Editorial: Getting RMA settings right
OPINION: The Government has been seeking industry feedback on its proposed amendments to a range of Resource Management Act (RMA) national direction instruments.
OPINION: A recent survey revealed that farmers are feeling excessive and undue pressure from their banks.
The Federated Farmers’ Banking Survey also unveiled that farmer satisfaction with their bank is at a record low.
While the new farmer-friendly Coalition Government has done a few good things for the agriculture sector as part of its 100-day plan, farmers are eagerly waiting for more, and on top of the list is an independent inquiry into rural banking.
According to Federated Farmers, of the farmers surveyed, 25.8% felt they’d come under ‘undue pressure’ from their bank over the previous six months, up 2% from May to a new record high. Although 55.6% remain satisfied or very satisfied with their banking relationship, this was down 0.7% from the last survey in May - a record low since the survey began in May 2015.
Richard McIntyre, Federated Farmers domestic commerce and competition spokesperson, says the results add weight to the call for an independent inquiry into rural banking.
Many farmers commented in the survey that their dissatisfaction was due to interest rates being too high - and much higher than those for residential borrowers.
The average mortgage interest rate in the survey was 8.26%, up from 7.84% in May 2023, and a big jump from its lowest point of 3.79% in May 2021. Meanwhile, the average overdraft interest rate increased from 10.07% in May to 10.52% in November, up from a record low of 6.28% two years earlier.
Farmers claim that the banks seem to be charging far higher interest rates for farm lending than for home loans.
Farmers deserve to know why farm lending rates are so much higher than the rate on offer for things like urban home loans.
Only an independent rural banking inquiry will provide them an answer.
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.
DairyNZ says its plantain programme continues to deliver promising results, with new data confirming that modest levels of plantain in pastures reduce nitrogen leaching, offering farmers a practical, science-backed tool to meet environmental goals.
According to the most recent Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey, farmer confidence has inched higher, reaching its second highest reading in the last decade.
OPINION: Should cows in NZ be microchipped?
OPINION: Legislation being drafted to bring back the controversial trade of live animal exports by sea is getting stuck in the…