Before snow hits Keep an eye on climate predictions and talk to your neighbours. Plan how you will deal with no power (no electric fences, pumps, milking, refrigeration, hot water, cook or heating). If necessary, source a generator. Stockpile what you might need for home and farm to minimise travel: Surplus feed Generators Food and alternative means of cooking and heating...

It’s a long way from negotiating with hostage-takers to touring rural New Zealand, but that’s where Lance Burdett’s career path has gone so far. He’s about to embark on a tour of rural South Island thanks to a series of talks put together by New Zealand’s local Rural Support Trusts and the Ministry for Primary Industries. Founder of Warn International, Lance...

https://www.facebook.com/centraltaranakisafecommunitytrust/videos/2296467993701776/ John Shackleton events in Stratford yesterday encouraged the audience to consider mindfulness (it's not scary) and breathing meditations to enable thoughts to be current and now. Our wiring needs to be changed so we stop thinking about things we have NO CONTROL over such as guilt over past events or...

Farmers and growers in very dry regions around the country are urged to make plans to get through a summer that has turned hot and dry sooner than usual. Minister for Agriculture and Rural Communities Damien O’Connor said today that the latest information from NIWA and industry bodies makes it clear that while farmers are generally coping through this early dry spell, rain over the...

The NIWA drought index measures dry conditions across the country. Their hotspot watch helps identify areas that are getting dry each week. Like all adverse events, a drought is classified as either localised, medium-scale or large-scale. What farmers need to do now Don’t hold out for rain as a reason to delay any decisions you need to make. Make plans and decisions in light of...