Contractors among the first to suffer recession in agriculture

Contractors up and down the country are reporting a dismal season across the board. Although farming has not yet been hit dramatically by the recession (apart from the decreasing dairy pay-out) it seems farmers have been tightening their belts and deciding not to hire cultivators and fertiliser spreaders, in favour of doing it themselves.

Locally many contractors have said they have had the quietest January/February for many years and March has only marginally been better.

The upshot of this is that we may see some contractors forced out of the industry, jobs lost, and less money floating about rural townships - which would be a further blow to the economy as the Government is looking particularly to the rural sector for growth.

Let's hope the situation improves.