Bank lending to farmers has fallen $1 billion from its peak in September last year, latest Reserve Bank figures show.

The latest Chinese bid for the Crafar dairy farms is a key test for new rules on foreign ownership, reports Karyn Scherer

Labour is continuing to insist that putting agriculture into the Emissions Trading Scheme in 2013 won't raise the price of dairy products, and says Prime Minister John Key is being misleading by saying it will.

Fonterra, the world's biggest dairy exporter, lifted its forecast 2011 pay-out to farmers to a range of $8 to $8.10, before retentions, while flagging a reduced payment for the following year.

Olam, the Singaporean food commodities group, says high NZ milk prices have wiped out profits at its 25 per cent-owned Open Country Dairy and it may consider exiting the investment.

Fonterra says it is about to buy a dairy farm in Brazil.

High milk prices have forced an award-winning Hawkes Bay cheese factory to close, with the loss of nine jobs.

Imagine, by some clever sleight of hand, dairy monopoly Fonterra artificially inflated the price it pays to farmers.

Food prices were up 0.3 per cent last month, says Stats NZ, with prices up 5.5 from a year earlier.

Fonterra is being asked to hand over its raw milk price calculations to the Commerce Commission, as it looks into whether a full milk price inquiry is justified.