Six commercial farms have been destroyed by the huge fire in the hills southwest of Nelson, according to Federated Farmers.

State farmer Landcorp has raised the ire of opposition politicians and Federated Farmers over its increasingly overt political behaviour.

Farmers’ bank satisfaction is at its lowest and their financial pressure at its highest since 2015, reveals the Federated Farmers November Banking Survey.

Farming has been under the microscope this month with three heavyweight Government reports — on water quality, climate change and Mycoplasma bovis — all appearing in just three days.

Dairy farming is in the spotlight following three heavyweight Government announcements. 

Federated Farmers vice president Andrew Hoggard says someone who has recently bought a farm and may be highly leveraged could be hit by the introduction of a capital gains tax pushing down land values.

Give us a “simple one-on-one” guide to the issue of climate change, says Federated Farmers vice-president and climate change spokesman Andrew Hoggard.

Heavily indebted farmers may be under pressure from their banks to sell up on the rising farm market to get out of their debt.

Federated Farmers vice president Andrew Hoggard says the NAIT system has worried him for a long time and he doubts whether it would cope with an outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD)

More farmers are feeling under financial pressure, and satisfaction with their banks has slipped, the May 2018 Federated Farmers’ Banking Survey shows.