A distinctly local flavour is set to hit screens next week as Hyundai Country Calendar turns its lens on the Tasman district\u2019s Conning family and their food market and horticulture operation.<\/p>\n
The episode, airing Sunday, 19 April, follows the three Conning brothers who have returned to Nelson to drive the next chapter of their family\u2019s horticulture business. Over the last 10 years they have turbo-charged the operation started by their parents, Robbie and Cheryl, opening two popular stores and expanding the already busy market garden.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not just the story in front of the camera that is local.<\/p>\n
Behind the scenes, the episode is a homegrown effort, directed by Riwaka-based director\u202fRobyn Janes\u202fand shot by cameraman\u202fMike Potton, who is Nelson born and bred.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s something special about telling stories in your own backyard,\u201d Robyn says. \u201cI already knew a bit about the business as someone who has popped into the store over the years. Getting behind the scenes to see the scale of the operation, and meet such a fantastic family, was a real privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mike grew up surrounded by the region\u2019s market gardens and landscapes, and relished the opportunity to showcase the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe family were so great to film with. They were very accommodating, giving us free rein to film anywhere on the farm,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was a great story to tell, full of colour and character.\u201d<\/p>\n
The episode highlights the Connings\u2019 business growth from a small operation over four hectares in the 1980s, to employing about 165 people over their 170-hectare market garden and two market stores in Richmond and Nelson. Each brother plays a role in the business, from hands on growing and harvesting, to managing distribution and the food markets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A distinctly local flavour is set to hit screens next week as Hyundai Country Calendar turns its lens…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[111,139,69,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-384615","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}