Birth woes
OPINION: What does the birth rate in China have to do with stock trading? Just ask a2 Milk Company.
China's slower than expected recovery from Covid-19 and an oversupply of Australian sheep meat is causing problems for NZ sheep farmers.
Rabobank’s senior agricultural analyst Emma Higgins says there is more pain to come before things start to settle down.
“The sheepmeat price schedule has come below the bottom of the five year price range, so it’s a bit more tricky there with some really tough market settings in the coming months.”
“They have had good lambing percentages and are now being warned about a possible dry summer.”
On the flip side, Higgins says there is some good news on the beef front with some stabilisation coming through in terms of farm gates prices in NZ. “In the last month these have started to track upwards due to the price of beef lean trimmings starting to lift in export markets.”
She adds that with milk production in NZ declining, it should mean that the schedule price will follow the normal season trend in the coming months.
Keratin biomaterials company Keraplast and Wools of New Zealand have signed a new superpremium wool contract which is said to deliver a boost to wool growers.
While things are looking positive for the red meat sector in 2026, volatility in global trade remains a concern, says the Meat Industry Association (MIA).
The quest to find innovative practical, scientific solutions to deal with water-related issues at a catchment level has been the theme of an important conference at Massey University last week.
One of the country's top Māori farms faces a long and costly rebuild to get the property back to where it was before recent storms ripped through it.
The latest Global Dairy Trade auction results have delivered a boost to dairy farmers.
New Zealand potato growers are prioritising value creation from high yields to meet a complex mix of challenges and opportunities, says Potatoes NZ chief executive Kate Trufitt.

OPINION: First on the scene after the recent devastating storms in parts of the North Island were emergency services and selfless…
OPINION: Why can't Christopher Luxon stand up to Winston Peters over the latter’s high-profile attack on the proposed Indian FTA?