New Govt’s policies leave farmers glum

Rural confidence takes beating across board

New Zealand farmer confidence dropped in the final quarter of the year, and has tumbled 41 per cent in the past six months, mainly on concerns the coalition government will enact policies that constrain the rural sector.

Farmers expecting the rural economy to improve dropped to a net 13 per cent from a net 38 per cent in the previous Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey.

Those who see it improving fell to 29 per cent from 46 per cent while those seeing poorer times ahead rose to 16 per cent from 8 per cent.

“For those farmers who thought the rural economy will worsen over the next 12 months, government policies were cited by 80 per cent as a key reason for holding this view,” Rabobank NZ’s Hayley Moynihan said.

“During the election campaign, each of the three parties that now make up the government indicated they wanted to make changes to how New Zealand’s rural economy was operating.

“These results indicate that farmers have some concerns about what these potential interventions could mean for the future performance of the rural economy.”

Farmer confidence has also been dented by expectations they will face rising input costs and falling

Farmers have some concerns about what these potential interventions could mean for the future performance of the rural economy. Hayley Moynihan, Rabobank

commodity prices.

The biggest drop in positive sentiment was among horticulturalists, with net confidence tumbling to 16 per cent from 51 per cent previously. Among dairy farmers, net confidence fell to 18 per cent from 50 per cent.

“With a downward correction in the milk price anticipated before the end of the year, it was not surprising to see dairy farmers’ confidence in their own farm business performance register the most drastic fall of all the sector groups,” Moynihan said.