Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Lockdowns and border closures have put a cork in plenty of industries

but few more essential than agriculture.

In Europe, crops are ripe, but there are few hands to pick them.

In the Netherlands alone, there are a billion kilos of potatoes growing eyes.

And the COVID-19 response in Turkey isn't so different from those in other countries.

With one notable exception, the country has guaranteed supplies of cologne.

It's a hand sanitizer with a difference and one already ingrained in the culture.

First up though.

Today, New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the country had stopped COVID-19 in its tracks.

On Sunday, officials recorded just one new case.

There is no widespread, undetected community transmission in New Zealand.

We have won that battle, but we must remain vigilant if we to keep it that way.

So, at midnight tonight, the country will begin to loosen the strict lockdown measures

that put in place a month ago.

That includes safely returning more New Zealanders to work, enabling more businesses to reopen

and allowing some of the recreational activities we've missed in the past four weeks.

New Zealand's ambitious strategy has been to rid itself of the virus altogether.

But it's not the only country that's nearly COVID-free.

Australia, South Korea and Taiwan are also now contemplating life

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