Source: Federated Farmers
A new survey shows New Zealand’s pest problem has reached crisis point, with farmers spending more money and effort controlling pests – but still going backwards.
The findings come from Federated Farmers’ second National Pests Survey, which shows pest numbers are increasing faster than they were two years ago, and farmers are calling for a coordinated response across public and private land.
Federated Farmers pest management spokesperson Richard Dawkins says farmers are already doing plenty, but individual efforts can only go so far when pests keep reinvading from neighbouring land.
“We’ve spent years trying to tackle this species by species and property by property. The numbers tell us that approach isn’t working.
“We can’t keep asking farmers to win a landscape-scale battle one boundary fence at a time.
“New Zealand needs a properly funded national pest management strategy that sets clear responsibilities for farmers, forestry, councils and the Crown,” Dawkins says.
The survey estimates pests are costing farmers around $466 million a year through direct control costs and lost production.
Two-thirds of farmers now report pest numbers have increased over the past five years, up from around half in 2024.
Farmers are spending an average $6.18 per hectare each year on pest control, up around 13% in two years.
Recreational hunting is already deeply embedded in pest control on New Zealand farms.
Farmers, their families and staff undertake control on more than nine in ten farms, with other recreational hunters also assisting on around half.
“Those numbers should put this issue in perspective,” Dawkins says.
“There’s already a huge amount of hunting happening across rural New Zealand, and pest populations are still increasing.
“We are not going to shoot our way out of this problem one weekend at a time.”
Despite that extra effort, nearly one in three farmers are having to reduce their stocking rates because pests are consuming so much pasture, compared to only one in nine in 2024.
Dawkins says the costs extend well beyond lost pasture.
“There’s also a financial hit from crop damage and reduced yield, damage to fences and gates, as well as losses from diseases spread by pests.”
One farmer reported losing around $100,000 after a leptospirosis outbreak caused widespread abortions in ewes and heifers, which they believed was linked to wild pigs coming from neighbouring properties.
The survey found farmers consistently identified neighbouring forestry and Crown land as the main sources of pest reinvasion, rather than other farms.
“If farmers are expected to control pests, then so should lifestyle block owners, forestry owners and those managing Crown and conservation land, with regional councils monitoring and enforcing compliance,” Dawkins says.
“Pest control in mature forests can be difficult, but that doesn’t remove responsibility.
“Farmers should not be left carrying the cost when deer and pigs spill across the boundary.”
The survey also found the number of deer culled per hectare has more than doubled since 2024, while the proportion of farmers actively managing deer has risen by 13%.
Deer now ranks third nationally for overall impact but is named the single worst pest by more farmers than any species except possums.
Dawkins says any national strategy needs clear, independently set population targets based on the damage pests are causing.
“We also need to be clear about whose interests these targets are supposed to serve.
“Eighty-three percent of pest managers in our survey said the pest species on their farm had no economic value to them.
“This means deer numbers need to be managed around the damage they are doing to farms, forests and native vegetation, not around how many animals somebody would like left in the hills.
“We don’t need any one interest group setting the target and then marking its own homework.”
Deer are not the only species heading the wrong way, with wild pigs, Canada geese and wallabies also increasing.
Possums are another looming concern. For years, TB control programmes helped suppress possum numbers across large parts of rural New Zealand.
As those programmes are wound back, farmers are seeing possums build up again.
“We can’t spend decades knocking possum numbers down, declare victory over TB, then simply walk away and let them come roaring back,” Dawkins says.
He says coordinated programmes have shown pest numbers can be brought down, and the results reinforce the need for a national approach.
“We’ve been calling for a national pest strategy for some time. These results show why it can’t sit on the to-do list any longer.
“We’ve diagnosed the problem to death. It’s time to actually treat it.”