Farmers in Mid Canterbury are still doing it tough, despite farmers feeling less pessimistic than last year when confidence hit an all-time low.

Federated Farmers' mid-season farm confidence survey found an improvement in confidence but cautioned that it was from a very low base. In July 2023, 80% of farmers reported that economic conditions on-farm were tough.

By mid-season this year the number of farmers who said conditions were tough had dropped to 55%, but the report noted that meant more farmers thought conditions were ‘neither good nor bad’ at the expense of ‘bad’, rather than any significant increase in those thinking they were ‘good’.

Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers president David Acland said the mood amongst local farmers was "average" overall, with most farmers "knuckled down behind the farm gate to get through".

Acland said there had been an "uptick" in confidence in the dairy sector as farmgate milk price forecasts improved.

While there's a "degree of confidence" in dairy, farmers in the sheep, beef and arable sectors were battling through tough conditions with high costs and low payouts.

"It's pretty tough graft, especially with the dry conditions," Acland said.

Lamb prices were low with no improvement on the horizon. However, there was "a little bit of confidence starting to kick in" for beef farmers.

Acland said the arable sector was under "significant pressure". Despite a good harvest, prices were low and costs were still high with no sign of inflationary pressures easing for farmers.

The flow-on effect could be seen in town.

"When there's a cool breeze blowing through farming it does create a real chill through Ashburton."

Acland said the main concern for local farmers was the uncertainty in the global markets and the geopolitical landscape with a large number of elections happening this year which could potentially change the trade landscape.

Within a local context, the most important factor for farmers is for the government to take speedy action to address farmers' concerns.

"There is optimism with regard to the regulatory space and the new government. But we're not seeing that flow through. There is a level of frustration in the farming community," Acland said.

The outlook for Mid Canterbury mirrors the New Zealand-wide results from the Federated Farmers confidence survey with the biggest improvement in dairy farmers' outlooks.

Just over 40% of dairy farmers surveyed said economic conditions were bad. However 52.6% said conditions were neither good nor bad, and only 5.8% said economic conditions were good.

Farmers in the meat and wool sectors, where prices remain under strain, only had a small improvement in confidence. A total of 73.8% believed conditions were still bad, while 24.4% said conditions were neither good nor bad and only 1.2% said conditions were good.

The outlook of arable farmers was the most subdued. None of the farmers surveyed said the conditions were good, 16.7% said conditions were neither good nor bad, while 83.3% of arable farmers said conditions were bad.

The four main farmers were debt levels and interest rates, low farmgate and commodity prices, regulation and compliance costs, and climate change policy and emissions trading.

More than half the farmers surveyed (52%) believed the tough outlook was impacting their mental health and well-being, down from 69% in July 2023.

By Sharon Davis