New Zealand tractor sales are expected to match record highs this year, thanks to high milk prices and good growing conditions.

Fonterra now looks certain to drop its farmgate payout to its farmers, after prices fell in the latest overnight dairy auction.

The Fonterra Shareholders' Fund should be able to raise its 2015 dividend forecast given it expects to pay farmers less for their milk.

Private dairy ingredient manufacturer Open Country Dairy has told its suppliers to expect a reduced payout in a range of $4.70 to $4.90 per kg of milksolids for 2014/5.

International dairy prices showed signs of stabilising at this morning’s GlobalDairyTrade auction.

The head of Fonterra says the growing Ebola epidemic could cost the company $150 million.

World dairy prices showed signs of levelling off today with the GlobalDairyTrade price index gaining 1.4 per cent at the fortnightly auction.

Farmers from southern provinces are moving to Northland to take advantage of the comparatively cheap dairy farms on offer there, according to real estate agency Bayleys.

Research funding from the dairying and soft drink industries could be declined on ethical grounds under proposals being worked through by the University of Canterbury.

Dairy farmers face a year of serious belt-tightening if Fonterra's latest milkprice forecast of $5.30 per kg of milksolids comes to pass, agricultural commentators said.

Fonterra has just announced a cut to its forecast farmer payout - from $5.30 a kg of milksolids - down from $6.00.

New Zealand rural confidence levels have fallen to a two-year low thanks to plunging dairy prices, according to Rabobank's latest quarterly rural confidence survey.

New Zealanders are evenly divided about whether farmers are moving quickly enough to reduce their impact on the environment, a Herald DigiPoll survey shows.

Federated Farmers is questioning the need for a National Party proposal for a compulsory ban on dairy cattle from all waterways.

Allied Farmers, which is rebuilding from a disastrous takeover of the Hanover and United Finance loan books has returned to profit.

A majority of voters approve of farm sales to foreigners only when it brings a significant advantage over a New Zealand buyer such as jobs, according to the latest Herald-DigiPoll survey.

This year hasn't been kind to the US agricultural sector, just ask John Deere, the world's largest manufacturer of farming machinery.

Why are dairy prices falling? Well, if you read industry commentary from places like the United States and Europe they know who's to blame. It's us.

Chinese company Shanghai Pengxin confirmed it is aiming to buy a $70 million North Island farm, which would be second-largest foreign purchase of New Zealand land.

The old Sony factory in Japan's Miyagi Prefecture is up and running again. But this time it's an indoor farm that is the largest of its kind.

Hollywood A-lister Reese Witherspoon is joining a flock of celebrities lining up to cover their faces in Kiwi sheep placenta.

Labour Leader David Cunliffe says a Govt he led would invest up to $200 million over four years in development projects aimed at resuscitating flagging regional economies.

The world's appetite for chicken is growing faster than any other meat, while pork consumption is slowing, according to an OECD report.

Exporters - dairy farmers in particular - were quietly seething this week. They had to watch as milk powder prices fell 5% at the GlobalDairyTrade auction on Wednesday.

Landcorp, New Zealand's largest corporate farmer, is having a serious look at milking sheep.

Fieldays is over and tens of thousands of visitors to Mystery Creek have witnessed the future of dairy farming.

US beef prices are up 74 per cent since 2009 to the highest on record, after a seven-year decline in the herd left the fewest cattle in at least six decades.