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Kirsten Bryant.
Beef + Lamb NZ director Kirsten Bryant is concerned about the perception that hill country farmers aren’t doing well.
Bryant says she and her husband have three hill country farms and financially they have never done as well as they are doing now. Their properties are returning 5% to 8% on capital. “I don’t know where this perception that hill country farming is not profitable has come from,” she told Rural News.
“For a start, let’s not forget about hill country farms that this is where the lambs are bred. So you start focusing on hill country farming as a negative and talking it down and soon you are going to lose your breeding ewes and total lamb production,” she says.
Bryant says BLNZ has work to do to dispel the thinking that hill country farms are not profitable.
She says, in general, things are looking positive for sheep and beef farmers. However, a whole lot of things are changing outside the farmgate and the challenge is going to be keeping farmers abreast of all of these developments and helping them to adapt in a positive way.
Bryant says the big issues relate to environmental performance, climate change, water quality and health and safety
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