'A complete dog
OPINION: It's not just a rural banking inquiry that farmers want. Freshwater farm plans are another major headache for farmers.
News that farmers are feeling the pressure from banks is unsurprising.
Read: Banks put screws on farmers.
Dairy News reported Feds president Katie Milne saying at National Fieldays this year that the mood was sombre.
Andrew Hoggard recalls that when he visited various Fieldays bank sites it was apparent that a couple of the banks didn’t have much interest in being there. Others had downsized their sites and were not touting hard for new business.
ANZ’s head of agri, Mark Hiddleston, said at that time that the Reserve Bank’s increased capital proposal would either restrict the availability of capital or raise the cost of capital.
Today his view is backed David Tripe, professor of banking at Massey University.
Tripe says the new rules mean that generally the banks are going to be pressured to hold a higher percentage of capital reserves. To do this they will have to either increase their returns on lending substantially or cut back on the amount of lending.
“The lending they will cut back on is the lending that is less profitable, which for most of them is agriculture.
“What has tended to happen in the past is that people have been very enthusiastic about farming without regard to the concerns of doing it. The new Reserve Bank rules will give the banks a new focus on the returns from any new lending.”
Tripe says less money will inevitably be available for the agri sector. Lending to the farming sector is no longer as easy as it was. The effect of this may be lower land prices.
Red meat farmers have dealt a major blow to their umbrella farmer body, Beef + Lamb New Zealand - rejecting an increase in directors’ fees.
The Climate Change Commission wants the new Government to reduce NZ Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction volumes as son as possible.
Southland-based Mataura Valley Milk can now lay claim to be the first all-electric dairy factory in New Zealand.
Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand for their products.
Meat co-operative Alliance Group has bagged four gold medals at the Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards, achieving top honours for every cut entered.
There is increasing evidence that dairy demand is on the upswing, according to Rabobank senior agricultural analyst Emma Higgins.
OPINION: It's not just a rural banking inquiry that farmers want. Freshwater farm plans are another major headache for farmers.
OPINION: The new Government may be farmer friendly, but it's not love, rather action that farmers want.