Federated Farmers is pleased the Reserve Bank has decided to leave interest rates unchanged at 2.5 percent.

Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard does not expect to have to raise the official cash rate until mid-year.

Federated Farmers spokesman David Broome says farmers are facing a raft of upcoming expenses.

"The much speculated increase to GST is one of them, but we also face the start of the emissions trading scheme on the first of July which frankly, no one has has an understanding of what impact that's going to have. We've also got the usual suspects of council rates and have to pay wage increases."

Mr Broome says the government must seriously prune its expenditure in the upcoming budget because high costs are sucking too much money out of the productive sector.

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New Zealand is one of just three countries on a roll of honour at the World Trade Organisation when it comes to providing data about farm subsidies.

The information is essential to gauge whether nations are sticking to trade agreements. Under WTO agreements, most members agree to limit how much they pay farmers to encourage them to grow food, and how much they support exports.

Ecuador and Cuba are the other two countries praised for providing recent figures. Australia, Brazil, Canada, the European Union and United States are behind on domestic support data and export subsidy information.

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Lincoln University and Otago's Telford Rural Polytechnic are investigating a possible merger.

They say the move would complement the existing partnerships they already have.

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