Stockwhips & Lattes

This week on Stockwhips and Lattes we chat with Brian Clayton, one of the three brothers who own and operate Clayton Hops, New Zealand's largest hop-growing company. Brian, Glen, and Andrew Clayton grew up on a farm on the West Coast of the South Island and all traveled overseas to pursue corporate careers before coming home to NZ to get into the hops industry. Today Clayton Hops is a proud family-run business with the brother's better halves Sarah, Sara, and Rebecca also working on the farms and keeping the boys in line. 

This week on Stockwhips and Lattes we get Hilary Webber back on the show to discuss Eqalis a vertically integrated medicinal cannabis business based in the Bay of Plenty. We all know that medicinal cannabis is now legal in New Zealand, but the industry is still fraught with obstacles and challenges which Hilary discusses with us.  Hilary describes Eqalis as an agritech business and says that the medicinal cannabis industry in New Zealand has the potential to be as big as dairy. So the questions must be asked, why is the government not backing the research and development in this industry and why is it still so hard to get a prescription for medicinal cannabis? 

This week on Stockwhips and Lattes we chat to Hilary Webber, dairy farm owner and Chairperson of Eqalis, a vertically integrated medicinal cannabis business. Hilary's journey is hard-fought and fraught with obstacles. Hilary was a townie from Cambridge working as a nurse when she meet and then married a dairy farmer. From breastfeeding her kids in the milking shed to becoming the first woman elected on the NZ Dairy Board, Hilary has had an impressive governance career that was kickstarted initially through family tragedy.  Hilary then ditched the corporate roles for a while, put the gummies back on, project managed a series of farm conversions, and worked hard running several farms that she and her husband owned. Then tragedy struck again and Hilary shifted her focus into a governance role that she is very passionate about. 

This week on Stockwhips and Lattes we chat with Jono Frew, co-founder of Quorum Sense, a network of farmers sharing knowledge about regenerative systems. Jono hasn't always been so clean and green and his journey from agrichemical operator to regenerative farm warrior is an interesting one.  Jono has regrets, but he has turned those regrets into lessons and shares them all with us. Also, his answer to our final question about what he would like to change in the rural industry is a goody, so this is one episode you do not want to miss. 

This week on Stockwhips and Lattes Laura and Macca bravely step foot into the unknown Web 3 world and discuss things like blockchains, NFT communities, cryptocurrency, and one rural lad's journey into all of it. Ben grew up farming, studied marketing and business and when he started traveling overseas he began researching ways to make money online.  He now applies traditional marketing methodologies to a very non-traditional industry and right now is promoting a very unique online whiskey distillery which Laura becomes fascinated with!

This week on Stockwhips and Lattes we interview Maccas mate Brendan Webby from the mighty Waikato. Brendan shares his story of climbing the ladder from dairy factory worker after being kicked out of school, to farm ownership.  He says that there was a bit of luck and timing involved, but as we say, there is no such thing as luck, there is simply hard work and executing on opportunities, which is exactly what Brendan has done. 

This week on Stockwhips and Lattes we chat with Dave Clouston, winemaker and owner of Two Rivers winery in Marlborough. In an industry that is dominated by corporates, owner-operated Two Rivers is working hard to stand out and disrupt the market with its exceptional blends and innovative thinking.  Dave has had an incredible journey from gypsy winemaker in the Mediterranean to boutique New Zealand wine entrepreneur and we love hearing how he developed his skills and passion for the industry. 

This week on Stockwhips and Lattes we chat with Ken Payne an ex professional shearer turned farm tutor and district councilor based in Balclutha. Ken is passionate about our shearing and rural industry and for the last 2 decades has been passing on his skills and knowledge with Telford agricultural students and most recently, with Laura's interns at Fairlight Station. Ken can shear a sheep blindfolded, spins a good yarn and is a bit of a legend in the deep south. 

This week on Stockwhips and Lattes we chat with Southland woman Kate Macdonald who just this week, launched her own company Davaar and Co. Kate has combined her agribusiness and marketing qualifications with her passion for farming by creating a modern take on the old fashioned homespun jerseys.  Using only the wool from her family's property in Southland which has been farmed by the Macdonald's since 1915, Davaar and Co has created fashionable woollen jerseys that would make any rural professional dam fine at the sale yards this season.   

This week we talk with Simon Hunt, a pig farmer near Te Aroha in the heart of the Waikato. Simon loves a good challenge and has a history of turning around businesses. Simon has been there and done that, in addition to pigs, he’s worked in large dairy farms in the South Island and Hawkes Bay and accredits his success to getting the most out of people. I: @pukeroa_station