Farmers are reportedly spending more on fertiliser as their incomes from meat and wool rise.

Graeme Smith,  Balance Agri-nutrients General Manager of Sales and Marketing, saysBalance has experienced some major growths since February, when sheep and beef farmers started receiving higher prices for their beef and lamb.

“Balance has been experiencing some major growths since the middle of February when sheep and beef farmers found out that they were getting much more higher incomes for their lambs then they budgeted for and that coincided with dairy payouts being confirmed.”

Graeme Smith says sales have increased by around 15 percent on a year ago when famers were reluctant to spend money on fertiliser.

“There has certainly been a lot more buoyancy in the market.

“Many farmers, mainly the sheep and beef farmers, who have not put fertilizer on their farms for the past 2 or 3 years, are now coming back into the market and playing catch up on the volumes that they didn’t put in, in that period of time.” 

And Balance Agri-nutrients warns, that because of the tough times, some New Zealand paddocks are so depleted of nutrients they are close to slipping below accepted soil fertility levels.

Warwick Catto, head of Research and Environment at Balance Agri-nutrients, says nutrient levels are better on dairy farms as a rule, but the situation is worse on many sheep and beef farms where no capital fertiliser has been spread for two or three years.