CONFIDENCE OF AUSTRALIA'S FARMERS HITS 2 YEAR LOW.

MELBOURNE, June 1 Asia Pulse - Continued drought and low commodity prices have left Australian farmers feeling more gloomy than they have been in the past two years, according to a survey by agribusiness bank Rabobank Australia.

The quarterly Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey canvassed the opinions of 2,120 broad acre producers nationally.

It found that confidence among farmers had continued to fall for the fourth consecutive survey, and only 16 per cent of farmers expected the agricultural sector to improve in the next 12 months.

But Rabobank said the survey was taken before widespread rain in many regions over the past week and that rainfall could see a turnaround in farmer confidence in coming months.

Rabobank's head of rural banking in Australia and New Zealand, Neil Dobbin, said the fall in confidence, to its lowest point in almost two years, resulted from growing concerns about prolonged dry weather across much of the country and the direction of commodity prices.

"There has been a building level of anxiety in much of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia that they have been heading for yet another dry year," Mr Dobbin said.

"Farmers in many areas of eastern Australia had been questioning whether the drought is actually over."