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February 2021 Newsletter

Happy New Year! Welcome to our first Thriving Southland newsletter for 2021. We hope you have had time for a good break during the Christmas and New Year period, and are feeling recharged, ready for a great year ahead. Our first board meeting for the year was held on 18 January, where we were delighted to welcome our new Chairman Jeff Grant, and new independent director Bernadine Balle-Guilleux. Read on for a bit more about them. Huge thanks to Ewen Mathieson, our outgoing Chairman, wh...

The Thriving Southland Science Report

3 December 2020Thriving Southland: Southland’s freshwater picture brought together in one reportThriving Southland today released a literature review, The Southland Science Report, detailing the water situation in Southland.The Southland Science report, written by Landpro Ltd, compiles all the science and data that has been publicly released about Southland’s land, soil and water into one report.Thriving Southland Chair and farmer, Ewen Mathieson, says “it’s the first time that anyone ha...

December 2020 Newsletter

Catchment Groups busy as year winds down, or is that up?As we race towards Christmas, everyone is in ‘get it done’ mode - and that’s been very true of our Catchment Groups in Southland. It’s been great to see new faces coming to Catchment Group events, with a good cross- section of people from local communities. Recent events have been a fantastic for bringing people, often with different perspectives, together in a positive environment to discuss the challenges and opportunities in fron...

An interview with Rachael Verhaegh

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Roger Dalrymple to speak at ‘Strong Catchment Groups, Strong Communities’ events

Inspirational Rangitikei farmer and catchment group leader Roger Dalrymple is heading south next week to share his knowledge and experience at a series of events, Thriving Southland interim project lead Richard Kyte says. Roger was instrumental in helping establish the Rangitikei Regional Catchment Collective in 2017 to facilitate and promote on farm good practice and sustainable land management principles. The collective’s vision is resilient, thriving communities achieving positive environme...

November 2020 Newsletter

Welcome to your November newsletter - wow there’s been a lot happening!Let’s not talk about the weather too much, but we hope everyone is drying out, getting some sun, and able to get on with all the jobs on their lists. Southland’s soils tend to be reasonably forgiving, but you’d be forgiven for feeling a bit irked after the latest down pour. Plenty of Catchment Groups across Southland have been revving up their activity and our Catchment team have been busy supporting and enabling them...

Catchment team supporting community action

A passion for rural life, land and water, and agriculture binds Thriving Southland’s catchment coordination team. The team of four are out and about and getting stuck into conversations about how they can best support catchment groups.There are now 23 groups covering 80% of Southland, with more groups forming.Senior Catchment Coordinator Rachael Verhaegh says the team are excited to be up and running and getting to know more people in the catchment group communities.“We look forward to worki...

October 2020 Newsletter

First of all, we hope everyone is coping with the very challenging Spring weather we’re being confronted with, and that the tough conditions ease as we head into October.  Over the last month, the Thriving Southland catchment team have been meeting more people in the Catchment Groups across the region. For the ones we’ve met so far, it’s been great to see the plans and ideas the Groups have shared, and we’re excited about where these plans may end up and our role in supporting them....

September 2020 Newsletter

A huge thanks to everyone who read our first newsletter last month - we were delighted with the number of people who took some time to find out what’s been happening. Over 61.5% of you opened the newsletter (normal open rates are 15-25%) and then we saw a fantastic upswing in the number of people going to our website and following us on social media.  The Thriving Southland Facebook page hit over 100 likes in the last a couple of weeks, and we would love you to keep sp...

August 2020 Newsletter

Getting to know each other For obvious reasons, after the initial launch of Thriving Southland in December, and a huge push through February and March – everything came to a grinding halt as the country responded to COVID-19. We hope you’re all well and that you had a good lock down. It was a unique time for every person in New Zealand, and really brought home the importance of communities and the support we give each other. For the Thriving Southland team based in Southland, we were humbled...

Thriving Southland gearing up to support region’s catchment groups

A farmer-led programme to provide more support to Southland’s growing catchment group network is gearing up and is keen to hear ideas, Thriving Southland Chairman Ewen Mathieson says. Thriving Southland is a farmer-led programme to drive change in the primary sector in Southland by supporting catchment groups and wider communities as agents of change. Ten ‘Post-Covid-19 Lockdown’ get-togethers are being held in late June and throughout July around the region for people to hear more about t...

Thriving Southland gearing up to support region’s catchment groups

MEDIA RELEASE Thriving Southland gearing up to support region’s catchment groups A farmer-led programme to provide more support to Southland’s growing catchment group network is gearing up and is keen to hear ideas, Thriving Southland Chairman Ewen Mathieson says. Thriving Southland is a farmer-led programme to drive change in the primary sector in Southland by supporting catchment groups and wider communities as agents of change. Ten ‘Post-Covid-19 Lockdown’ get-togethers are being held...

Thriving Southland – update from chairman Ewen Mathieson and board member Lynden Prebble

A big hello to everyone around our Southland catchment group community. We hope you are managing to get through the Covid-19 situation and the other uncertainties around us all in reasonable shape. The global, national and local circumstances we all find ourselves in have changed markedly since Thriving Southland was launched in December. While we all recognise the damaging impact Covid-19 has had across many communities and industries, it has reasserted the importance of farming and food produc...

Government Supports Southland Farmers Sustainability

Link to article below:https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/govt-supports-southland-farmers-sustainability...