Farmers’ economic confidence improved in the first months of 2010, boosted by sheep and beef prices although optimism in some regions was restrained by drought conditions, a new Rabobank survey shows. It found 34 percent of farmers expected the rural economy to improve in the next year, up from 32 percent previously, while the proportion of farmers expecting conditions to worsen fell to 11 percent from 26 percent reports The ODT.

The Rabobank rural confidence survey was completed this month but before yesterday’s announcement by Fonterra that it had increased its milk price forecast for this season by 40c to $6.10 a kg of milksolids. Rabobank general manager rural NZ Ben Russell said the survey showed much of the improvement in rural confidence had been driven by sheep and beef farmers, who had a more optimistic outlook about their sectors. Factors working in the favour of sheep and beef producers included a small fall in the NZ dollar during the survey period, and good news in terms of commodity prices in the sectors.

(more…)

In its annual NZ Agriculture in Focus report, the agribusiness bank says global demand for some agricultural commodities  such as dairy and sheepmeat  is increasing. General manager Ben Russell said that although global and domestic economic conditions seem to have turned a corner and were expected to gather momentum in 2010, the recovery remained fragile reports Stuff.

“While conditions have definitely been improving there remain a number of downside risks,” he said.”The NZ dollar remains high, inflicting serious head-winds on exporters, there are continuing tighter credit conditions and economic recovery remains subdued in key export markets, such as Japan and the United States.”

(more…)

NZ rural confidence has staged a rally on the back of a good start to spring growing conditions reports Scoop. However, farmer sentiment remains at low levels, held back by concerns about the rising dollar and volatile commodity prices, according to the latest quarterly Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey.

The survey – conducted across NZ last month – shows 22% of the country’s farmers expect the rural economy to improve in the next 12 months, a marked increase from the only 12 per cent who had that expectation in the previous quarter. And while 25% of farmers still expect conditions to worsen, this was a big drop on the 49 per cent with that view in the previous survey. This latest rise in confidence follows three previous consecutive declines.

(more…)

There will be winners and losers from the present global credit crisis. But how it impacts on farmers will depend more on the strength of their balance sheet and less on external factors such as the exchange rate or the dairy payout, Rabobank NZ general manager Ben Russell said.

Mr Russell told about 200 southern dairy farmers at the launch of the global dairy report in Invercargill reports the Southland Times, that the current credit crisis was the worst since the Great Depression of the early 1920s. Mr Russell said there would be “far fewer” farm sales and farmers who relied on achieving capital gains in land would be disappointed as moderate price drops were expected. “You don’t want to be in the business of selling property,” he said. However, farmers with strong balance sheets would have an opportunity to grow their business, he said. “There will be weaker sellers out there,” he said.

(more…)