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A weekly programme of issues and stories of particular concern to the rural community, and also of interest to a general audience. The programme broadcasts on Friday night after the 9pm news and is repeated on Saturday morning after the 7am news. In this programme:
1. Intro and Guest:
Waimate based general practitioner, Dr Sarah Creegan.
2. Regional Wrap:
Northland and the East Coast received rain they didn't need, Horowhenua and Bay of Plenty didn't get rain they needed, otherwise most other North Island regions received welcome moisture, while the South's had had another dry settled week.
3. New Zealand Agriculture: An Economic Perspective:
Professor Jacqueline Rowarth is co-author of New Zealand Agriculture: An Economic Perspective.
4. Albie's Electric Car:
Albie Burgers is a farmer, environmentalist and inventor who lives with his wife Felicity on a bushy 120 acre property near the Kahurangi National Park in Kotinga, where they grow cows, sheep and trees.
Over the years he's been involved in many alternative energy projects, the latest of which is "Li'l Blue" a 1988 Daihatsu Charade that's been converted to electric.
Albie says “the electric motor came from an fork lift machine and is controlled by a computer that determines how much energy is put into the motor depending on how far you’ve put your foot on the throttle”
The car’s lead acid batteries are being replaced with 24 lithium batteries that will increase its range from 25 to 100 kilometres and now Albie plans to attach solar panels to the car.
“You could put a solar panel on the roof rack and we will build a light aluminum trailer with room for two more solar panels and that will give us 900 watts so the car could drive on purely solar power!”
5. Taupo Beef:
Mike and Sharon Barton farm two kilometres from the shores of Lake Taupo. Like many in region they’ve had to adjust to farming under strict environmental rules which means, unlike most farmers, they can’t cover rising costs simply by intensifying production.
Rather than being daunted by the legislation, they’ve embraced it and increased the value of what they farm, changing from running breeding cows, to having charolais angus cross cattle which produce tender, well-marbled meat.
Taupo Beef is sold directly to a local butcher who sells it in his retail shop as well as to top end Taupo restaurants like Huka Lodge and the Hilton.
Mike says before they developed the Taupo Beef brand, he spoke to many chefs and the one thing they all said let down New Zealand producers was consistency.
“The chefs didn’t care if the beef was 90% of perfect, as long as it was 90% all the time. Not 100% one week and 50% the next.”
Taupo’s M21 butcher Jake Lewis says the beef is well aged, giving it fantastic flavour, and customers love it. They’re prepared to pay a premium to get the quality.
Hilton hotel chef Jason Lewis agrees. “We did a comparison with another beef product. We set the price of the Taupo Beef dish slightly higher but the overwhelming response was that the Taupo Beef was superior so we’ve just gone for it in the restaurant.“
The Bartons also won this year’s Waikato Ballance Farm Environment Supreme Award, and Mike was awarded a Queen’s Service Medal in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours, for his services to farming and the environment.