Results from a recent survey suggest that Southland farmers perceive their farm businesses as being risky, and that this risk has increased significantly over the past decade. More importantly, they perceive that their ability to control these risk factors is limited. It may be argued that a number of potential risk amelioration strategies will not be considered by the majority of farmers as these strategies conflict with some important non-economic farming goals. As a result, any policy initiative which is designed to reduce or limit the risks faced by farmers should be based on a sound understanding of the likely reactions of those farmers. Keywords agricultural risk, risk, risk perceptions, Southland farmers, agricultural policy
