DairyNZ Urges Farmers to Plan for Higher Costs in 2026/27 Season
Farmers should be cautiously optimistic as the 2026/27 season kicks off, says DairyNZ.
OPINION: Your old mate reckons with the looming failure of He Waka Eke Noa (HWEN) it's not only the Government that should take the fall.
He suggests the leadership of industry bodies - particularly Beef+Lamb NZ and DairyNZ - should seriously consider their futures.
Both organisations' leadership and advocacy on behalf of farmers has been poor throughout the whole process.
They failed to get farmers on board, acquiesced to the Government time after time and consistently failed to push back on the sector's behalf.
Former B+LNZ chair Andrew Morrison lost his job when farmers voted him out - due to the HWEN debacle.
Many dairy farmers now believe it is appropriate that DairyNZ chair Jim van der Poel should fall on his sword as he has been at the forefront of pushing the deeply unpopular HWEN.
In advance of the Budget, Finance Minister Nicola Willis put a clear damper on expectations and delivered accordingly.
Farmers should be cautiously optimistic as the 2026/27 season kicks off, says DairyNZ.
RaboResearch senior analyst Emma Higgins expects the 2026/27 dairy season to be another profitable one.
The new dairy season is kicking off with plenty of risks to the forecast farmgate price, both upside and downside, says ANZ agricultural economist Matt Dilly.
A potential showdown between the top two Federated Farmers leaders looms at the farmer lobby's annual meeting later this month.
FarmIQ Systems has developed a free land management app to help remove barriers to New Zealand farmers and growers adopting digital tools.