Ravensdown partners with Footrot Flats to celebrate Kiwi farming heritage
Ravensdown has announced a collaboration with Kiwi icon, Footrot Flats in an effort to bring humour, heart, and connection to the forefront of the farming sector.
A Te Karaka student has been awarded the Mangatu Blocks and Ravensdown Scholarship, providing three years study at Auckland University.
Roland Taupara Brown completed his secondary schooling at Gisborne Boys High School where in his final year he was named Dux for 2014.
Brown says the scholarship provides him with a unique opportunity to focus on his studies in science and commerce at Auckland University. His Bachelor of Science degree will focus on green chemistry and his Bachelor of Commerce will provide the business disciplines to ensure a balance between environmental and commercial considerations.
“Looking ahead, it’s obvious that we need more efficient and eco-friendly technologies to protect the environment and maintain our competitiveness,” he says.
“Specialist and qualified people who are able to use their knowledge and ingenuity to solve the problems are an essential part of our future. I aim to be one of those people.”
Brown has family connections with the Mangatu Blocks Incorporation, his father Tama is on the committee, his grandfather Michael was the farm supervisor during the 1970s and 1980s and his great grandfather, George was a farm manager for many years.
Brown says he looks forward to contributing to the incorporation in the future.
Mangatu Blocks Incorporation manages ancestral lands inland and to the north of Gisborne and has interests in the agribusiness, viticulture and forestry sectors.
The Mangatu Blocks Incorporation and Ravensdown university scholarship was established in 2012 for Mangatu Blocks shareholders, their children or their grandchildren, to support undergraduate study in an agricultural/ horticultural or related undergraduate degree.
Matt McRae, a farmer from Mokoreta in Southland who runs a sheep, beef and dairy support business alongside a sheep stud, has been elected to the Beef +Lamb NZ Board as a farmer director.
Ravensdown's next evolution in smart farming technology, HawkEye Pro, was awarded the Technology Section Award at the Southern Field Days Farm Innovation Awards in February 2026.
While mariners may recognise a “dog watch” as a two-hour shift on a ship, the Good Dog Work Watch is quite a different concept and the clever creation of Southland siblings Grace (9) and Archer Brown (7), both pupils at Riverton Primary School.
Philip and Lyneyre Hooper of the Hoopman Family Trust have tonight been named the Taranaki Regional Supreme Winners at the Ballance Farm Environment Awards.
We are not a bunch of sky cowboys. That was one of the key messages from the chairperson of the NZ Agricultural Aviation Association (NZAAA) Kent Weir, speaking at an education day at Feilding aerodrome for 25 policymakers and regulators from central and local government and other rural professionals.
New Zealand's dairy and beef industries say they welcome the announcement that the Government will invest $10.49 million in the Dairy Beef Opportunities (DBO) programme.

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