AgFirst marks 30 years of agribusiness advice
AgFirst, New Zealand's largest independent agribusiness consultancy, is turning 30 - celebrating three decades of "trusted advice, practical solutions, and innovative thinking".
Despite a rise in payout and profitability, dairy farmer confidence in Waikato and Bay of Plenty is relatively subdued.
AgFirst economist Phil Journeaux, in his annual financial survey of dairy farmers in these regions, says while the good news of Fonterra’s $7/kgMS forecast payout is welcome, this is overshadowed by Mycoplasma bovis.
M. bovis has been a huge jolt to the industry and farmers are concerned about how they might manage it and biosecurity in general. He notes that farmers are using AB where possible and not using service bulls.
“They are looking at double fencing or the use of outriggers along their boundaries and being very cautious about rearing extra calves. Most are now very careful about NAIT and tagging and tracing stock movements.”
Also dampening dairy farmer confidence is the “ever-increasing compliance issues and cost”.
The report notes that net cash income for dairy farmers in the two regions for the past season rose 24% to $901,901 despite their lower milk solids production, though this is expected to rise in the current season. The weather caused this production fall in a climate season of two halves.
Farm working expenses were higher than in the previous season, says Journeaux.
“Expenses are now at what I would call full maintenance level and you are seeing farmers spending more on capital items [they need] such as effluent systems and cooling systems for vats.
“They are having to pay more tax and are starting to pay back a lot of debt. Remember when we had the $3.90 payout, farmers had to borrow about $130,000, part of which was a Fonterra loan and the rest was from the bank.”
He says assuming a $7/kgMS payout this season, farmers will have repaid that debt, having taken three years to get back to square one.
The report notes that, on average, farmers are planning this season to slightly drop their stocking rate as they more closely watch per cow production; this is related to reducing environmental impacts.
“There is a subtle trend and I can’t see the stocking rate reducing significantly.
“We don’t see the mood for expansion that we saw some years ago. They are now saying, ‘well, I have my farm and I will do my best on that and not worry about buying the neighbour’s place 10km down the road’.”
Phoebe Scherer, a technical manager from the Bay of Plenty, has won the 2025 Young Grower of the Year national title.
The Fencing Contractors Association of New Zealand (FCANZ) celebrated the best of the best at the 2025 Fencing Industry Awards, providing the opportunity to honour both rising talent and industry stalwarts.
Award-winning boutique cheese company, Cranky Goat Ltd has gone into voluntary liquidation.
As an independent review of the National Pest Management Plan for TB finds the goal of complete eradication by 2055 is still valide, feedback is being sought on how to finish the job.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand has launched an AI-powered digital assistant to help farmers using the B+LNZ Knowledge Hub to create tailored answers and resources for their farming businesses.
A tiny organism from the arid mountains of mainland Greece is facilitating a new way of growing healthier animals on farms across New Zealand.
OPINION: Westland Milk may have won the contract to supply butter to Costco NZ but Open Country Dairy is having…
OPINION: The Gene Technology Bill has divided the farming community with strong arguments on both the pros and cons of…