drop for the first time in five years.

Nearly 1000 farmers gathered in Gore yesterday to overwhelmingly support a mandate for radical change in the beleaguered red meat industry.

It has been a big couple of days for central Hawkes Bay farmer Angus McPhail.

Organic Dairy and Pastoral Group chairman Glenn Mead says the results of the latest research report on the organic sector are ''very encouraging''.

Robbie Gibson could well soon be the flashest-dressed farmer in Tarras.