It’s been a big year for The Whole Story Blog! A huge thanks needs to go to the Tindall Foundation for their support of the blog in 2025, and for the support that will continue into 2026. Bringing these blog posts to you each week would not be possible without their support and we are hugely grateful that their support allows us to bring content to you each week.
Looking back on the year that’s been, I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved with the blog and the content we have created for anyone interested in agriculture, science and sustainability. We have covered a broad range of topics and we can’t wait to continue on creating content for you in 2026.
A big thanks must also go to you, our readers. We love creating content for you each week and providing a way for you to have access to a range of agriculture, science and sustainability information that you may not have otherwise had the opportunity to read about. Your support is greatly appreciated and we can’t wait to continue on the journey with you in the new year.
My favourite Blog Posts this year
Standard vs diverse: lamb liveweight gain on 5-year-old pastures
This blog looked at a study by Maxwell et al. (2023) which investigated the liveweight gain of lambs grazing five-year-old pasture of either diverse pasture of Italian ryegrass, red clover and plantain, or standard pasture of perennial ryegrass and white clover.
The study found that there was no statistically significant difference in lamb liveweight at tailing between lambs on diverse and standard pasture. However, during the six-week period between tailing and weaning , there was a 23% higher liveweight gain for the lambs on the diverse pasture compared to that of the standard pasture.
The average weaning liveweight of lambs on diverse pasture was 19% higher than that of lambs from the standard pasture. Lambs on the diverse pasture had an average weaning liveweight of 28.5 kg/lamb compared to standard pasture of 24 kg/lamb.
There was no significant difference in the liveweight gain between lambs on the two pasture types post-weaning. Despite this, the higher liveweight for the lambs on diverse pasture from pre-weaning was maintained and resulted in an average final liveweight that was 9.6% higher for lambs on diverse pasture compared to standard pasture.
You can read more of this blog here.
Conserving native vegetation in New Zealand: the significance of sheep and beef farms
- Approximately 25% of New Zealand’s remaining native vegetation occurs on sheep and beef farms, accounting for approximately 2.8 million hectares of land. This is second only to that of public conservation land which accounts for approximately 62%, or 7.1 million hectares of land.
- The way that native vegetation is distributed differs between public conservation land, and sheep and beef farms.
- Areas where native vegetation remains on sheep and beef farms is often climatically and environmentally different to that of public conservation land.
- ‘Sheep and beef farms have the potential to contribute substantially to biodiversity conservation in New Zealand , both in terms of overall area of native vegetation, but also because vegetation on these farms occurs in areas that have otherwise been heavily cleared’.
What are your five for 2025?
This blog post kicked our year off with a focus on the Sustainable Development Goals and where we wanted to set our intentions for our 2025 sustainability focus.
Based off a framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this blog sought to challenge and encourage people to prioritise Sustainable Development Goals for the year ahead by choosing five that resonated most with them. By choosing focus SDG’s and areas of focus within those goals, it set people up for an intentional approach to sustainability in 2025.
One of my favourite parts of this blog is the insights into the five SDG’s that Becks, Amy, and myself chose to focus on for 2025 and why, as well as the impact we hoped to have. I’m looking forward to doing a similar intention exercise in 2026 and strongly encourage you to join me with a focused approach to sustainability in 2026.
You can read more of this blog here.
My favourite reports that I've read this year
Thriving Southland – Supporting catchment mitigation strategies
This report was one that included an absolute wealth of insight and knowledge from the learnings of Thriving Southland as to what makes a catchment group successful. The work of Thriving Southland has been trailblazing in the catchment group space, so having the opportunity to learn from the insights from their work has been something that is greatly beneficial to many around the country who are involved with catchment groups.
How did the catchment groups in this study achieve success?
- They were driven from the ground up
- They were built on credible science
- They had the right people in the right roles
- They made space for the things that can be overlooked
- They were backed by the support and resources they needed
- They don’t shy away from tough challenges
You can read more about this research on our blog post here.
Food and Fibre CoVE – Supporting Rural Women into the Food and Fibre Workforce
59,000 rural women are married to, or in a de facto relationship with, someone working in the food and fibre sector. Of these women, 15,200 are either not employed, or are employed casually/part time in the food and fibre sector. This research really highlighted that there is a great portion of rural women who want to work, and who are very talented, skilled and experienced. The report emphasised that there is a need to value and support rural women into the workforce, as well as reduce the barriers that they face. The barriers that rural women face are significant and broad, so there needs to be an emphasis on reducing these, as well as providing opportunities. Anything we do to try and make progress in this space needs to also be underpinned by constant challenging of the perceptions and treatment of women in the sector. Providing opportunities is great, but it will not reap the desired rewards if the environments in which these women will work in are not sustainable or built for them to thrive.
You can read more about this research on our blog post here.
Kylie Brewer – Do extension practices in New Zealand cater for farmers with dyslexia?
Kylie Brewer wrote this report in 2019 for her Kellogg’s Rural Leadership Programme and it is a report that really challenges us to look at things differently and act in a way that is inclusive for all. This topic is so important and really thought provoking as to how we approach extension and ensuring that people are able to engage, learn, and take away the benefits that extension brings the agricultural sector. This research challenged me to think deeper about whether we have been leaving people behind and creating barriers to engagement that have been disguised as thinking that people don’t want to engage. It also challenged me to think about whether we are having conversations in the rural profession about how we support farmers with dyslexia or other challenges that may impact extension or consultancy outcomes.
You can read more about this research on our blog post here.
And that's a wrap!