Agsafe Weekly Rural Report
Finance: The NZ dollar was slightly easy at the end of the week with a significant easing against the Australian dollar. Brent Crude has lifted in response to the war and is currently $102.90, up from 84.50/barrel last week & $US71.06/barrel 2 weeks ago – pre war.
Wool: The wool prices are firming. There is some renewed optimism in the coarse wool market.
Beef, Sheep & Venison schedules: The meat schedules are mostly steady to easier There is good grass cover across most of the country, but a dry March could change the need to off-load stock.
Dairy Prices. Remain strong with the farmers being optimistic & expecting another $10 payout. The Fonterra interim payout was increased $0.30 in March and most suppliers had forgotten to factor in the $7.75 payment to November 2025. It was $0.30 for the December & January milk plus $0.05 for the June to November milk.
Jim’s Weekly Rant:
Have you ever been phoned to participate in a political survey then waited for the results in the following days? If you have, you are probably like me and wonder how they made the assumptions from the questions asked. It was a few years ago that I was part of a survey and questions were couched in such a way that the results could be interpreted in several ways to tell the country where we are heading. The simple fact is that we all have only 9 months to decide who we want to govern us and we all need to start getting our thoughts sorted. The latest poll slammed the right and gave the extreme left (the Greens) some massive support. The slamming of the right culminated in TV 1’s Mikie Sherman hounding Chris Luxon through the airport about his poor showing and possible resignation. The reality was, could you believe the support the Greens have, because I can’t? It is time to start telling your friends and neighbours what sort of country you want. I have talked with a number of politicians in the coalition and they all tell me that Luxon is a very good manager of the caucus and seem to accept that he is not a presidential type politician like Key & Ardern were (or tried to be). I want to live in a country that can pay its way in the world, controls its spending and shows compassion to its citizens. I want to see the national debt reducing and our resilience against political shocks from around the world minimized. I am hopeful that the racial tensions will disappear and there will be one understanding of the treaty of Waitangi and that immigration is better managed to grow the economy. I want Net Zero dumped and the truth told about the changing climate so we can exit the Patis Agreement. These dreams might require the country to access its own oil source, and there is plenty out there and to have an oil refinery that works. To increase the natural gas supply from our own bores to generate electricity and make Urea fertilizer for the agricultural sector and Ad-Blue for the transport industry; to mine the massive phosphate reserves off the Chatham Islands; to increase the power generation capacity from geothermal bores and the use of our high-quality coal. I also wonder why all the iron sands are exported to Japan, when New Zealand could use them to produce more high-quality steel locally. With a greater level of self-sufficiency in oil the bitumen quality will improve and roads will be better. This all sounds like Muldoon’s “Think-Big” plans over again. I want to see Agriculture get its value recognized and the countries income from tourism put in perspective. Much of the tourism relies on the weakness of our dollar and all tourism activities are bundled while the various agricultural activities are separated into Dairy, Meat, Horticulture etc. Wouldn’t it be great if this small nation with an abundance of resources had a dollar that again was equal to the US dollar and not languishing around the 55 to 65 cents mark and our milk and meat prices remain where they are now. I challenge you all to put on paper what you want and try and work out what political party or parties will achieve your wishes, I can assure you the management of the economy by Chloe and Napkins will not get me anywhere near what I would like!!
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