First harvest at a MyFarm Rockit™ apple orchard

Borrowers received the first glimmer of much-wanted relief when the Reserve Bank cut the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 0.25% to 5.25% at their meeting on 14th August.

The RBNZ had earlier noted that its estimate of the long-term neutral OCR was 2.75%, so the August cut appears to be the start of a much-needed easing cycle likely to run through to late 2025 or early 2026.

This outlook for a cut of 2.75% from the highs of the past year is great news for borrowers but may require a change of strategy for savers.

Congratulations are in order for yet another of our own. Portfolio Manager Rachel Baker has been added to the tidy list of Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholars within the MyFarm Investments team.

We are just over a week from the general election, and it seems the day can’t come quickly enough. If the election had occurred earlier in the year, Cyclone Gabrielle and climate change would have been more in our minds. Nearly eight months down the track, the electorate has downgraded climate change to number six on the list of concerns.