Country Life
The Country Life team take you all over the motu to hear the extraordinary stories of every day rural New Zealand.
Episodes
Gianina Schwanecke is talking bulls at a bull sale on the East Coast. Tangihau Angus stud is famous for setting the nation’s top prices. Can it do it again this year? Sally Round is at a coffee tree orchard in the Far North whose trailblazing owner Rob Schluter is on a new path to focus on the mystique of coffee and Anisha Satya sits down for a yarn on the farm with Bill Deans whose family farm in Canterbury is home to the ra...
Ikarus coffee has been a trailblazer growing coffee in NZ. Fourteen years after the first successful seedlings went in, Rob Schluter has doubled the number of coffee trees on his steep farm above Doubtless Bay, and there's a new venture brewing to bring the magic of coffee to life from farm to cup.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Rob Schluter, Marie-Elodie ...
For the past two years Tangihau Angus had set the top price for the breed and all bulls - breaking two national records. Gianina Schwanecke returned to see how they'd fare this year.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
You can catch our previous story on Tangihau Angus, here.
Or learn more from them directly, here.
With thanks to:
- Paul Hickman, Phil Shea, Dave Martin, Sarah Husse...
Bill Deans shares how planting waterways on his family's farm have provided a home for New Zealand's second-rarest native fish.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Bill Deans
A wrap of conditions on farms and orchards around the country for the month of June
Country Life heads to Gore for the Tussock Country Music festival, visits a woollen mill in the heart of a remote hill country station whose farmer has fulfilled her dream of creating a hub for wool, and Nuffield scholar Lisa Portas chats about the potential for New Zealand farmers to increase the value of the fibre.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:00 - W...
Anisha visits Gore for a slice of the Tussock Country Music Festival - boots, utes, mullets and all!
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Annabel Roy, Jaydin Shingleton, The Rusty Pickups, Sandra Campbell, and Laura Koot
Taking the wool off the sheep's back and turning it into yarn within a few paces of the shearing shed has been a dream come true for a North Island sheep farmer. Patrizia Vieno has built a mini mill on her hill country station near Tinui.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Mel Kiernan and Patrizia Vieno
A wrap of the week's news from RNZ's rural news team.
You can find more from RNZ's rural news team, here.
Wairarapa-based Nuffield Scholar Lisa Portas recently wrapped up her research looking into why New Zealand's strong-wool sector struggles to capture value despite producing a sustainable fibre.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
You can find her Nuffield Scholar report, here.
With thanks to:
- Lisa Portas
This week Country Life heads to a basketball game to celebrate rural migrants, checks out the new tech at Fieldays and follows the journey of urban food scraps to a banana farm.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
In this episode:
- 0:00 - Rural News Wrap
- 8:41 - Galvbike: E-bike makers riding agritech wave at Fieldays
- 16:43 - Migrants give back to their communities
- 28:12 - From the...
Food scraps from retirement villages and schools are heping to nourish a banana orchard and other farms via the City to Farm project, which aims to keep organic waste out of landfill and help curb climate change. This story was first broadcast in July 2025.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Betsy Kettle, Phil Grainger, Jenny Grainger, Nick Wotton, Dylan Hatt,...
Anisha learns how the rural Filipino migrant community has grown in the last 20 years - and watches some basketball.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Guillermo and Christina Tolentino, Kristine Asuncion, Aline Ciron, Vincent Travasas and Edwin Patulin
Anthony Clyde, considered the godfather of e-bikes in New Zealand, has created a new electric farmbike that's proving a hit at Fieldays, the Galvbike.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
You can learn more about Galvbike, here.
With thanks to:
- Anthony Clyde
A wrap of the week's news from RNZ's rural news team.
You can find more from RNZ's rural news team, here.
Follow along over the next few months as Gianina Schwanecke turns her backyard into a food garden in the name of resiliency.
You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
- Hannah Zwartz
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join...
Country Life digs into the art of growing your own food and dips into the archives to to visit one of the country's longest running alternative communities.
Rainbow Valley in Golden Bay is one of New Zealand's longest running alternative communities. Country Life paid the community a visit last year as it turned 50 years old.
You can find photos and read more about this story here.
With thanks to:
- The Rainbow Valley community
Guillermo and Christina Tolentino share the joys and challenges of migrating to rural New Zealand.
With thanks to:
- Guillermo Tolentino
- Christina Tolentino
Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.
Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about ou...
A wrap of the week's news from RNZ's rural news team.
You can find more from RNZ's rural news team, here.
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