Dairy farmers' confidence drying up

Farmers are more pessimistic about their prospects, according to the latest Federated Farmers farm confidence survey.
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Lower milk prices and dry weather are the chief reasons for the slump in confidence.
Nearly 80 per cent of dairy farmers expect their profitability to worsen, following falls of 46 per cent in prices since last February.
Sheep and beef farmers, who have experienced a year of high meat prices, showed a 29-point drop in confidence from the last survey in July 2014, reflecting the fact they have had to send more stock to slaughter as dry conditions have taken hold.
A higher dairy cow cull has also added to the extra supply at meat processors. As a result, beef prices in particular have declined in the past two months.
However, the survey results for beef and sheep farmers are at odds with the recent Rabobank Agribusiness outlook for 2015, which found it will be a positive year.
Federated Farmers president William Rolleston said dairy farmers’ pessimistic view had to be put in the context of a very strong 2013-14 season.
By region, confidence has taken the biggest dive in Auckland-Northland, followed by Otago-Southland, Canterbury and East Coast North Island.
Bucking the pessimistic trend, the West Coast, Tasman and Marlborough are up 19 points from the last survey, while Waikato-Bay of Plenty is also in positive territory.
Production was up in 2014 compared to the year before, but there is concern about the remainder of this season, especially in the South Island.
Dairy farmers in particular say they intend to spend less and, for the first time since the financial crisis, more farmers expect to increase debt than reduce it.
The agricultural labour market remains very tight, with more farmers reporting greater difficulty finding skilled and motivated staff.
The biggest concern for farmers is commodity and farmgate prices, cited by nearly 33 per cent of farmers. This was followed by the weather, with 21 per cent.
Both are up sharply on the previous survey.
 
Source: Stuff
 

Mirá También

Así lo expresó Domingo Possetto, secretario de la seccional Rafaela, quien además, afirmó que a los productores «habitualmente los ignoran los gobiernos». Además, reconoció la labor de los empresarios de las firmas locales y aseguró que están «esperanzados» con la negociación entre SanCor y Adecoagro.

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