Fieldays optimism meets farmers’ concerns over costs and compliance

Friday, 12 June 2026

Farmers were generally feeling positive with high payouts across the board, but compliance and costs were still on their minds. From left are farmers Graeme Bayliss, Andrew McCutcheon, Chris Minehan.

Farmers may be selling product for good prices but many feel they must “hang on to the money a bit” in uncertain times.

Everything from cattle to wool prices were looking up after a tough few years but other things have increased too, such as fertiliser costs, and there’s looming environmental legislation.

So the feeling at Fieldays is positive, but not without concerns.

Chris Minehan and Graeme Bayliss were drystock farmers up from Hawke’s Bay. They were concerned about a possible drought this summer, especially as they’re on the east coast.

“It would be good if prices hold, but it’s always an uncertain thing,” Bayliss said.

Federated Farmers and Power Farming held a panel to discuss challenges in the sector.

They had felt the impact of rising input costs and were worried about the flow on effects next season.

“Even though prices are good, you’ve got that feeling that you need to hang on to the money a bit because you don’t want to be sitting at empty when things are uncertain. You need a reserve because banks are not like they used to be,” Minehan said.

Rising input costs were a concern for many farmers, especially fuel and fertiliser increases after the Iran war.

They reckoned environmental legislation around farm plans could also become a worry with a lot of unknowns. Bayliss said it felt like councils were “looking where they don’t need to look” and often let those not doing environmental management off.

For Bernie Cousins, a sheep and beef farmer from Taupō, fertiliser costs were the biggest concern.

Mark Heer, left, believed getting talented and motivated staff was always a primary concern of farmers but thought there was a good flow of young kiwis into the industry. Wit him are Warren Klein, Mike Tocker and Caitlin Hays.

“The prices are really high because of the war and that will be a concern later on. It’s part of the reason I am here looking for alternatives to solid fertiliser … We’re all going to be in the same boat.”

Cousins said the cattle prices had been “brilliant”, but with cash only coming in two months of a year, he wasn’t eager to spend where he didn’t need to.

Federated Farmers were focused on building strong political relationships coming into the election year. From left are Richard Dawkins, David Birkett, Karl Dean and Ben Chapman-Smith.

Mark Heer, a Waikato farmer involved in the dairy and pig farming industries, believed staffing was always on farmers’ minds as well as concerns about overseas diseases entering New Zealand.

“If you’ve got good people, you’ll have good business…. AI won’t replace that. It’s a productivity lifter potentially, but it’s not going to replace motivated people.

Richard Dawkins, Fed Farmers chair of meat and wool, says a priority for him is encouraging practical RMA changes.

“It’s good to see agribusiness in schools and there is a curriculum rewrite happening at the moment. There should be a good focus on agriculture.”

Federated Farmers held a panel discussion with their industry chairs that echoed much of farmers’ sentiments.

Waikato Regional Council director of resource use Brent Sinclair says Plan Change 1 changes will be slow to come into effect.

Meat and wool industry chair Richard Dawkins said they were seeing potentially “once in a generation” conditions.

“It was tough for a few years, so to see the positivity across the board, it was much needed and really refreshing. There are significant returns in mutton, lamb and beef and even wool now is, not only covering costs, but generating a profit.”

Federated Farmers Waikato co vice president Andrew Reymer at his dairy farm in Ōhaupō.

Dairy industry chair Karl Dean echoed that but cautioned that although prices looked “stable” for the next 12 months, costs were creeping up.

Arable sector struggles were highlighted by chair David Birkett, who noted inflation, capital costs and wet summers had put the sector in a tough position the last couple of years. He had seen a wave of farmers leaving the sector and encouraged dairy and drystock farmers to use local feeds as much as possible.

This year’s focus areas for Dawkins was getting through consistent and “realistic” RMA and local government changes. He was also encouraging farmers to invest in infrastructure and on-farm maintenance while they profitable.

Election year was on everyone’s minds and Dean noted that Fed Farmers was connecting with all parties in advance of a change of government and “educating them on what rural economy is about” - even if at times it was like “hitting your head against a brick wall”.

Another priority was encouraging a review of the Sharemilking Agreements Act to create pay and contract consistency. He hoped this would help close the gap between contract milkers and sharemilkers to aid succession.

Across the board, the chairs wanted to stop seeing aspects like immigration and environmental legislation being used as a “political football”.

Waikato co-vice president Andrew Reymer acknowledged that Plan Change 1 would be on farmers’ minds, but said the Feds were ready to support council and farmers.

“We’ve just got to get on with it and be pragmatic.”

The message from him, and Waikato Regional Council resource use director Brent Sinclair, was that “nothing had changed from today to tomorrow” for farmers. The regulations had been in the pipeline and there would be a gradual roll-out of rules.