NZ farmers start year on positive note

NZ farmers start year on positive note, fuelled by renewed optimism in horticulture, beef & sheep sectors

2017 has begun on a positive note for the country’s farmers, with rural confidence levels edging up, primarily driven by signs of renewed optimism among horticulture and beef and sheep producers.

The first quarterly Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey for the year – completed earlier this month – has shown net farmer confidence has risen to positive +27 per cent, up from +25 per cent recorded in the December 2016 survey.

While the survey found the number of New Zealand farmers expecting the agricultural economy to improve in the year ahead had declined slightly to 34 per cent of those surveyed (compared with 39 per cent in the previous quarter) – those expecting agricultural economic conditions to worsen had halved to seven per cent of survey respondents (from 14 per cent).

http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1703/Rabobank_Rural_Confidence_Survey_media_release_March_2017.pdf

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