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Nathan and Joy Dodd at the Wānaka A&P Show in March. Claire Inkson On a clear Southland day, with Stewart Island visible off the back of the property, Nathan and Joy Dodd’s Glenham farm does what it has always done - just gets on with it. There is no big pitch, no grand claims. Just stock that performs, year in, year out. The Dodds run Glenvale Texel Stud with their son Ted on around 600 hectares of rolling hill country near Wyndham, alongside a self-contained sheep and beef

Tony and Michelle Roberts with Kate Roberts and Mark Lieshout, recognised as Southland Regional Supreme Winners at the Ballance Farm Environment Awards. Tony and Michelle Roberts, alongside daughter Kate and her partner Mark Lieshout, run their Merino Downs farm near Gore as Top Deck Trading, a family operation built on long term thinking, hard decisions and a willingness to adapt. This year, that approach saw them named 2026 Southland Regional Supreme Winners at the Ballance

Kerry Harmer, Paul Harmer and Ben Harmer on Castle Ridge Station, high in the Ashburton Gorge. Supplied. High in the Ashburton Gorge, Castle Ridge Station is the kind of place that doesn’t let you farm on autopilot. Frost can hit in any month. Snow isn’t off the table either. One day can be 30 degrees, the next can slide into a week of bitter cold. For Paul and Kerry Harmer, that reality has shaped a system built around flexibility, practicality, and a constant awareness of t

Mark Ferguson, chief executive of neXtgen Agri, is taking on a 2,000km movement challenge across 2026 to raise funds and awareness for brain cancer research. Supplied. Christchurch-based neXtgen Agri chief executive Mark Ferguson has set himself a significant challenge for 2026 — walking, running or riding 2,000 kilometres over the year to raise funds and awareness for brain cancer research. The challenge, called TwentySix2000, was inspired by the diagnosis of one of his clos

Nicola Johns and Fern at their first New Zealand win in 2021. Supplied. Gundog trialling isn’t a sport that draws crowds or headlines, but it demands the same precision, teamwork and grit as any top-tier competition. To Hurunui’s Nicola Johns, it’s an obsession spanning generations, a sport that has taken her from muddy fields to national titles. Johns, who works as Animal Health Sales Team Leader at North Canterbury Vets, is secretary of the Working Retriever Club and a com

Grant Lightfoot first came up with the for Kiwi Econet idea years ago while working as a commercial diver on offshore oil rigs, spending weeks at a time in a decompression chamber. Supplied. A Southland deer farmer who once hand-knitted his first 50 metres of bale netting is now preparing to take his invention to agricultural events across Europe — and has caught the attention of Prince William along the way. Orepuki farmer Grant Lightfoot, inventor of the edible jute bale ne