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Garston Hops covers about 30 hectares, with plans to reach 40. Supplied. Deep in the heart of Southland, at latitude 45 degrees south, sits one of the world’s most unexpected horticultural ventures. Garston Hops, owned and operated by James and Lizette McNamee and their family, has become the southernmost commercial hop farm on the planet. What started as a small experiment has grown into a thriving business supplying breweries from Invercargill to Auckland and across the wor

Lincoln University agriculture student James Clark says the Ravensdown scholarship will make a big difference as he heads into his second year. Eighteen-year-old James Clark was in the middle of farm work when he got the call telling him he’d won the 2026 Ravensdown Hugh Williams Memorial Scholarship. “I had to take a couple of minutes just to stop and get my head around it,” he said. “I was quite amazed, really.” Clark, a Lincoln University agriculture student from Valetta,

Kim Schofield’s long-term plan is to transform the vineyard’s old winery shed into an art and tasting space. Supplied. When Kim Schofield bought an ageing Waipara vineyard in 2017, she freely admits the decision was not part of a grand winemaking strategy. “People secretly romanticise the idea of owning a vineyard,” she says. “The original idea was that it was an investment, but yes, there was a bit of romance in there too.” What Schofield did not know then was that the prope

Hemp New Zealand business manager Nigel Hosking shows Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour around the Ashburton Hemp facility. Anisha Satya Hemp is not a drug – that was the message Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Regulation David Seymour shared while announcing a reform of growing rules at the Hemp New Zealand Ashburton facility. Industrial hemp will no longer require a licence to grow if the plants contain less than 1% of THC (the cannabis compound). Seymour said the

Farmer and chartered accountant Hamish Irwin was one of three new grower directors appointed to the board. Supplied A new Mid Canterbury face has joined the Foundation for Arable Research’s (FAR) ranks. Farmer and chartered accountant Hamish Irwin was one of three new grower directors appointed to the board. “I’ve had a bit of interest in governance for a while,” he said. “This position came up, I got a call from a local farmer who said he’d nominate me.” Irwin is the fifth g

Open days are a great way to explore and understand what agricultural tertiary pathway to pursue and how to prepare for life at university. Supplied. Many Year 12 and 13 students are beginning to map out their futures - but for those eyeing a career in agriculture, what does preparing for the industry actually look like? According to Tom Maxwell, Senior Lecturer at Lincoln University, the ag sector is hungry for capable, skilled graduates - particularly for roles such as rura

When Springfield engineer Andrew Gillies decided to step back into machinery design, he knew exactly what he wanted to build: a drill tough enough for New Zealand terrain and smart enough to meet the needs of modern farmers. “I used to build drills for another company, and later I hired out agricultural equipment, including seed drills,” Gillies explains. A dealer told Gillies they had lost their agent and asked if he had ever thought about building a drill – and for Gillies,

Farmer David Clark said the overhaul was a "tremendous success" for rural communities and their farmers. Anisha Satya A six year extension on farming consents has ended “a period of uncertainty” for Mid Canterbury farmers. The extensions were revealed as part of the Resource Management Act (RMA) replacement announcement, which saw the Act ditched for two new bills that separately regulate land use and environmental impacts. The expiry date for current consents has been extend

Alan Jones (left) and brother Robert took over the business in 2003 Garlico’s story begins with family Alan Jones and his brother Robert...