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Andy Macfarlane spent a lot of his life improving relationships and understanding around deer farming. Supplied. Ashburton man Andy Macfarlane was “a bit staggered” when he found out he’d received a New Years Honour. “It was the last thing I was expecting.” Macfarlane was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in the 2026 Honours for his service to the Deer Industry. He and his wife Tricia have been a part of the industry for over 40 years. “We started

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

Mary Blain with her book, “Explore with me Mid Canterbury.” Anisha Satya When Mary Blain’s first son was born, she was given a children’s book about New Plymouth.   “I read that to him, and he wanted to hear it a hundred times, so I came to know all the places in New Plymouth,” she said.   “When I visited, I knew all the places I wanted to go.   “I thought, ‘why don’t we have one here?’.”   That series of events is what led to Blain writing, illustrating and producing “Explor

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