Drought causes fall in sheep numbers

The number of sheep fell by three percent in the year ended June 2020, Stats NZ said today.

Final figures show that there were 26 million sheep in total – a fall of 800,000 from the previous year and a far cry from the peak of 70 million sheep in 1982.

“The 2020 drought caused feed shortages that led to a fall in total sheep numbers. Hawke’s Bay had the largest decrease, with the total number of sheep falling by 12 percent (346,000) from the previous year to a total of 2.5 million as at June 2020,” agricultural production statistics manager Ana Krpo said.

“While the fall in sheep numbers during this period is related to the 2020 drought, there has been a general decline for almost 40 years. There are now five sheep per person – a drop from the 1982 historic high of 22 per person.”

“Over the past 10 years alone, sheep numbers have fallen by 6.5 million or 20 percent. A strong contributing factor to the five-sheep-per-person metric was the increase in New Zealand’s population, from 3.2 million in 1982 to 5.1 million in 2020,” Mrs Krpo said.

The total value of sheep-meat exports was $4 billion, for the year ended June 2020.

The export value of wool has plunged dramatically in recent years. In 2012, wool exports were worth $880 million, but that almost halved to just $460 million in 2020.

At JuneTotal sheep
200239572000
200339552000
200439271000
200539880000
200640082000
200738460000
200834088000
200932384000
201032563000
201131132000
201231263000
201330787000
201429803000
201529121000
201627584000
201727527000
201827296000
201926822000
202026029000

Dairy-milking herd (cows in milk or calf) drops from 2016 peak

The milking herd peaked in 2016 and has since dropped seven percent (400,000) to 4.8 million, as at June 2020.

“Despite a smaller dairy herd, the export volume has remained relatively steady in the past five years. The annual value of dairy product exports increased to almost $16 billion in 2014 when international prices were high, before falling back to almost $11 billion in 2016, and returning to $16.6 billion for the year ended June 2020,” Mrs Krpo said.

China remains the main export destination for dairy products, valued at $5.7 billion in 2020 and accounting for just over one-third of total dairy exports.

There was a total of 6.2 million dairy cattle at June 2020, down one percent (61,000) from the previous year. The four largest dairy farming regions are Waikato (1.8 million), Canterbury (1.2 million), Southland (683,000), and Taranaki (555,000).

Total beef cattle increases significantly from 2016

“The total number of beef cattle dropped consistently for the 10 years between 2006 and 2016. Since then, good beef prices provided buoyancy to the industry and, between June 2016 and 2020, the total number of beef cattle increased by 10 percent (350,000) to 3.9 million,” Mrs Krpo said.

More recently, total beef cattle numbers have steadied, and there was little change between the June 2020 beef cattle total and previous years. Just over two-thirds of all beef cattle are farmed in the North Island.

Total beef exports were worth about $3.8 billion for the year ended June 2020, up from $3.3 billion in the year before.

The canopy area of gold kiwifruit overtakes green

The total canopy area of gold kiwifruit has now surpassed that of the green variety. The total canopy area of gold kiwifruit increased to 7,800 hectares at June 2020, compared with 7,500 hectares for green.

“The shift to gold kiwifruit being the predominant variety is also reflected in the export values. In the year ended June 2020, total exports of gold kiwifruit were more than $1.6 billion – well above total exports for green kiwifruit, which were about $900 million. Total exports from all horticultural crops in the same period were $4.2 billion,” Mrs Krpo said.

“Market demand has remained strong and supported a steady increase in kiwifruit canopy area more generally.”

The total canopy area of kiwifruit increased to 15,500 hectares at June 2020, up four percent or 600 hectares from the previous year.

The area of avocados continues to grow

There were more than 4,900 hectares of avocado orchards in 2020, an increase of eight percent or 350 hectares from the previous year. Avocado growing happens mainly in Northland and the Bay of Plenty. For the year ended June 2020, the total value of avocado exports was $112 million, with Australia being the main export destination.

Māori farms account for four percent of farmland in New Zealand

There was a total of 481,000 hectares of farmland identified as being owned or operated by a Māori business. These farms accounted for four percent of New Zealand’s total farmland, which was 13.3 million hectares as at June 2020.

/Stats NZ Public Release. View in full here.