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Andrew Hoggard.
Feds dairy chairman Andrew Hoggard says the Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction needs some CPR to shock it back into life.
"If you look more into the future, forward contracts were still pretty flat. Six months out it was still US$2200/t. We want to see prices get close to that US$3000/t mark so we can get things back to a nice level," he says.
"While everyone has brought their cost of production down, it is still very much hand to mouth at the moment."
He thinks many farmers are getting their costs down to the $3.50-$4/kgMS range.
"The challenge is if you've got $1/kgMS debt, then you are in a hard place," he says. "There are people with more than $1/kgMS debt so that makes the proposition for them extremely tough.
"It didn't fill me with confidence but it's not yet time to hit the gloom and doom panic button.
"It's bumbling along there and I think a lot of people would feel a lot more comfortable if we saw a couple of decent rises to give us more confidence, but at the moment it is not inspiring a great deal of confidence."
DCANZ information showed the North Island was down 5% and the South Island down 22% in June. But it is not an indication of a trend because of the small amount of production in that month anyway.
"Just a few people deciding winter milk wasn't worth it can alter that quite dramatically," he says.
A rare weather double-whammy has seen many South Island farmers having to deal with unseasonal snow while still cut off from power supplies after an unprecedented windstorm.
OPINION: For close to eight years now, I have found myself talking about methane quite a lot.
OPINION: Recent media commentary from Southland Federated Farmers has raised concerns among our rural communities, particularly around Environment Southland’s approach to winter grazing inspections and nitrogen reporting. But let’s be clear, much of what’s been said simply doesn’t reflect reality.
OPINION: Environment Canterbury's (ECan) decision recently to declare a so-called “nitrate emergency” is laughable.
A shameless political stunt is how Federated Farmers is describing the Canterbury Regional Council decision to declare “a nitrate emergency” on the back of its latest annual groundwater quality survey.
With the current situation in the European farm machinery market being described as difficult at best, it’s perhaps no surprise that the upcoming AgriSIMA 2026 agricultural machinery exhibition, scheduled for February 2026 at Paris-Nord Villepinte, has been cancelled.
The Meat Industry Association of New Zealand (MIA) has launched the first in-market activation of the refreshed Taste Pure Nature country-of-origin brand with an exclusive pop-up restaurant experience in Shanghai.
Jayna Wadsworth, daughter of the late New Zealand wicketkeeper Ken Wadsworth, has launched an auction of cricket memorabilia to raise funds for I Am Hope's youth mental health work.
As we move into the 2025/26 growing season, the Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA) reports that the third quarter results for the year to date is showing that the stagnated tractor market of the last 18 months is showing signs of recovery.
DairyNZ chair Tracy Brown is urging dairy farmers to participate in the 2026 Levy vote, to be held early next year.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is calling for nominations for director roles in the Eastern North Island and Southern South Island electoral districts.
