This week Country Life dives underground to take a closer look at soils, from Canterbury farmers using the Japanese Bokashi system to a market gardener making garden beds as rich as chocolate cake in Taranaki. We also unpack the recently announced biodiversity credits.

You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.

In this episode:

• 0:48 - Rural News Wrap
• 5:52 - Dollars for nature - a look at biodiversity credits
• 17:51 - Bokashi by the Tonne - Farmers turns waste into natural fertiliser
• 31:30 - Roebuck Farm: Where the garden beds are rich 'like chocolate cake'

With thanks to guests:

• Sean Weaver, Ekos
• Hayden Johnston
• Tim Hawke and Murray Weaver
• Jodi Roebuck, Roebuck Farm

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Over the past 20 years, Jodi Roebuck and his wife Tanya have turned a bare paddock into a thriving market garden with an emphasis on microgreens, teachers others from around the world how to do the same.

You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.

You can learn more about Roebuck Farm, here.

In this episode:

• 0:19 - Roebuck Farm
• 3:26 - Cover crops
• 7:04 - Microgreens
• 14:19 - Wash and pack

With thanks to:

• Jodi Roebuck

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Bokashi, the Japanese anaerobic composting system which ferments organic matter, is helping to maintain healthy soils on a sheep and dairy grazing farm in North Canterbury.

You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.

With thanks to:

• Tim Hawke and Murray Weaver
  

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A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.

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News that the government is looking to support a market system to help fund the huge cost of restoring nature could be music to the ears of farmers and iwi wanting to do their bit for biodiversity but facing huge costs. So what are biodiversity credits and how do they work?

You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.

With thanks to:

• Sean Weaver, EKOS
• Hayden Johnston, Ministry for the Environment

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

This week Country Life celebrates Matariki with stories about Māori horticultural wisdom and a couple setting up star gazing experiences on their farm.

You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.

In this episode:

• 0:48 - Rural News Wrap
• 6:02 - Nick Roskruge - digging into indigenous knowledge
• 14:05 - 'We can grow anything here': A family's growing experiment
• 28:36 - Stars, soil and whakapapa - 'We're just caretakers really'

With thanks to guests:

• Nick Roskruge
• The McClutchie whānau
• Mark and Susannah Guscott, Glen Eden Farms

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This Matariki, the stars align for Mark and Susannah Guscott - award winners bringing whakapapa and astronomy together on their sixth-generation Wairarapa farm.

You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.

You can learn more about Glen Eden Farms, here. You can also learn more about their Star Safari, here.

And for Whitimanuka Retreat, see here.

In this episode:

• 0:50 - Roots that run deep
• 5:13 - Changing land uses
• 7:27 - Whitimanuka
• 11:40 - Sheep and beef
• 18:09 - Star Safari

With thanks to:

• Mark and Susannah Guscott

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 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

The McClutchie whānau explores growing different crops, with aspirations to grow Māori medicinal plants, on their family whenua in North Taranaki.

You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.

You can learn more about Venture Taranaki's Branching Out, here. Or by listening to this interview with Michelle Bauer here.

With thanks to:

• Rawiri McClutchie, Davis McClutchie, Richard McClutchie, and Anne-Maree McKay
  

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details