NZ Grain Production
NZGSTA, as a member of AFIC, has been actively involved in trying to get an accurate picture of the grain industry in New Zealand. Over the last year or two there has been media speculation about the price New Zealand farmers receive for their grain being much less than their international counterparts, and the corresponding value of imported grain.
The Arable Industry Marketing Initiative was set up originally by FAR to give grain producers better information about global prices and opportunities for them in the market place. The project was later broadened to include end users and merchants and a steering committee formed. NZGSTA is represented on that steering committee.
From the first meeting it was clear that the lack of information about production would always hamper any planning by end users to buy New Zealand grain, so a project was set up to capture production information directly from a sample of producers. The project is run by the Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit (AERU) at Lincoln University and produces quarterly information.
The base data on which the report is based was derived from MAF statistics, but the changes and trends reported each quarter are reviewed by the steering committee before being published and put through the test of “reasonableness” by those dealing in the market place. After the first two surveys the data is deemed to match real life experience within the time lapse of capturing the data and publishing it.
As time goes by this data is expected to provide a useful and valuable resource for buyers and sellers of New Zealand grains.
Arable Marketing Initiative – On Farm data survey results – September 2010
Arable Marketing Initiative – On Farm data survey results – December 2010