There's increasing confidence in agriculture by the New Zealand public.
A comprehensive survey has found that the New Zealand public are more confident in our primary producers than media trends might often portray and their view of the sector has improved over the last three years.
The survey, carried out by Research First, found that the perception of our primary producers was good when compared with other sectors such as financial services, tertiary education and retail trade. Overall, while 11% of New Zealanders feel more negative about farming and growing than they did three years ago, 24% feel more positive. When it comes to arable farming, 5% feel more negative, while 20% are more positive. Key drivers for these changes have been identified as environmental impact, prices, staff shortages and waste.