Silver Fern Farms says the group agitating for change at New Zealand's biggest meat processor has misled shareholders.

There's so much milk flowing out of US cows these days that some is ending up in dirt pits because dairies can't find buyers.

Disgruntled Alliance Group shareholders say they hope to have the support from the 5 per cent of their number required to force a special meeting to discuss the potential benefits.

The New Zealand dollar fell after prices for the nation's largest commodity export declined in the latest GlobalDairyTrade auction overnight.

The price for NZ's key dairy export, whole milk powder, is set to decline further at tonight's GlobalDairyTrade auction.

Prime Minister John Key says overseas markets are causing high prices for milk at home.

New Zealand farmer confidence slumped to the lowest level in a decade in the second quarter as dairy farmers turned gloomy.

Stephen Dickson carries ferrets down the front of his jersey when he is out rabbiting in Wanaka. He uses ferrets as an alternative to shooting and poisoning rabbits in rural areas. Source: Otago Daily Times/Youtube

The best Kiwi farmers would have struggled with the conditions that led to a very high death rate among lambs from pregnant ewes sent to a farm in Saudi Arabia, a company involved in the operation says.

Dairy prices eased at the latest GlobalDairyTrade (GDT) auction but the sale gave away little on where the market, and interest rates, will go in the months ahead.

Lambs born after the airfreighting of 900 pregnant ewes to a businessman’s Saudi farm suffered an extremely high death rate, it has been claimed.

Silver Fern shareholders are seeking to force a special meeting to discuss the benefits of a merger with Alliance Group.

Dairy farm prices eased in the three months to May according to REINZ's latest rural report.

Dairy prices slipped again at this morning's GlobalDairyTrade auction, the GDT price index falling by 1.3 per cent.

Brazil's so-called little crop is going to be bigger than ever, flooding an already oversupplied global corn market and further pressuring prices.

Attendance at Fieldays at Mystery Creek, near Hamilton, was up by 5.2 per cent compared with last year's weather-affected event.

Farmers have overcome the shell shock of very low milk prices to turn out in force at Fieldays - New Zealand's biggest agricultural event.

Media were told that hundreds of Fonterra jobs were to be axed, hours before staff heard the news.

Bill English says that while the dairy industry was an important one, it was not necessarily as big as many thought.

A national programme to address rural depression will be developed in recognition of challenging times for farmers including volatility in milk prices.

ProTen, an Australian chicken farming business whose shares trade on New Zealand's Unlisted market, raised A$34 million ($36.5 million) to fund growth and repay financing.

The New Zealand National Agricultural Fieldays is underway at Mystery Creek Events Center, Hamilton.

Fonterra says it will lay off hundreds of its 1500 head office staff in a major review following the decline in dairy prices.

AgriHQ forecasts increased milk production and a higher forecast payout to dairy farmers will bolster the economy.