A significant decline is being forecast in the New Zealand dairy herd in 2016 as a result of the current weakness of global dairy markets. It is estimated that more than 200,000 head could be culled from the NZ dairy herd – bringing numbers down to approximately 5.4m head.

Dogged by a lack of rain, market analysts are now fearful the dry conditions extending across the Ukraine and Russia will hamper next year’s wheat sowings taking place right now in a key producing region. Russian wheat growers faced the same restrictive weather when sowing last year, although crop yields were still strong.

After three separate takeover bids from the US seed giant Monsanto, along with endless speculation, Syngenta’s share price inflated by as much as 30% over the past four months. However, after Monsanto pulled the plug on any takeover deal last week, the share price took a nosedive – crashing by almost 20% in a matter of minutes.

According to the latest outlook from the USDA, agricultural exports from the US are forecast to reach almost $140bn (€124bn) in 2015. Although the forecast has been revised slightly downwards from May estimates, the US agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack believes this year’s agri exports from the US will still be the third or fourth highest total on record.