Agsafe Weekly Rural Report

Agsafe Weekly Rural Report: Finance: The NZ exchange rates were steady er the week finishing on a par with the previous week. The Reserve Bank maintained the OCR at 3.25%. Brent Crude remains steady below $70/barrel. Watch your fuel prices!!

Wool: Wool prices are steady but at a low unsustainable level.

Beef, Sheep & Venison schedules: Meat schedules are mostly steady to slightly firmer with strong international demand for grass fed red meats. Lamb schedules have shown the biggest movement heading towards the $10/kg.

Dairy Prices. There is a g/DT auction this coming week. It is expected to be “flat” as increased volumes are offered. There is still strong demand for milk proteins. DairyNZ has increased the break-even costs to $8.68/kg ms up from $8.41/kg ms last season.



Pasture production and utilization has not increased over the last 20 years. DairyNZ figures show an increase in profit of $300/extra tonne of DM harvested. Most farmers measure the cows production & potential but fewer farmers are doing the same with the pasture as they move to introduced supplementation increases. When was the last time you did a full farm walk assessing the pasture production?

You can hear us live on the radio on Monday morning at 7.35 am with Brian Kelly on Country Sport Breakfast – Radio NZ Gold AM. 792 AM in the Waikato & 1332 AM in Auckland.

Jim’s Weekly Rant:

During the week I attended an afternoon session at Lye Farm to be appraised of the DairyNZ Methane research project. It was an interesting afternoon, but I still wonder why they are spending so much money looking for the fairies at the bottom of the garden. Lye Farm and the adjacent Scott Farm are jewels in the crown of the dairy industry with some exceptional research being undertaken. The very necessary farm systems and practice research is being funded by the “Industry Levy” and we were assured that government (which is you and me) is funding the Methane research. The farm systems research and the measuring of inputs and outputs that are impossible to do on a daily basis on the farm have always been of assistance and will continue to grow the industry in the future. The Methane research is very intensive and extremely expensive with cows farmed indoors with weighed amounts of food and methane measuring machines that the cows get to use with supplementary feed rewards. The staffing component is a major cost as part of the project requires 24/7 observation at times. The research is being shared with a “sister” facility in Ireland. The details of the research is always interesting. I did question the researchers regarding any potential production increases with a reply that indicated the profits might only come from overall benefits created by lower methane emissions paid by someone in the future who believes Methane mitigation is important and not from the cows ability to produce more milk. My position is that there will be no financial benefit when the politicians eventually accept the reports from the Methane Accord (see Jane Smiths reports) and the real scientists that Methane at 2 ppm (parts per million) or 0.0002% of the atmosphere has no effect on changing the climate. It is a construct of the IPCC zealots and the ideologically driven uneducated lefties and some politicians. During the farm walk I did speak with a “Farm Sustainability” advisor who had never considered that the climate changes might be caused by natural climate cycles and the sun and nothing to do with Methane or CO2 – not even questioning the science!! The scientists and others are all enthusiastic about the research and I can only assume they have somehow been indoctrinated by the political left and the climate ideologs. I would suggest some researching of the works of people like Dr William van Wigngaarden, Prof William Happer, Dr Richard Lindzen and the work of the Heartland Institute would benefit them all and save us millions of dollars. The government needs to save money and cut wasteful expenditure, and a good starting point would be to forget the climate change research directed towards CO2 emissions and Methane and put the saving straight into the health system. The NZ research scientists need to take a wider view on the IPCC doctrines and stand up to the government with internationally researched facts that show that Methane and CO2 are not climate change drivers.