Cost and price pressures cause agricultural confidence to decline

Farmer confidence remains at its lowest level on record in the latest biannual federal survey of farmers.

More than two-thirds of the 1,400 farmers surveyed described the current economic situation as “bad.”

Federation Farmers president Wayne Langford told RNZ a range of factors were making the situation difficult for the industry. 9 a.m. to noon.

“We’re seeing widespread drought across much of the South Island and parts of the lower North Island.

“At the same time, we have farms that are rebuilding after last year’s cyclone, and combined with significantly lower prices for some commodities, especially lamb, it’s a disaster for farmer confidence.”

Neil Bateup, national chairman of the Rural Support Trust, said it was a “drudgery” for many farmers.

“Rising costs, rising interest rates, and weather-related issues keep coming up, making it hard to see hope for the future.”

Langford said three-quarters of farmers are either breaking even or losing money.

“That was the last season. Now when we ask them what the future holds, they say it’s actually getting worse, not better.”

He said the situation was not favorable for raw material supply.

“In the farming system we need to have a stockpile of feed for the winter. We haven’t been able to do that this year because it was so dry that farmers obviously had less feed to stockpile for the winter and now it’s so cold that we obviously don’t have much grass.

“Now they’re really just waiting for a nice spring, waiting for the grass to grow, waiting for the feed to become available.”

They say these pressures can cause stress for farmers and exacerbate the mental health issues that can follow.

Langford has been open about his past struggles with mental health issues.

“I think the hardest part is making decisions, and a lot of times we make hundreds of decisions a day without even realizing we’re making them.

“When your brain starts to get a little confused and things start to overwhelm you, you stop making those decisions. And then, you can imagine what happens on the farm, and it all piles on top of each other.”

Bettep said access to mental health services in regional New Zealand was uneven.

“Some areas of New Zealand do have some issues. Some areas are OK and we can get counselling or GP support or even crisis teams.

“But there are areas of New Zealand where there are no professional teams to contact.”

Even getting an appointment with a GP was difficult, he said.

“I was talking to a farmer in one area not long ago who called to make an appointment and was told they didn’t have any appointments for the next three months. He said, well, what about after that? They said we won’t be taking appointments after three months, so he couldn’t get an appointment, even though he was a registered customer of the clinic.”

On the plus side, he said, the farming community is more open about mental health issues.

“We do get calls now from male farmers saying, ‘Hey, our tracking isn’t going so well, we’d like to have someone to talk to, someone to come check us out so that things can change over the years.

“I’ve been involved in this for about 20 years, and this certainly wouldn’t have happened 20 years ago.”

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