From a billion-dollar apple brand to grassroots rural leaders, this year’s Primary Industries New Zealand Awards (PINZ) finalists reflect a sector overflowing with talent.

Three finalists in each of nine categories have just been announced, with the winners to be named at an awards ceremony in Auckland on 23 June.

Well-known weather forecaster and founder of WeatherWatch, Philip Duncan, has been named the 2025 Ravensdown Agricultural Communicator of the Year.

Award-winning and respected journalist and conservationist, Rosalie Smith (QSM) of Katikati has died, just short of her 94th birthday.

The Farmers Weekly team, Richard Rennie, Bryan Gibson, Neal Wallace and Steve Wynn-Harris, took out this year’s top award in the New Zealand Guild of Agricultural Journalists and Communicators’ annual journalism awards for a feature where they revisited Cyclone Gabrielle six months and one year on.