Dairy prices have made solid gains in the overnight auction.
The average price climbed 6.6 percent to $US2436 a tonne.
Most products notched gains, with the all important whole-milk powder price rising 9.9 percent to $US2265 a tonne.
That is still a long way from a break-even range of $US3000 or more.
The rise in the overall auction is the first substantial gain since June.
On Monday dairy co-operative Fonterra held its forecast farmgate price to farmers at $4.25 per kilo of milk solids, amid a high New Zealand dollar.
Fonterra expects global milk supply and demand to come back into balance over the season with milk production falling.
Farm enterprise specialist at KPMG Julia Jones said farmers could take some comfort with the gains in the auction.
"Today is going to give a sense of better sentiment, but it is still really tough on the farm at the moment, they've come out of a difficult season and potentially heading into a new one," she said.
Ms Jones said dairy farmers in tough situations could turn to local rural support trusts for help.
