The Whole Story

Today on the podcast I chat to Alex de Boer from The Electric Motor Vehicle Company from the deep south of Invercargill. Alex has a varied history from farming to engineering, building to finance and is now a key part of the entrepreneurial innovation behind the electrification of farm machinery in Aotearoa NZ.

For context in this podcast, since catching up with Mike Casey in Season One, I have since gone to to start up another...

Today on the podcast I catch up with Abi Croutear-Foy and Ebi Hussain from AquaWatch. Abi is the Managing Director coming from an international financial services background and Ebi is the Chief Science Officer coming with a background in water quality science and ecology.  Both are passionate about freshwater and also about using the facts that water can tell us to empower people to make changes that matter. 

AquaWatch, which b...

Today on the podcast we take a dive into the economics of pathways into farming with Seb Chapman founder of Seedling Investments. Some of you might already know Seb from being heavily involved in Future Farmers NZ and the founder of Fruitminder.  Seb has a unique blend of agricultural roots and an interest in cutting-edge technology, which drives him with a vision to revolutionise agricultural problems through smart solutions.

S...

Today on the podcast I am joined by Shaun Forgie from Dung Beetle Innovations. Shaun is a self-professed insect geek, a man with an endless amount of passion the mighty dung beetle but who spends most of his days talking sh*t and shovelling sh*t to feed his millions of resident dung beetles at their breeding site north of Auckland.

This conversation covers what Dung Beetles are, what they do, their importance in the ecosystem -...

Today on the podcast we have a special treat; we have not one, but two guests from the Resolution - the farming app team! Paul Ruddenklau: co-founder and director and Emma Smith: Agritech collaborator and support lead are together in the office joining me for this convo

Take a listen as we dive into probably a bit of the unheard background of these two epic humans and the app’s journey to where it is today. We also dig into the nut...

Today on the podcast I am joined by Pete Oswald. Pete grew up on a high country farm in the Awatere valley in Marlborough, he got into cutting down trees young to fund his highly addictive, big mountain, free-skiing habit. Skiing then turned into a professional career which has taken him all over the world and he shifted out of competing into brand partnerships where he made content for some of the big global names like Icebreaker....

In this episode I catch up with Sam the Trap Man about pest control and biodiversity. Sam insists he is “just a bush man” but there is no “just” about it, a bushman, a hunter, a father, an author, a connector, a catchment group coordinator, humble public speaker and a man pretty fond of getting a good feed in his puku Sam is a storyteller and educator bringing biodiversity conservation into our farming systems.

Not only do we di...

In this episode I am joined by Mavis Mullins. Mavis has a long history in agribusiness. She is a mother of four and a grandmother to 14, and she is a fifth generation farmer, as well as alongside her husband Koro and wider whānau running and being actively involved at every level of the family shearing business over the last 30 plus years. In 2002 she was made a New Zealand Order of Merit. She has won the Rural category at the West...

In this episode Becks sits down with Gerard Vaughan from Farmstrong. Gerard is Farmstrong’s programme director and he helped design and establish the programme in 2015 . He now oversees its research and education initiatives and is passionate about turning the science of wellbeing into practical tools and resources for busy farmers.

Farmstrong is a nationwide wellbeing programme for the rural community with the aim of supporting...

In the episode Becks sits down with Amanda Hasselman from Temple Peak Station, a Toitū Certified Carbon Zero Sheep and Beef farm at the head of the Wakatipu Valley. As well as farming alongside her husband Mark, Amanda has been a trustee on the Routeburn Dart Wildlife Trust for 10 years since its inception, and is part of the Southern Lakes Sanctuary and within both roles is deeply passionate about predator management for the resto...

In this episode Becks is joined by Alexis Wadworth, Alexis is farming with her husband Nick and 2 year old daughter Addison down at Bare Hill Farming in Central Southland. Bare Hill is a sheep and beef property running almost 8000 stock units with a significant portion of ineffective land area. In all her spare time Alexis is also Chairwoman of the Makarewa Headwaters Catchment Group.

With farming heritage and a banking backgr...

The employer and job title my have changed since this episode was released but the incredible insights, enthusiasm, inspiration and relevance that this woman provides in this podcast most certainly have not!

She has just done the West Coast Recharge Tour with B+LNZ and it has definitely left a few of us feeling a need for our Julia fix! So here it is!

We are on a two-week break with Season Two of the podcast (as Becks ha...

Take a listen to a throwback episode to the FIRST ever episode of The Whole Story Podcast.

We are on a two-week break with Season Two of the podcast (as Becks has finally got off-farm for a holiday) but it's a timely reminder of what the UN Sustainable Development Goals are and how we can weave these into Agriculture!

Take a listen if you havent already, or if you just want a reminder, and we look forward to bringin...

In this episode Becks is joined by Nick Gill. Nick is the General Manager at NZ's first organic, regenerative, CarbonZero winery, Greystone Wines, and the other half of the powerhouse duo running The Food Farm alongside his wife Angela Clifford. 

The Food Farm is their Tūrangawaewae, their place to stand, a place where they connect with the earth and organically grow annual and perennial vegetables, berries and tree crops....

In this episode Becks is joined by John Hollows the Aquaculture Manager from Ernslaw One. Now most people from around our parts know Ernslaw One  as a forestry company, so what are they doing with an aquaculture manager? Well John is farming kōura, or freshwater crayfish, in areas of forestry that would traditionally be non-productive in the business. These kōura are marketed locally to restaurants within Central Otago under the KE...

In this episode Becks gets the chance to sit down with Ben Anderson, from the Central Hawkes Bay. An ex-Army Officer with a Risk Management background who grew up on a Sheep and Beef property, Ben is currently a Velvet Producer, Tree Farmer and Dairy Farmer but going through farm systems change as we speak!

Ben is a Nuffield Scholar and his report was titled "The Green and the Black of it - Economic and Environmental Sus...

In this episode Becks has the pleasure of reconnecting with Thomas MacDonald, Chief Operating Officer of Spring Sheep Milk Co - a sheep milk nutrition company taking the goodness of New Zealand sheep milk to the world. Spring Sheep Milk Co. is supplied by milk from around 20,000 milking sheep across the North Island. 

Thomas MacDonald is a third-generation dairy farmer from Gordonton, Waikato, who has found a unique space with...

In this episode Becks catches up with Lance Gillespie from Pastured Poultry in the Manawatu. Lance has a background in dairy farming but has been on a journey discovering biological farming practices, soil health and the opportunity for integrating chickens into a livestock farming system. 

Lance is now basically full time importing, selling, assembling and distributing chicken trailers to large-scale farmers and small block h...

In this episode Becks catches up with Jo Hay, who alongside her husband Ross and their 3 kids farms Sheep & Beef in North Otago.

Jo wears many hats in the agricultural sector including Director on the North Otago Irrigation Company, Beef+LambNZ Central South Island Farmer Councillor, Steering Committee member for North Otago Sustainable Land Management (NOSLaM) and most recently donning the hat of Director on the board of Meat...