$150B farm succession challenge looms for NZ agriculture
Within the next 10 years, New Zealand agriculture will need to manage its largest-ever intergenerational transfer of wealth, conservatively valued at $150 billion in farming assets.
Rabobank has lifted its forecast milk price for this season by 45c to $7.60/kgMS.
The bank, in its latest Dairy Quarterly report, says farmgate milk cheques are improving in most of the world’s major dairy-producing regions.
Report author, Rabobank dairy analyst Emma Higgins says increased global dairy prices were largely a result of reduced global stocks of skim milk powder (SMP) and modest milk production growth.
“The global market has picked up for SMP now that EU intervention stocks are a thing of the past and we’ve seen prices for SMP shoot upwards in the latest price rally,” she says.
Robust global prices are also being supported by tepid milk growth, with this forecast to continue into next year. Across the Big 7 - the EU, the US, New Zealand, Australia, Uruguay, Argentina & Brazil – milk supply growth is expected to remain at, or below, 1% in 2020.
Higgins says despite strong global milk price signals, a low global supply growth rate was anticipated due to a combination of demand and supply factors holding back production increases.
“Dairy producers around the world have spent the last several years waiting for a return to price levels similar to those seen in 2014, however, now that we are approaching that territory, there is anxiety over the ability of consumers to withstand price increases, with much of the world either recovering from, in the midst of, or on the verge of some degree of recession,” she says.
“In addition to demand-related concerns, farmers in key milk-producing regions continue to face constraints limiting their ability to expand supply, with environmental regulation and adverse weather conditions among the key factors restricting production increases.”
Higgins says adverse weather had played a role in New Zealand’s lower milk production in the season-to-date, but that this reduced supply had helped contribute to strong pricing for New Zealand product.
“In light of the strong demand – particularly out of China – that has seen Oceaniacommodity prices increase since our last quarterly report Fonterra has twice revised up its forecast range for the 2019/20 season.
“And this has fed into the bank’s upward revision to its own full-year forecast from $7.15/kgMS to $7.60/kgMS for the 2019-20 dairy season,” she says.
Two butcheries have claimed victory at the 100% New Zealand Bacon & Ham Awards for 2025.
A Taupiri farming company has been convicted and fined $52,500 in the Hamilton District Court for the unlawful discharge of dairy effluent into the environment.
The Climate Change Commission’s 2025 emissions reduction monitoring report reveals steady progress on the reduction of New Zealand’s climate pollution.
Another milestone has been reached in the fight against Mycoplasma bovis with the compensation assistance service being wound up after helping more than 1300 farmers.
The Government’s directive for state farmer Landcorp Farming (trading as Pamu) to lifts its performance is yielding results.
The move to bring bovine TB testing in-house at Ospri officially started this month, as a team of 37 skilled and experienced technicians begin work with the disease eradication agency.
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