How will most farmers look back on 2010?

It will definitely be the year that kiwifruit growers remember for three letters, Psa, something they hoped they would never hear. There'll certainly be inquiries next year as to how the disease arrived on our shores. Maybe the answer will never be conclusively known, but one thing's for sure -  biosecurity systems will be very much in focus once more.

Dairy farmers will end the year knowing their industry's in good heart and they can put the global economic crisis largely behind them.

Sheep and beef farmers will hope that better overseas price prospects will flow through to them. But the lower lambing average will have a severe effect on farmers' incomes, particularly in Southland. 

And there are still processing issues to be addressed with a lower kill meaning there'll be greater urgency than there was before. But meat companies who have ignored repeated restructuring calls until now aren't likely to change their behaviour very rapidly. A commercial decision will be reached, which is likely to be short rather than medium or long-term.

Wool fortunes at last seem to be on the up. Here's hoping that woolgrowers can see the light at the end of the tunnel at last for their wonderful, natural product.

And the light at the tunnel for vegetable growers could well be Labour's policy of removing GST on fresh fruit and vegetables. If this becomes an election platform and gains real traction, the gains in growers' incomes as well as the health of all New Zealanders could be seen for many years to come.