Stories by Cosmo Kentish-Barnes

A backyard initiative is keeping blokes busy in North Canterbury. The Cheviot MenzShed is a tooled-up workshop where men can tinker, talk and share their skills with the local community.

New technology is helping farmers to prevent drench resistance and keep sheep parasite-free.

A pilot using artificial technology to differentiate predators from native birds could be a game-changer for pest control.

People in the small farming community of Staveley in Canterbury are hoping their newly upgraded ice rink can stand up to global warming after locals pitched in to pay for a new refrigeration system.

Georgina Lawson and her husband Willie farm 3000 sheep at Merton in North Otago. Last year, Georgina launched a line of 100 percent woollen coats made from the clip of their farm's Romdale hoggets.

A series of dams to capture stormwater as it runs off the Port Hills are being constructed on farmland near Christchurch. It's the brainchild of Brent and Shirley Rawstron from Rossendale Wines, who…

Every year on Easter Saturday, unwanted bric-a-brac goes under the hammer at a huge Paddy's Market and White Elephant in Akaroa. It's run by the Akaroa and Bays Lions Club, which raises thousands of…

Kaahu Birdling and Jordan Popata are supervisors at Thomas Brothers Orchard in Riwaka. They manage their own teams and are embracing every opportunity to learn about leadership and orchard management.

Every Thursday afternoon, Banks Peninsula farmers head to the beach in Hickory Bay and ride waves to forget about work. Farmer and surfing coach, Kristin Savage, runs the Surfing for Farmers…

A catchment restoration project in the Marlborough Sounds is bringing a farming community together to tackle water quality issues and achieve wider conservation goals

Rick Martin and Nairn Illingworth farm a drove of happy heritage pigs on their small farm in Marlborough's Onamalutu Valley

A large blue truck and trailer unit has become a common sight in the Marlborough Sounds as it's barged to farms to pick up and drop off livestock.

Haysley MacDonald was born and bred on the family farm near Marlborough's Wairau Bar, or Te Pokohiwi. The coastal land, that overlooks Cloudy Bay, is where his ancestors first landed over 800 years…

School students are helping turn quake-damaged red zoned land green again at the Climate Action Campus in Ōtautahi/Christchurch. 

A rural entrepreneur is pasteurising and bottling A2 milk from his families farm and delivering it to people's doors, just like his grandfather did.

The newborn lambs hide amongst gorse to escape the chilly winds and Alistair plants poplar poles on erosion-prone hill country.

An injured hawk rests on Remus Coman's arm. He found it in a ditch on his cattle grazing farm. Hidden under it, an inked wolf forms part of a tattoo that tells stories from his youth in rural Romania.

The cash crops are going in and the last of the trading lambs are heading off at Tim Cookson's farm near Hororata in Canterbury.

Landowners in Karamea aren't beating around the bush when it comes to riparian planting. They're making the most of a local not-for-profit nursery and planting service that grows and eco-sources…

Karamea dairy farmer Peter Langford says he and his wife Debbie are ready to hang up their gumboots. With none of their four children keen on taking over the farm, it's now up for sale - lock, stock…

Christopher and Siobhan O'Malley stand in a paddock with smiles that could melt one of the nearby West Coast glaciers. The couple have finally achieved their long-term goal of farm ownership and now…

Adrian Merhten's hydroponic journey began 20 years ago after being inspired by a local vegetable grower. He was a baker then, but now he's known in Hokitika as "The Lettuce Man".

This year, for the first time in the National Poultry and Pigeon Show's long history, a duck is the Champion of Champions. Willow, a rare Silver Appleyard duck who hales from the South Island town…

Frano Volkman's cows will soon be snuggling up on a thick bed of woodchips and sawdust in their new 6,300m2 composting barn. The organic fertiliser formed underneath Volkman's herd will be spread onto…

Australian food writer-turned-food activist Matthew Evans was in North Canterbury last weekend talking to local growers about what keeps the earth, and us, healthy.