Environmental columnist Sam Judd checks out a new way for farmers to make money that will actually benefit the environment.

The allure of a high share price is proving too much for a growing number of Fonterra's farmers, with more choosing to sell up and move to competing cooperatives and dairy companies, says Fonterra's director of milk supply, Steve Murphy.

Farmer David Hunt has spoken out about his battle with mental illness in a bid to raise awareness of the warning signs for depression in rural communities.

Chinese billionaire Jiang Zhaobai, who now owns the Crafar dairy farming empire, is back in New Zealand forging a relationship with Maori.

Primary industries generate over 70 per cent of New Zealand's merchandise exports.

Maori-controlled, with a Vietnamese connection, one of the country's newest dairy companies does things a little bit differently from the big boys, discovers Jamie Gray.

Join us at noon today for a live chat with Federated Farmers president Bruce Wills. You can send in your questions now.

New data out shortly could show if the severe drought is having an effect on farm sales but one expert believes farmers' general spending will be hit harder than volumes or prices of property deals.

Led by dairy products, prices for export commodities surged last month - and this time the rise in world prices was not eaten up by a higher exchange rate.

Farmers throughout the North Island continue to hope for rain as the big dry bites hard, making conditions for some worse than the 2008 drought.

Two professional weather forecasters got close to predicting the record hot, dry summer, but a "motivational astrologer" was adrift.

Slaughterman Kent Sambells' workload was "hectic" last week as Waikato farmers called him in to destroy ailing cattle and take them away for processing into pet food.

Sheep and beef farm profits are predicted to halve this season, as the full impact of current lamb prices and drought kick in, Beef and Lamb New Zealand says.

After two long days without a single silly photo on his Latin American trade tour, Prime Minister John Key has broken the drought by donning a vueltiao.

An important fertiliser aid has been culled from farmers' chemical shopping lists after it turned up in milk products destined for human consumption.

A trial involving five parties linked to the running of Crafar Farms who face hundreds of charges between them of animal abuse has been postponed.