Spring is officially here

Spring is officially here

Spring is officially here and dairy in particular is flat out. The challenge of shifting up several gears is real as farmers review plans and look beyond the ‘urgent and immediate’ to where they need to be now. This is difficult but vital – it’s much easier to set plans but daunting keeping to them particularly following a winter many would rather forget.

With vastly increased costs for productive expenditure such as fertiliser, nitrogen, and animal health remedies our 2021 dollars will now buy much less. It’s not realistic to expect the same level of production for lower investment in productive inputs and decisions need to be made around the need to spend more now or accept lower production. If we expect to achieve the same outputs with reduced inputs the result is not going to be palatable, especially downstream for banks and suppliers.

Sheep and beef prices, minus wool, are holding well and with overseas demand for our lamb in an upward trajectory, farmers could be forgiven for being optimistic regarding return on expenditure. It does get even busier in November and December for both sectors so once again plan ahead, consider options, and get prepared for the season ahead.

And talking of planning ahead! We’ve implemented our own forward planning resulting in an exciting change for the business. I am moving away from my role as CEO to drive software development in line with the changing needs of New Zealand farmers. And I am delighted to announce the appointment of Nicola Black as our new CEO. Nicola has proven commercial, management, and financial analysis capabilities and is also a local with strong farming connections here in Wairarapa.

So welcome to Nicola who is already at the helm, and best of luck for the season ahead.

Brian