Today on the podcast I chat to Greg Coppell from Repost. Greg and Dansy from Repost are an inspiring team, on a mission to change the world. Greg is a born and bred farm boy and when it came time to developing their own property Greg recalled repurposing old posts out of the viticulture industry with his Dad and set about doing the same thing on his place. But he didn’t stop there, with new fence post prices only going one way, he wanted to make these posts available to all farmers and help the viticulture industry solve a huge waste problem.

Repost was only meant to be a part time gig for Greg and Dansy has become a full-time operation with them actually living off-farm to be able to operate the business. But Greg says there is plenty of time for farming and this is part of his legacy, both in succession and personal purpose.

This is a short and sweet episode to round out season three of The Whole Story podcast, but I really want you all to take on board what Greg says about taking time and rethinking waste as a resource! Thanks for joining us today on the podcast, have a happy easter and we’ll catch you next season!

Episode Resources:

Repost website

🎙️ Podcast brought to you by The Whole Story, with support from FMG Insurance.

🌱 For further information about what we do at The Whole Story check out our Website

🎵 Music by nobody, check them out on SoundCloud

Today on the podcast I chat to Alex de Boer from The Electric Motor Vehicle Company from the deep south of Invercargill. Alex has a varied history from farming to engineering, building to finance and is now a key part of the entrepreneurial innovation behind the electrification of farm machinery in Aotearoa NZ.

For context in this podcast, since catching up with Mike Casey in Season One, I have since gone to to start up another company called Solayer focused on supporting farmers with integrated energy solutions on farm and this conversation with Alex touches on a key part of that - where once we put the infrastructure in, how can we leverage off that incredibly cheap source of energy by shifting fossil fuel machinery to electric? The lowest hanging fruit of this for me has been irrigation pumps and the small transport machines like UTV…and that’s where Alex comes in.

But we don’t just talk energy and UTVs in this conversation. Alex shares with us his thoughts around sustainability in farming, along with some key developments he’s seen in his time around soil additives, wintering barns and biochar. The most exciting part of this conversation to me is the potential for UTVs to be portable power plants and this is definitely something we are looking at offering through our work at Solayer in the not to distant future.

Episode Resources:

The Electric Motor Vehicle website | https://electricmv.co.nz

Solayer Website | https://www.solayer.co.nz

To find out more about the Agrisea products mentioned…head to their website | https://agrisea.co.nz

For more information about Biochar | https://biochar.net.nz

🎙️ Podcast brought to you by The Whole Story, with support from FMG Insurance.

🌱 For further information about what we do at The Whole Story check out our Website

🎵 Music by nobody, check them out on SoundCloud

Today on the podcast I catch up with Abi Croutear-Foy and Ebi Hussain from AquaWatch. Abi is the Managing Director coming from an international financial services background and Ebi is the Chief Science Officer coming with a background in water quality science and ecology. Both are passionate about freshwater and also about using the facts that water can tell us to empower people to make changes that matter.

AquaWatch, which back at the start was called RiverWatch, was founded by father and son duo - Grant and James Muir who were watching their awa(river) literally dying before their eyes. The story of the struggle to save the river compelled James to create the documentary film "River Dog". And River Dog led Grant and James to explore ways to help reverse the decline of water quality in Aotearoa, identifying the need for clear and consistent water quality data as a starting point.

The resulting products at AquaWatch include a range of software and hardware solutions that have been developed, include a “waka” that sits in a body of water that can continuously capture water quality data allowing us to take the guesswork out of freshwater monitoring and give real-time insights into the impact of climatic events and land-based activities on water quality.

So grab a cuppa and enjoy listening to this episode, I for one specifically enjoyed highlighting the way that water quality touches every aspect of sustainability and highlighting why actions to improve water quality are so vitally important.

Episode Resources:

AquaWatch website

🎙️ Podcast brought to you by The Whole Story, with support from FMG Insurance.

🌱 For further information about what we do at The Whole Story check out our Website

🎵 Music by nobody, check them out on SoundCloud