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The CountryWide Podcast

The CountryWide Podcast

Written by: CountryWide Media
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Bringing' you the best of rural New Zealand for nearly 50 years via your mailboxes, now it’s time for our seasonal stories from the magazine to weekly updates straight to your ears.

Proud to celebrate the grit and the smarts it takes to farm as well as good ol' fashioned country culture with The CountryWide Podcast.

Hosts: Sarah Perriam-Lampp - CEO & Editor-in-Chief at CountryWide Media

For more information & to subscribe to CountryWide, visit www.country-wide.co.nz

2026 CountryWide Media Politics & Government
Episodes
  • Episode 71 - What is a fully connected farm?

    Episode 71 - What is a fully connected farm?
    Jul 17 2025
    We improved horsepower by fuelling it with diesel rather than hay. We mechanised blade-shearing and hand-milking with electricity in the woolshed and milking shed. Every advancement in farming history has resulted in a productivity gain from a new source. The next shift is fully connected farms. In this episode, Sarah Perriam-Lampp talks with Melissa Andrews from Connected Farms and Craig Young from TUANZ about bridging rural connectivity gaps. Melissa shares practical on-farm tech solutions, while Craig unpacks the 3G shutdown, fibre limits, and why local, wireless networks are key to keeping farmers connected and future-ready across New Zealand’s rural communities. Guests: Melissa Andrews, Co-Founder, Connected FarmsCraig Young, CEO, TUANZ Host: Sarah Perriam-Lampp, CEO and Editor-in-Chief, Country-Wide Melissa Andrews, co-founder of Connected Farms, shares how a lack of connectivity while visiting family in rural South Canterbury sparked the expansion of their Australian telecommunications business into New Zealand. Originally focused on building infrastructure for emergency services, Melissa and her husband Tom saw first-hand the connectivity gaps farmers faced, and the productivity, safety and wellbeing gains better internet could unlock. She explains how Connected Farms delivers both fixed and mobile solutions, from point-to-point Wi-Fi linking farmyards and wool sheds, to vehicle-mounted routers that dynamically switch between cellular and satellite networks like Starlink. These tools are helping farmers operate more efficiently, access real-time data, and stay connected, whether it’s live streaming grain quality from a combine, video calling a mechanic, or reading bedtime stories from the cab. Melissa discusses the unique challenges of New Zealand’s telecommunications landscape, including patchy network coverage and limited appetite from major carriers to invest in rural areas. She highlights how Connected Farms is bridging that gap with scalable, secure infrastructure that makes a fully connected farm achievable, often at a lower cost than expected. Whether it’s enabling faster pregnancy scan results, remote monitoring, or simply improving mental health through everyday connection, Melissa believes rural connectivity is no longer a luxury, but a lifeline for modern farming. Craig Young, CEO of the Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand (TUANZ), joins the conversation to unpack the realities behind rural connectivity in Aotearoa. With deep industry experience, including his time at Chorus, Craig explains why headlines promising 100% coverage often mislead. While some areas may soon support basic mobile or emergency calling, full internet connectivity across rural landscapes is still a work in progress, especially when it comes to enabling connected farms. He compares cellular strength and satellite latency to water pressure, something farmers instinctively understand, and explains how low-earth orbit satellites like Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper are reducing delays and improving performance. But while these tools are transformative for home offices and basic farm connectivity, challenges remain for in-paddock devices, especially as 3G networks shut down and the copper landline network is phased out by 2030. Craig urges farmers to future-proof their technology and check whether their devices are 4G-compatible using a simple text tool (text ‘3G’ to 550). He highlights the need to support elderly or isolated neighbours who may rely on legacy services, and emphasises that connectivity must be treated as an essential utility, on par with water or electricity, requiring collaborative investment from government, telcos and rural communities alike. With fibre reaching its economic limits in many regions, Craig points to wireless ISPs (WISPs) and community-led broadband projects as affordable, scalable solutions. He explains how innovative co-funding models with providers like Chorus are helping rural groups bridge the “last mile” and why government policies, such as releasing unused spectrum, could unlock faster, more resilient internet in rural Aotearoa. For Craig, the answer lies not in one-size-fits-all fixes, but in a diverse toolkit of technologies, partnerships and local leadership, ensuring no rural community is left behind. Read the article from the Country-Wide Winter issue here. Subscribe to Country-Wide magazine for $89/year for four seasonal magazines including free postage annually: https://country-wide.co.nz/shop/ SUBSCRIBE TO THE COUNTRY-WIDE WEEKLY EMAILSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    56 mins
  • Episode 59 - How the Government can support catchment-level solutions

