He says the fall was expected with the arrival of winter but farm sales were still significantly ahead of the equivalent periods in 2019 and 2020.
REINZ data shows there were 137 more farm sales (an increase of 53.7%) for the three months ended June 2021, than for the three months ended June 2020.
Overall, there were 392 farm sales in the three months ended June, compared to 450 farm sales for the three months ended May 2021 (a fall of 12.9%) and 255 farm sales for the three months ended June 2020.
Peacocke says putting the statistics to one side, heading into winter on-farm conditions in many regions reflected a continuation of late autumn, with mild weather and good grass-growing conditions.
However, the arrival of heavy frosts, cold winds, snow and floods brought the earlier benign conditions to a halt.
“Coinciding with such change, ongoing compliance rules, freshwater regulations, the continuing shortage of labour and a fresh raft of unwelcome tax rules have finally resulted in a dramatic surge of publicly expressed discontent, with howls of protest from the rural sector saying ‘enough is enough’,” Peacocke said.
“Central government has rasped a raw nerve and the rural community is reacting in a manner close to rebellion, so interesting times lie ahead.
“On the product front, lamb prices are hitting record levels, beef has quickly achieved prices reflective of a shortening of supply, the milk payout appears strong in spite of volatility on the Global Dairy Trade auction platform and, given the ability to cope with supply chain disruptions, returns for kiwifruit and other horticultural products look highly promising.”
He says the “dark horse” in the race, however, would appear to be the future level of the Official Cash Rate (OCR) and the resulting impact on interest rates should a rise in the OCR come about.
“As is always the case, the agricultural sector is in a constant state of motion,” he said.
There were 1748 farms sold in the year ended June 2021, 51.5% more than were sold in the year ended June 2020, with 148.1% more dairy farms, 47.6% more dairy support, 40.1% more grazing farms, 67.5% more finishing farms and 30.5% less arable farms sold over the same period.
However, grazing and finishing properties topped the latest sales figures, with grazing farms accounting for 31% of all sales in the three months ended June 2021, with finishing farms 30%, dairy 14% and horticulture 10%.
For the three months ended June 2021, the median sale price for grazing farms was $11,284 (123 properties), compared to $11,199 (123 properties) for the three months ended May 2021 and $8733 (69 properties) for the three months ended June 2020.
That’s an increase of 29.2% in the median price per hectare for grazing farms during the past 12 months.
For the three months ended June 2021, the median sale price per hectare for the 116 finishing farms sold was $35,747 compared to $37,178 (118 properties) for the three months ended May 2021, and $32,578 (70 properties) for the three months ended June 2020.
That’s an increase of 9.7% in the median price per hectare for finishing farms during the past 12 months.
For the three months ended June 2021, the median sales price per hectare for dairy farms was $34,282 (55 properties), compared to $32,536 (86 properties) for the three months ended May 2021, and $23,843 (23 properties) for the three months ended June 2020.
That’s an increase of 43.8% in the median price per hectare for dairy farms during the past 12 months.
