Fonterra’s exit from Australia ‘a major event’
Fonterra’s impending exit from the Australian dairy industry is a major event but the story doesn’t change too much for farmers.
China's slower than expected recovery from Covid-19 and an oversupply of Australian sheep meat is causing problems for NZ sheep farmers.
Rabobank’s senior agricultural analyst Emma Higgins says there is more pain to come before things start to settle down.
“The sheepmeat price schedule has come below the bottom of the five year price range, so it’s a bit more tricky there with some really tough market settings in the coming months.”
“They have had good lambing percentages and are now being warned about a possible dry summer.”
On the flip side, Higgins says there is some good news on the beef front with some stabilisation coming through in terms of farm gates prices in NZ. “In the last month these have started to track upwards due to the price of beef lean trimmings starting to lift in export markets.”
She adds that with milk production in NZ declining, it should mean that the schedule price will follow the normal season trend in the coming months.
Fonterra’s impending exit from the Australian dairy industry is a major event but the story doesn’t change too much for farmers.
Expect greater collaboration between Massey University’s school of Agriculture and Environment and Ireland’s leading agriculture university, the University College of Dublin (UCD), in the future.
A partnership between Torere Macadamias Ltd and the Riddet Institute aims to unlock value from macadamia nuts while growing the next generation of Māori agribusiness researchers.
A new partnership between Dairy Women’s Network (DWN) and NZAgbiz aims to make evidence-based calf rearing practices accessible to all farm teams.
Despite some trying circumstances recently, the cherry season looks set to emerge on top of things.
Changed logos on shirts otherwise it will be business as usual when Fonterra’s consumer and related businesses are expected to change hands next month.

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