New Zealand rural confidence stages dramatic improvement

New Zealand farmer confidence has staged a dramatic improvement on the levels seen in the first half of 2008, according to the latest Rabobank/Nielsen Rural Confidence Survey.

The survey – conducted across New Zealand last month – showed the number of farmers expecting the rural economy to improve had leapt to 59 per cent, compared to just 18 per cent who had that expectation back in April this year, at the time of the previous survey. The number expecting economic conditions to worsen had fallen from 37 per cent to just seven per cent.

Full Rural Confidence Survey at:

http://www.farmingshow.com/documents/Rabobank_Sept2008.pdf