Country Life

Sally Round chats to Otago farmer Becks Smith about her ventures, and Braden Crosby of the Bragato Institute. Anisha Satya eats deep-friend locusts, and Mark Leishman checks out the drones fighting wilding pines in South Canterbury.

In this episode:
0:48 - Rural news wrap
6:06 - Becks Smith
13:34 - Lunching on locusts
25.:3 - Braden Crosby of the Bragato Institute
32:12 - Drilling down into drones
With thanks to:
Becks Smith
Malcolm Diack
Braden Crosby
Rowland Sommer
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Mark Leishman heads to a South Canterbury farm to join a drone pilot extinguishing weeds and finds out about the potential of the technology on farm.
With thanks to:
Rowland Sommer
SPS Automation
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

French grape growers are being paid to pull out vines in order to rebalance supply and demand, while those in Australia have taken out millions and turned to other crops. In New Zealand, with our Sauvignon Blanc still in demand, growers are being offered a tool to help them decide whether to mothball vines until the market improves. Braden Crosby of the Marlborough-based Bragato Institute explains.

You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.
With thanks to:
Braden Crosby
To find the mothballing decision-making tool, go to bri.co.nz
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Anisha eats locusts at a food-grade insect farm in Dunedin.

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Otago farmer, vet and entrepreneur Becks Smith has many jobs. You might find her on a roof installing solar panels, scanning ewes in the yard or sitting in front of a microphone for her podcast about sustainability in farming. She is Country Life's guest this week.

With thanks to:
Becks Smith
Make sure you’re following Country Life 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 our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.
Send us your feedback or get in touch at country@rnz.co.nz
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details