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REX April 1 - Prof. Derrick Moot, Dan Bolton and Richard Lindroos

March 31, 2026·43 min·3 clips

Silver Fern Farms paid farmers 32% more per animal in 2025 while booking a $70 million financial turnaround on $3 billion revenue.

The programme starts at farm level. Dom George sets up a plain run through nitrogen supply: how much fertiliser is available in New Zealand, and whether farmers should be thinking about panic stations yet. Professor Derek Moot is the first guest flagged, with the focus kept on the fertiliser situation in New Zealand right now. Silver Fern Farms then becomes the main business story. Dan Bolton comes in after the 2025 results, with the red meat co-op described as having made a $70 million turnaround. The result sounds strong, but Bolton does not treat it like an easy win. He points back to the losses before 2025 and says the organisation has had to keep trimming its sails. His answer stays close to the farmgate. Profit is not framed as spare cash. He argues for keeping funds inside Silver Fern Farms so the co-op can invest, build resilience, and carry less risk. Working capital is the pressure underneath that choice. Strong market prices and strong farmgate prices, he says, put more strain on cash across the sector. Livestock flow is another constraint, not just a background detail. Bolton says flows were challenged through 2025 and have stayed that way into 2026, even though the first quarter landed on budget. The figures make the squeeze clearer. Beef is down about 18 percent for Silver Fern Farms in the first quarter, and lamb is down about 12 percent. Feed conditions are changing the shape of that. With animals growing well, Bolton says stock are now starting to move strongly into the processing network. Capacity is useful, but tight. Silver Fern Farms is pretty much full across all 14 sites, so timing matters. The episode also looks beyond one co-op, with the cold open pointing to Middle East supply chain pressure and a Field Day Society conversation.

As heard by us

A practical rural briefing that keeps turning headlines into farm-gate consequences.

The hour tracks the pressure points on the farm calendar: nitrogen supply, co-op finances, and the run-up to Fieldays. It turns sector headlines into usable farm-gate context, linking fertiliser supply in New Zealand, the reported $70 million turnaround at Silver Fern Farms, and…

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Why you'd press play

You want a fast read on nitrogen supply, Silver Fern Farms' turnaround, and the Fieldays countdown.

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