Data sharing initiative wins national award for saving farmers time
The work Fonterra has done with Ballance Agri-Nutrients Ltd, LIC and Ravensdown to save farmers time through better data connections has been recognised with a national award.
Most of the major banks are predicting a drop between 4% and 8% – much higher than Fonterra's current forecast of a 2-3% fall.
Rabobank is picking a fall of 8%, ASB forecasts 5% and BNZ picks 4%.
ASB rural economist Nathan Penny says the market has been focused on Fonterra's reduction in volumes on the GDT but will soon turn its focus on production and this is looking particularly weak.
"We've now factored in a 5% fall in production. Historically, that [would be] the largest fall since 1999... On that basis we would expect prices to continue to rise," Penny says.
Aggressive cow culling by farmers is evidence "both in numbers and what we are hearing around the traps".
"If you look at cow slaughter, the data is running well ahead of last year. With US beef exports we are going to breach the quota for the first time since 2004, I believe, and that is largely down to the dairy cow cull.
"Farmers are likely to cull more once they get through calving and peak milk production so they are continuing to think along the lines of reducing their herd size."
And spring has been poor, particularly down south, he says.
"In Southland they are struggling with temperatures and grass growth. The other factor is farmers using supplementary feed sparingly. So adding those things up, they are all effectively bowing to production being pretty weak. El Nino is another risk that hasn't been factored in."
Rabobank's Emma Higgins says supply could fall more – maybe up to 8% - as farmers cull, cut back the use of supplementary feed and take other measures to reduce costs.
Holstein Friesian excellence was front and centre at the 2025 Holstein Friesian NZ (HFNZ) Awards, held recently in Invercargill.
The work Fonterra has done with Ballance Agri-Nutrients Ltd, LIC and Ravensdown to save farmers time through better data connections has been recognised with a national award.
This past week has seen another round of negotiations between India and New Zealand to produce a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
Cautiously optimistic is how DairyNZ's regional manager for the lower North Island, Mark Laurence describes the mood of farmers in his patch.
The Infrastructure Commission has endorsed a plan by Chorus to expand fibre broadband to 95% of New Zealand much to the delight of rural women.
Questions are being raised about just how good the state of the dairy industry is - especially given that the average farmgate payout for the coming season is set to exceed $10/kgMS.
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