    Episode 59 - How the Government can support catchment-level solutions
    Mar 13 2025

    In this episode, Sarah delves into an in-depth discussion with Geoff Simmons, Chief Economist for the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. The conversation focuses on the report Going with the Grain: Changing Land Uses to Fit a Changing Landscape, which was published in May 2024. Geoff highlights the importance of adopting a catchment-level approach to land use changes, moving beyond a one-size-fits-all national regulation.

    Guest:

    1. Geoff Simmons, Chief Economist of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment

    Host:

    - Sarah Perriam-Lampp, CEO and Editor-in-Chief, Country-Wide

    Geoff Simmons, Chief Economist at the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, discusses the challenges and opportunities of changing land use in response to environmental pressures. With expertise in economic and environmental policy, the conversation explores how New Zealand can balance economic growth with sustainability in the face of climate change, biodiversity loss, and evolving farming practices. The discussion highlights innovative solutions such as regenerative agriculture, native forest restoration, and carbon farming, as well as the role of science-driven decision-making in shaping land-use policies. Geoff also examines the complexities of aligning government regulations, business interests, and community needs to create a more resilient future. The conversation touches on the importance of long-term strategies to ensure that land use changes support both productivity and ecological health, while emphasising the need for collaboration among policymakers, industry leaders, and local communities to drive sustainable progress in New Zealand’s landscapes.

    Subscribe to Country-Wide magazine for $79/year for four seasonal magazines including free postage annually: https://country-wide.co.nz/shop/

    SUBSCRIBE TO THE COUNTRY-WIDE WEEKLY EMAIL

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show More Show Less
    30 mins
  • Episode 55 - Lifting our game from woolshed to shop

    Episode 55 - Lifting our game from woolshed to shop
    Feb 6 2025

    The hot topic at the moment is New Zealand’s wool quality challenges to position both merino and strong wool with a positive future. Following our release of the annual Merino Review magazine, Sarah Perriam-Lampp discusses merino clip tenderness and improvements through farmer education, the rise of female wool classers and wool research’s renewed mission to return better value to farmers.

    Guests include:

    1. Craig Smith, New Zealand general manager, Devold
    2. Emma O’Sullivan, Marlborough merino farmer and wool classer
    3. Andrew Morrison, Chairman, WRONZ

    Hosts:

    - Rebecca Greaves, Editor, Country-Wide

    - Sarah Perriam-Lampp, Managing Director, Country-Wide

    The 2024/25 season for merino growers has seen wool tenderness issues following a tough season. Craig “Smithy” Smith, General Manager of Devold, explains the importance of understanding wool metrics beyond micron, the role of genetics and nutrition in wool strength, and how Devold’s Sheep to Shop program ensures full traceability from farm to finished garment. He also introduces a new education initiative, ‘Sheep to Shop’ aimed at bridging the knowledge gap for the next generation of wool producers.

    Emma O'Sullivan, shares her passion for wool as a qualified wool classer and tutor as well as farming the Saxon merinos at her intergenerational family’s farming operation, Waihopai Downs in Marlborough.

    With the challenges facing the wool industry, Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand (WRONZ) has a new chairman, Andrew Morrison who is focused on the need for collaboration across the sector to drive profitability, reduce fragmentation, and ensure wool’s value is captured beyond the farm gate. He shares insights into WRONZ’s focus on post-harvest research and commercialization, highlighting a shift towards finding new uses for strong wool, such as deconstructing fibers into particles, powders, and pigments. Andrew also touches on sustainability, market positioning, and the importance of long-term research investment to secure the future of New Zealand’s wool industry.

    • Read the latest issue of the Merino Review here

    Subscribe to Country-Wide magazine for $79/year for four seasonal magazines including free postage annually: https://country-wide.co.nz/shop/

    SUBSCRIBE TO THE COUNTRY-WIDE WEEKLY EMAIL

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show More Show Less
    57 mins
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