Farmers digging in for the long haul

Confidence among farmers is tumbling in the face of global financial market concerns and flagging commodity prices, says Rabobank.

The latest Rabobank/Nielsen rural confidence survey shows more farmers expected conditions to get worse than better.

The number of farmers surveyed last month who expect the agricultural economy to get worse during the next year was 29 per cent, up from 7 per cent in the last survey in August.

And those expecting things to get better plummeted to 26 per cent from 59 per cent.