Biosecurity tops priorities for agribusiness leaders - report
Biosecurity remains the top priority for agribusiness leaders, according to KPMG’s 2025 Agribusiness Agenda released last week.
The head of global agri for KPMG, Ian Proudfoot says he has concerns that the apparent fast recovery in dairy prices is leading to complacency which is a problem.
He has found in recent year a strong correlation between better prices and complacency and he says farmers need to keep watch on their cost of production or be caught out financially.
Proudfoot says because of the fast recovery, some farmers who had been planning changes suddenly put these on hold.
And he says the dairy industry faces new challenges caused by the breakdown of the relationship between the US and Mexico and further uncertainty caused by Donald Trump’s election.
“Mexico was the largest buyer of American skim milk but they now appear to have reduced their buying which will mean the US will have to find different markets for some of that product and SE Asia is one of the potential markets.
“This means they would compete with New Zealand products destined for that market so we could see changes here in NZ quickly over the next couple of GDT auctions,” he says.
Proudfoot says NZ doesn’t have a special trading relationship with Mexico, but was relying on the TPP to deliver that which he doesn’t believe will happen. He says NZ now needs to urgently work on building special trading relationships with Mexico and Japan.
Meanwhile Proudfoot says overall American milk production is up and there are no signs of a reduction in Europe.
Meanwhile he’s not sure NZ milk production will be down as much as predicted a year ago. Though some farmers are suffering from drought and wet, many had a better November and December and this may reduce the drop in production.
Newly elected Federated Farmers meat and wool group chair Richard Dawkins says he will continue the great work done his predecessor Toby Williams.
Hosted by ginger dynamo Te Radar, the Fieldays Innovation Award Winners Event put the spotlight on the agricultural industry's most promising ideas.
According to DairyNZ's latest Econ Tracker update, there has been a rise in the forecast breakeven milk price for the 2025/26 season.
Despite the rain and a liberal coating of mud, engines roared, and the 50th Fieldays Tractor Pull Competition drew crowds of spectators across the four days of the annual event.
Nationwide rural wellbeing programme, Farmstrong recently celebrated its tenth birthday at Fieldays with an event attended by ambassador Sam Whitelock, Farmers Mutual Group (FMG), Farmstrong partners, and government Ministers.
Six industry organisations, including DairyNZ and the Dairy Companies Association (DCANZ) have signed an agreement with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to prepare the country for a potential foot and mouth outbreak.
OPINION: It's official, Fieldays 2025 clocked 110,000 visitors over the four days.
OPINION: The Federated Farmers rural advocacy hub at Fieldays has been touted as a great success.