Survey Finds Improvement in Farmer Confidence
NEW ZEALAND - Federated Farmers’ New-Season Farm Confidence Survey, undertaken at the start of the 2013/14 season, has shown a major turnaround in farmer confidence.This result is in keeping with other recent farm and business confidence surveys.
“Farmers are showing a lot more optimism in both the wider economy and individual farm prospects,” says Bruce Wills, Federated Farmers President.
“You could say farmers are in recovery mode but this bounce back comes off a low base. There is still a large gap in the sentiment of dairy farmers when compared to the other farming sectors.
“Six months ago, farmers were fairly negative about the wider economy and were very pessimistic about their own profitability. This was particularly the case for sheep and beef farmers. In contrast, dairy farmers were feeling more optimistic than they had been at this point last year [July 2012], thanks mainly to better dairy commodity prices and growing conditions.
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