Earlier in the year, Federated Farmers' 2026 National Pests Survey put a number on something every farmer already knows. Pests cost farms around $466 million a year inside the gate: about $82 million spent on control, and $384 million lost in production that control didn't stop. That's before you count the farmer's own time, which is where most of the work actually happens.
Two-thirds of farmers say pest numbers have gone up over the past five years. Nearly a third have had to cut stocking rates because of pests, up from about one in nine in 2024. Spending is up too, from $5.45 to $6.18 a hectare. More money, more hours, more pests.
The work is already being done
More than 90% of farms do their own pest control. Surveyed farmers culled around 225,000 animals in a year, roughly 380 a farm. Deer culled per 100 hectares has more than doubled since 2024.
Almost all of it is treated as an expense. Only 13 percent of farmers say any pest species on their farm has value to them, and a fifth of those mean meat for the freezer or the dogs.
Where the value goes missing
Some of it is simple: a carcass at the bottom of a gully is worth nothing to anyone. Some of it is the rules. Wild meat that goes into a food chain, for people or pets, needs paperwork that proves where it came from and that it's clear of toxins. Farmers in the survey describe deer near a brodifacoum operation that can only be shot and left. The report's own conclusion is that this takes away both a reason to cull and part of the payback for doing it.
Turning a cost into supply
That's the gap Happy Ending sits in.
- If you shoot yourself, you can supply. The deer, goat or pig you'd have left becomes protein a processor pays for by the kilo, with the supplier declaration written from what you log. Small animals go in a box with a docket. You can get the right credential, tested inside the app, processor-approved for pet food, and we'll introduce you to the nearest processor taking supply.
- If you'd rather not, list the property. Approved hunters harvest at no cost to you, and you decide who comes on and when. Time is the main thing stopping farmers doing more, so hand that part over.
- If the block can't be harvested, there's paid pest removal.
- Either way, keep the record. Every animal is logged with where and when it came out. Over a few seasons that shows the effort going in and the numbers coming down, which counts when you're making the case to a council or a catchment group.
It works better together
The survey's clearest message is that control only sticks when everyone does it. Farmers name forestry and Crown land as the hardest neighbour eight times more often than another farm, and many have watched coordinated programmes work, then stall when the funding ended. When the block next door lists too, the huntable area joins up at the fence line.
Leave Earth Better.