As seen in The New Zealand Herald here
For many farmers across Hawke’s Bay and wider New Zealand, this season has brought a welcome change of pace.
Red meat, dairy and kiwifruit farmers are enjoying strong prices or production volumes, or even both.
While arable farmers still face challenging conditions, for most other types of farming businesses, improved returns have helped ease some of the pressure that’s built up over the past few years.
For many, there’s finally a bit more breathing room in the form of surplus cash that perhaps hasn’t been there for a while. After a period where the focus has largely been on managing through tighter conditions, that shift matters.
When things improve, the priorities are usually clear. Farmers look to pay down debt, catch up on deferred maintenance, and reinvest back into the farm. Those are all sensible, practical decisions that strengthen the business and position it well for the future.
But strong seasons can also create a subtle trap: treating them like business as usual.
Farming has always been cyclical. Good years are followed by average ones, and eventually by tougher seasons. That’s the nature of the industry. Prices move, weather patterns change, and global conditions shift in ways that are largely outside a farmer’s control.
Our clients on the land tell us the risk isn’t having a good year. The risk is not doing anything different when you do.
The most resilient farming businesses tend to approach strong seasons with a slightly different mindset. They don’t just focus on what needs to be done immediately - they also think about what this moment allows them to do that wouldn’t be possible in a tighter year.
That might mean strengthening the balance sheet or creating a buffer that makes future downturns easier to manage. But increasingly, it also means starting to think beyond the farm itself.
For many farming families, the bulk of their wealth is tied up in the farm - land, livestock, and the income the business generates. That’s understandable. The farm is often the result of decades of hard work, and in many cases, it’s something that’s been built up over generations.
But it also means that financial outcomes can be heavily influenced by a single set of variables - commodity prices, weather conditions, interest rates and regulation.
A strong season presents an opportunity to start balancing that risk by looking to build wealth off-farm.
That doesn’t mean stepping away from the farm or changing what has worked. It simply means recognising that the farm doesn’t have to carry the full weight of the family’s financial future on its own.
Even small steps taken in a strong year can make a meaningful difference over time.
This is also where taking a step back can be valuable. In the middle of a busy season, it’s not always easy to think beyond the day-to-day demands of running a farm. But when conditions allow, it’s worth asking a few simple questions.
What would a couple of weaker seasons look like from here?
How dependent is the business on a single income stream?
What could be done now to make the next downturn easier to manage?
These aren’t theoretical questions - they’re practical ones that go to the heart of long-term resilience.
Strong seasons don’t come along every year. But when they do, they create options.
The real value of a good year isn’t just what it delivers today - it’s what it allows you to build for the years ahead.
Taking the time to step back, think through your options, and get the right advice can make a meaningful difference to how that opportunity plays out over the long term.
For farmers considering how to make the most of a strong season, a conversation with a trusted financial adviser can be a useful place to start - helping turn short term gains into long term financial resilience for you and your family.
James Paterson is the Chief Client Officer of Pie Funds. View our disclosure document here. For personalised financial advice, please speak to a financial adviser.
Information is current as at 12 May 2026. Pie Funds Management Limited (“Pie Funds”) is the issuer and manager of the funds in the Pie Funds Management Scheme and the Pie KiwiSaver Scheme (“Schemes”), the product disclosure statements of which can be found at www.piefunds.co.nz. Any advice is given by Pie Funds and is general only. Our advice relates only to the specific financial products mentioned and does not account for personal circumstances or financial goals. Please see a financial adviser for tailored advice. You may have to pay product or other fees, like brokerage, if you act on any advice. As manager of the Schemes, we receive fees determined by your balance and we benefit financially if you invest in our products. We manage this conflict of interest via an internal compliance framework designed to help us meet our duties to you. For information about how we can help you, our duties and complaint process and how disputes can be resolved, or to see our disclosure statement, please visit www.piefunds.co.nz. Please let us know if you would like a hard copy of this disclosure information.