Sally Rae

Mt Cook Alpine Salmon's $6 million salmon-processing factory in South Canterbury is on schedule to be operating by early November.

New Zealand farmer confidence has rallied on the back of higher dairy commodity prices, a looming drought-induced supply shortage in beef and lamb and a lower dollar.

At any one time, Dunedin-based TracPlus Global Ltd could be tracking climbers in the Himalayas, hunters in the Southern Alps and helicopters flying supplies into multimillion-dollar construction projects in the United States.

When it comes to backs and necks, Steve August knows them ''inside and out''.

Blue Sky Meats chairman Graham Cooney, whose company has recorded a $3.8 million after-tax loss for the year ending March, says the solutions to the red meat industry model problems are in New Zealand, not in the marketplace.

Rita Webster is a bit of a trick.

Since joining AbacusBio on an internship at the end of her university studies, Grace Johnstone admits she ''hasn't really looked back''.

Cordula Ihring is one determined woman.

Paula Hellyer is unashamedly passionate about promoting Dunedin.

Synlait Milk Ltd's initial public offering has opened, the Mid Canterbury milk processor having set a final share price of $2.20.

Oritain Global chief executive Dr Helen Darling has been appointed to the board of the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR).

Nicola Simpson is a firm believer in taking opportunities as they come.

When Shoe Clinic owner Sorrelle Pearson lined up at the start of a half-marathon in Dunedin last year, she did not care ''how ugly'' her race was - all that mattered was getting to the finish line.

Robotic technology being used at Fonterra's Edendale site to identify any issues in the large milk silos has been described as a ''godsend'' for the annual winter inspection and maintenance programme.

Mid-Canterbury farmer Jeremy Casey describes a trial between conventional farming and biological farming under way on his two dairy farms as ''breaking the ice''.

The state of the red-meat industry was, not surprisingly, a major topic of conversation at Federated Farmers national conference in Ashburton last week.

Failure to reform the red meat sector now will be seen as an ''opportunity lost for New Zealand'', Meat Industry Excellence (MIE) chairman Richard Young says.