Rnz: On The Farm

The North Island is having a late summer and store lamb prices have increased, while in the South Island some farmers on the West Coast have turned their irrigation on! And a haze is in the air as mid Canterbury farmers are now allowed to burn stubble

In orchards around the country apples are coming off thick and fast. Paddocks are greening up in front of farmers' eyes in the North Island but in the South Island, North Canterbury is worryingly dry.

The North Island has had soaking good rain this week. Dairy cow pregnangy rates are generally down this season, between 15 to 20% are empty. In Central Otago high country weaning is in full swing and store lambs are on the move.

Rain's fallen in Northland, East Coast and Hawkes Bay, but follow-up is crucial and the drought's not broken. In the South Island farmers in South Canterbury and central Otago have plenty of supplements stored for winter.

Industry leaders from seven top beef producing nations have been in New Zealand to discuss the trials of farming beef and selling it to the world.  

An aerospace company has brought engineers from all over the world to the end of the isolated Mahia Peninsula. For locals, it's meant an injection of young blood and enthusiasm.

Forty Waikato teachers met last week to hear about bringing agri-science alive in the classroom.

Parts of the North Island have had sweltering temperatures this week but Horowhenua has been cool and gloomy.

Large, established honey companies make a lot of money from the manuka-covered hills of the East Coast. While the beehive rental money coming from manuka-based businesses is sizeable, some local Ngati Porou want to take control of the industry themselves. In the past two years they've been getting paid in drums of honey rather than money, and now they're selling that honey through a Japanese connection. The collective aims to have up to 12,000 hives on tribal land, providing at least 30 new jobs.

Fruit growing roots run deep in the Gilchrist family – with Jack joining forces with his grandad John to become a fifth-generation orchardist on the slopes of the mighty Clutha River.

Fonterra's announcement of a lift in the dairy payout has been just the tonic farmers needed as they come out of a tiring, wet spring. Marlborough farmers should be drafting lambs and cattle now but that's on hold due to road damage from the earthquake.

Top of the South Rural Support Trust co-ordinator Ian Blair's priority is to get to isolated families. The main issues arising from the earthquake have been food, sanitation, power and communication.

North Island calves and lambs need more sun on their backs and, in the South Island, Otago is having a great spring.

In Bay of Plenty gold kiwifruit are flowering and bees are being deposited around orchards while in Canterbury baleage contractors are flat out and recently sown kale and fodder beet crops are emerging.

Good sized yardings of cattle are coming forward in the North Island now the grass is starting to grow. Prices are high. New season store lambs are also fetching high prices which is surprising when some commentators are saying the export schedule will drop this year.

It's been mild around the North Island, early maize is popping up and the weather's improved for general tractor work on paddocks. In the South Island wonderful rain has fallen in drought hit North Canterbury, although aquifers are still not replenished.

It's felt like summer on the east coast of the North Island this week, but farmers are still squelching around in paddocks over much of the island. In the south, farmers are getting crops in and lambs are being tailed.

It's been exceptionally wet in most North Island areas this week, from Auckland south through the central regions, streams are overflowing. In the South Island cropping farmers are able to get tractor work completed and seeds in.

Soils are completely saturated in parts of the North Island - but on the west coast of the South, it's been dry.

Welcome rain has been falling in coastal Wairarapa and crops are going in in Canterbury.