Changing of the guard at TAMA
Deere NZ territory manager Jaiden Drought was elected new president of the Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA) at its August annual meeting.
The world's tractor market looked healthy in 2017, with 2.1 million sales – up about 13% on the 2016 total of 1.9 million units.
This data comes from Agrievolution Alliance, representing 14 industry bodies and 6000 agricultural machinery makers.
The high-volume markets of China and India had at least 1 million sales -- 490,000 and 600,000 respectively. And Europe, with large markets in France and Germany, had 190,000 sales.
The US market saw 4% more sales than in 2016 -- 220,000 tractors sold. In first-half 2018, US tractor sales totalled 123,316 – up 6.5% on the same period in 2017. Interestingly, at least 84,000 were tractors less than 40hp – lifestyle-block machines.
In New Zealand, first-half 2018 also had healthy sales -- 1876 versus 1448 in 2017, a rise of 26.1%.
Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA) president John Tulloch says sales are back near 2014 levels, seen in such sectors as lifestyle, viticulture and agriculture, rather than only agriculture, which four years ago accounted for most tractor sales.
“It’s rare to see every sector relatively buoyant at the same time,” Tulloch told Rural News.
“Customers appear to be cautiously optimistic rather than big-spending, probably because of healthy scepticism about forecast payouts.”
He says TAMA members reported that Fieldays was largely positive, but actual sales prospects were down.
“We believe it might be a record year for sales.
“However, like our customers we remain cautiously optimistic.”
Meat processor Alliance Group's cash-strapped farmer shareholders face a dilemma - either pour more money into the co-operative or risk losing 100% ownership and control.
Farmer-led charity, Meat the Need is calling for donations to enable it to supply more meals to families in need.
Weaker pricing and demand from China continue to impact New Zealand red meat export earnings.
Fonterra has cemented its position as the country’s number one cheesemaker by picking up nine NZ Champion of Cheese trophies this year.
New Zealand dairy processors are welcoming the Government’s commitment to continuing to push for Canada to honour its trade commitments.
An educational programme, set up by Beef + Land New Zealand, to connect farmers virtually with primary and intermediate school students has reported the successful completion of its second year.