There is a wide range of farming enterprises in the Hawke's Bay region because of the extended nature of the region, from Wairoa to south of Woodville, favourable climate and the mixture of soil types. This paper is therefore a general overview of the district and it attempts to provide some comparisons for those who attended the conference in 1975 and possibly 1955. Keywords: beef, cattle, climate, deer, forestry, goats, Hawke's Bay, horticulture, sheep, soils, viticulture