Sally Rae

The Primary Industry Capability Alliance's (PICA) new chief executive Andy Somerville sees huge potential for New Zealand's primary sector.

It has been an electrifying experiment.

Dave Harrison is pleased environmental issues are increasingly being talked about in New Zealand.

When it comes to freshwater management, urban and rural water must be treated equally - whether it is a stream in Karori or one in the Maniototo.

Come September it will be ''au revoir Waihaorunga'' and ''bonjour France'' for young South Canterbury shepherd Alex Reekers.

The Otago Rural Support Trust's emphasis is changing.

Dunedin-based business Design and Garden Landscapes recently received a swag of awards at Landscaping New Zealand's Landscapes of Distinction awards. Business reporter Sally Rae speaks to the company's founder and director Wayne Butson about the path to success.

Admittedly, there was a little sibling rivalry when the High Country Hillbillies took on the Gumboot Girls - and the rest of New Zealand - in the TeenAg national final.

A Dunedin-designed double-glazing system, which started as a concept drawn on a paper pie packet, is now being sold in Australia.

Shearing has always been a hobby for Tarras stock manager Cole Wells - but now he had decided to take it one giant step further.

Becci Bishop is something of a globe-trotting vet.

Outgoing Federated Farmers national president Bruce Wills has again sounded a note of caution over burgeoning debt levels in the agricultural sector.

Better communication and understanding within the red meat industry is needed to see better returns, outgoing Federated Farmers meat and fibre chairwoman Jeanette Maxwell says.

Hundreds of small communities, who rely on the dairy industry, risk being ''strangled'' if unrealistically hard nutrient limits are set, Federated Farmers outgoing dairy chairman Willy Leferink has warned.

Some meat plants could be closed if the cost of upgrading to meet new water management limits proves prohibitive, the Meat Industry Association (MIA) is warning.

Secretly filmed footage showing what has been described as ''disgusting and squalid'' conditions at a Canterbury pig farm is not typical of the wider pork industry, industry leaders say.

Dairy commodity prices are predicted to stay in a trough period for another three to six months.