Farmer confidence in general economic conditions has hit a record low, according to a Federated Farmers January survey. Of just over a thousand responses from farm businesses around the country, around 65 percent considered current economic conditions to be bad. That’s 17.4 points worse than the survey in July last year and the lowest level of confidence expressed in the 27 surveys the Feds have conducted since 2009.
And farmers aren’t expecting things to get better with 81% expecting economic conditions to deteriorate over the next 12 months. Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard says it’s not just inflation and rising farm input costs concerning farmers, he says climate change policy, the Emissions Trading Scheme, Debt, interest costs and bank pressures are right up there alongside regulation and compliance costs.
The survey found the four highest priorities farmers want the Government to address are Fiscal Policy; Economy & Business Environment; Regulation & Compliance Costs; and Supporting Agriculture & Exporters. Andrew Hoggard says faltering confidence means less investment in farm improvements and production, and lower spending in the provinces.
