FARMERS BEGIN TO FEEL MUCH LESS SHEEPISH ABOUT FUTURE
FARMERS are feeling better about the year ahead as they fetch high prices for lamb, mutton, wool and beef.
The outlook for prices of dairy products and cotton have also boosted optimism, according to the latest quarterly rural confidence survey by specialist agribusiness bank Rabobank. However, confidence in the grains sector is subdued due to a lack of rain needed for planting winter crops in parts of Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland.
“There has rarely been a better time to be a grazier, with prices for beef, lamb and mutton continuing to hit new records, and wool prices also at an historical high – albeit back down from its recent peak,” Rabobank’s national manager of Country Banking Australia, Todd Charteris, said.
Low fodder prices were also allowing graziers to hold on to livestock for longer, which could result in meat prices staying at high levels during winter, Mr Charteris said. Although dairy farmers were positive about the price outlook, their cashflow was expected to remain tight for the next few months.
Cotton growers were buoyed by the prospect of the price of cotton remaining above $520 per bale in 2017/18, and good availability of water.
Rabobank’s survey of 1000 farmers, completed in May, showed that 28 per cent were expecting conditions in the agriculture sector to improve over the next 12 months – up from 25 per cent in the previous survey.
Fifty-nine per cent expected conditions to remain stable and 10 per cent of farmers were pessimistic about the year ahead.