Year in Review: Listen to The Country online - Nadia Lim and Carlos Bagrie talk farming, chickens, and beer

Nadia Lim and Carlos Bagrie of Royalburn Station spoke to The Country's Jamie Mackay.

The Country looks back at some of the biggest and best stories of the past 12 months, including readers’ favourites, news events and those yarns that gave us a glimpse into rural lives and livelihoods across the country.

Originally published August 14.

Today on The Country radio show, host Jamie Mackay catches up with Nadia Lim and Carlos Bagrie of Royalburn Station, to learn more about the good, the bad, and the ugly of farming, ahead of “season 2.5″ of Nadia’s Farm.

On with the show:

Christopher Luxon:

The Prime Minister ponders the OCR announcement this afternoon from the Reserve Bank and we ask if it’s realistic, or too ambitious, for the Government to double export earnings in the next decade.

He then answers a farmer’s question on our “pathetic communication network” when it comes to rural mobile reception and broadband coverage. And finally, are there any risks in overturning the nearly 30-year ban on gene tech outside the lab?

Wayne Langford:

The President of Federated Farmers says yesterday’s gene tech announcement, overturning a 30-year ban, was a positive step forward for New Zealand, and the Feds have been encouraging a national conversation about technologies such as gene editing for a long time now.

Nadia Lim and Carlos Bagrie:

We catch up with a couple of well-known Central Otago farmers who moonlight as a celebrity chef and a Nuffield Scholar, respectively. We look back on the good, the bad, and the downright ugly of Season 2 of Nadia’s Farm.

Dr Jacqueline Rowarth:

One of New Zealand’s leading primary sector academics talks about her latest column on why New Zealand’s economy and environment depend on each other, despite what some headlines say.