Dairy farmers feel pressure of low prices

Farmers see conditions worsening. Photo / Alan Gibson

Low dairy prices have continued to weigh heavily on farmer sentiment, according to Rabobank's Rural Confidence Survey.

The survey of 450 farmers - taken in late August and early September when GlobalDairyTrade auctions were registering price gains - showed dairy producers had not yet started to feel optimistic about a price recovery.

While overall confidence remained downbeat among dairy farmers and the sector generally, beef and sheep producers expressed a more optimistic outlook for the performance of their own farm businesses in the 12 months ahead, Rabobank said.

The survey showed that over the next two years, more than half of the country's farmers - 55 per cent - were looking to change their farm management systems. For dairy, the figure was 64 per cent as conditions dictated the need for productivity gains, it said.

Overall, the latest Rabobank survey found the majority of farmers expected conditions in the rural economy to deteriorate rather than improve, resulting in a negative net confidence reading of minus 39 per cent, a slight improvement from minus 45 per cent in the previous survey.

Just over half of the country's farmers - 53 per cent - held the view that conditions would worsen over the coming year, however this was down from 56 per cent with that view in the previous survey.

The percentage of farmers expecting an improvement in the agricultural economy increased slightly to 14 per cent, up from 11 per cent, while 32 per cent of surveyed farmers expected similar conditions to the previous 12 months.