increase font size
The latest results from the Rabobank confidence survey show that farmer confidence sits at a record minus 72%.
OPINION: One of the tasks of whatever new government emerges in the coming days and weeks will be to look and see what can be done to restore farmer confidence.
The latest results from the Rabobank confidence survey show that farmer confidence sits at a record minus 72%. It goes on to show that three quarters of sheep and beef farmers expect the performance of their own farming businesses to deteriorate in the coming year.
This isn’t surprising, given the news that has been widely reported for some months now with a sluggish Chinese market, global inflation, and the very volatile geopolitical situation.
Uncertainty started with the arrival of Covid-19 and has remained something of a constant. Yes, we have got two new FTAs over the line and there is improved access for many of our primary products, but for the last four years, volatility and uncertainty have prevailed.
While the survey results rightly says the main cause of the confidence drop is lower commodity prices, there are other factors at play, such as rising input costs – fuel, fertiliser and the like – and the scarcity and cost of skilled labour.
Interestingly, government policies have slipped out of the top two reasons for the drop in farmer confidence. Maybe there is a realisation that whoever governs the country, the direction of travel won’t change, although the speed may slow.
In the last few months of the election campaign the issues affecting farmers and rural communities have largely been ignored by politicians and the mainstream media.
The campaign has been depressing and one can only hope that when the politicians come back to Wellington they will start to focus on real issues – one of these being restoring farmer and rural confidence.
To celebrate the tenth anniversary of its annual Good Deeds competition, Rabobank will give away $100,000 to improve rural community hubs, schools, clubrooms, and marae across New Zealand.
Fonterra’s impending exit from the Australian dairy industry is a major event but the story doesn’t change too much for farmers.
Farmer confidence has taken a slight dip according to the final Rabobank rural confidence survey for the year.
The global agricultural landscape has entered a new phase where geopolitics – not only traditional market forces – will dictate agricultural trade flows, prices, and production decisions.
OPINION: When I moved to Marlborough two decades ago, I found countless lines of tidy vines, neatly mowed and carefully sprayed, with diligent conventional practices interspersed with the odd organic or cover-cropping outlier, like Te Whare Ra.
Donald Trump's latest tariff tantrum has again thrown the world of trade into a new round of turmoil and uncertainty, and NZ is caught up in it.
The third edition of the NZ Dairy Expo, held in mid-February in Matamata, has shown that the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid) was getting a positive response from exhibitors and visitors alike.
Twenty years ago, South African dairy farm manager Louis Vandenberg was sent to a farm in Waikato to provide training on Afimilk technology.
Strong farmgate milk price is helping boost investment on farms, says PGG Wrightson chief executive Stephen Guerin.
Fonterra's 460 milk suppliers in Australia, who will switch to Lactalis end of this month, are unfazed with the impending change.
The 5+ A Day Charitable Trust has launched a collection of affordable recipes designed to turn everyday vegetables into seasonal stars.
OPINION: Is it a case of over promising and under delivering? Farmers think so.
OPINION: The UK dairy industry is celebrating a win after plant-based drink maker Oatly lost a long-running legal battle over…
