Cuddling cows
OPINION: Years of floods and low food prices have driven a dairy farm in England's northeast to stop milking its cows and instead charge visitors to cuddle them.
Sales growth of liquid milk and yogurt alternatives - especially oat - have not gone unnoticed.
Some global dairy companies, like Danone, are now selling billions of dollars worth of dairy milk alternatives annually.
In New Zealand, the growth has been slow but one company - Otis Oat Milk - has grown into a brand now stocked nationwide.
A freshly-inked deal with Countdown will put Otis, New Zealand's first homegrown oat 'milk' on the shelves at the supermarket giant's stores around the country.
Otis is also encouraging farmers to grow oats and will put 1% of its total sales towards projects that make oats a "viable and exciting farming alternative".
In an ever-changing world, things never stay completely the same. Tropical jungles can turn into concrete ones criss-crossed by motorways, or shining cities collapse into ghost towns.
Labour's agriculture spokesperson Jo Luxton says while New Zealand needs more housing, sacrificing our best farmland to get there is not the answer.
Profitability issues facing arable farmers are the same across the world, says New Zealand's special agricultural trade envoy Hamish Marr.
Over 85% of Fonterra farmer suppliers will be eligible for customer funding up to $1,500 for solutions designed to drive on-farm efficiency gains and reduce emissions intensity.
Tighter beef and lamb production globally have worked to the advantage of NZ, according to the Meat Industry Association (MIA).
Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.