New Zealanders like to think we have a "Number 8 Wire Mentality" - a rough and ready enthusiasm for fixing and building stuff with limited resources.

From the first Māori arrivals who worked out how to grow tropical plants in our cold, wet climate - to modern scientific breeding and robotics, New Zealand agriculture has always been at the cutting edge.

Watch the video version of the episode here

But innovation isn't always good news for all people, or for the environment - so in this episode we dig into the history of New Zealand agriculture through the lens of innovation.

In this episode we discuss:

How Māori worked out which native New Zealand plants were edible.
How Māori managed to grow tropical plants like kūmara in New Zealand's cold and wet climate.
New Zealand innovations in sheep breeding and shearing - including the violent disputes over wide shearing combs in Australia.
New Zealand's embrace of topdressing, and the devastating impacts of phosphate mining in Nauru.
A whole lot more!

For more on this subject:

Making a New Land edited by Eric Pawson & Tom Brooking
Three Steel Teeth by Mark Filmer
Farming Inventions - Te Ara Encyclopaedia

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details