Agbrief: NZ Agriculture News

A 'Must-Read' for People in the Primary Industries of New Zealand

If you need to regularly review the agricultural sector in NZ, and don't have hours to spend searching the internet or reading all the magazines (the average farmer gets several freebies a week in the mailbox these days!), then your first port of call should be the long-established and well-respected publication AgBrief.

Publisher Matt Bird is one of New Zealand’s most experienced agricultural journalists and editors, and the key feature of AgBrief is its integrity and reliability as a news source.

AgBrief provides a weekly summary of events in agribusiness, trade, livestock, horticulture, soil, land, water and air, industry and forestry.

It’s published 48 times a year on an old-fashioned subscription basis, and can be delivered as a handy PDF document in your email.

For a few dollars a week I'm happy to let Matt and his team do the leg-work and scour the back paddocks of the internet and other global media for important information about our industry. You know the old story about "I'm writing you a long letter because I don't have time to write a short one..."?

It's published by Inventas Media. Contact agbrief@inventas.co.nz or phone the subs team on (04) 472-9791. Tell him I sent you.

NZ Farming Resources on the Web

www.ruralnetwork.co.nz

Clive Dalton is a regular contributor to RuralNetwork which is aimed at a large community of rural people in New Zealand. It provides relevant news, information, topical opinion and useful advice on various country matters contributed by specialists and community members.

From crop growing tips in our Agriculture section to business know-how from our Agribusiness experts, the Rural Network has everything you’ll need for rural living. Like a trip into town or the sale yards, a regular outing to the Rural Network will help you keep up to date with what’s happening in the community and give you the chance to share your news, views and tips. Think of it like a chat with your mates over a coffee or a beer, only with a much bigger audience. And we’re open 24/7 so you can drop in any time.

The Rural Network is an initiative of Dow AgroSciences, which has been providing New Zealand farmers with cost-effective solutions to pasture and crop production problems for 50 years. It just seemed like a good idea for a new era.

Between us we can connect the country by having everything to do with New Zealand farming and rural life in one easy to get to place.

Rural Network editor, Philippa Stevenson has spent most of a 27-year journalism career reporting agriculture. She has been variously described as the doyenne of agricultural reporting, scurrilous and a Rottweiler - all of which she considers badges of honour.


www.lifestyleblock.co.nz

This website was started by two New Zealand lifestyleblock farmers (Kate Brennan and Kay Oliver) who had been in the IT business. They couldn’t find basic information to help answer their farming questions on the Net, so wrote their own website and asked Clive Dalton to contribute technical information from his wide experience of farming and agricultural science.

It was an instant success and tapped into a massive population of small farmers who also wanted basic information and to share their experiences with their fellow lifestylers.
Success of the site is based around the information being authoritative, well presented, easily accessible and well maintained.

The site continues to grow both in content and popularity, and has grown from an on-line community to an off-line community of friends who meet for field days and rural events. Visitors to the site from all over the world average 2500 per day.