NZ Farmgate Beef Prices Hit Record Highs in Early 2026
Farmgate beef prices remain at record levels and show no sign of easing.
Five recent graduates of Smedley Station (5000ha) at Tikokino, near Hastings, have won scholarships totalling $26,300 are this year starting diploma studies at Lincoln University.
Rabobank sponsors Smedley graduates in relevant diploma and degree courses.
“Rabobank is proud to provide bursaries to cadets graduating from the station to do further studies and build their agricultural careers,” says Rabobank East Coast regional manager George Murdoch.
The cadets who got the bursaries are Philip Cutbush, Watarawi Ngata, Dean Wardle, Ben Galloway and Jack Virtue.
Smedley Station is held in trust by Public Trust for the Crown, and is administered by Public Trust’s national farm centre managed by Rodd Hutton.
“Smedley Station is grateful for the support given by Rabobank and its generosity in funding further education for Smedley cadets,” Hutton says. “Cadets get real farming experience and every decision affects the welfare of the station. Cadet training is funded directly from Smedley revenue.”
Smedley is one of 30 farms administered by Public Trust. The farms range from 48ha. Five are in the South Island, the rest in the North Island, mostly in Waikato/Bay of Plenty, Taranaki and Hawke’s Bay.
The proposed retrenchment of Heinz Wattied's manufacturing presenced in New Zealand will be a blow to the wallets of more than 200 Canterbury vegetable growers.
The cost of running a New Zealand farm is now 27% higher than it was before Covid, putting sustained pressure on profitability acrfoss the sector, according to new ANZ research.
Rural contractors are getting guidance on how to deal with recent rising fuel prices.
An Ōpunake farmer with a poor effluent system has been fined $35,000 with a discount on the penalty discarded after he charged at a Taranaki Regional Council officer inspecting the ‘systematic problems’ on his farm.
The horticulture sector is under threat because of vulnerabilities of the country's transport infrastructure, according to a report commissioned by a collective representing a range of groups in the sector.
Silver Fern Farms chief executive Dan Boulton says the meat processor wants to find ways of getting product destined for Middle East markets into those markets as opposed to try and place them elsewhere.

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