FARMERS face a hike in debt repayments and a $7 billion export slug from a "double whammy" of rising interest rates and the high Australian dollar.

That’s the view of the National Farmers’ Federation, which has slammed today’s decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia to lift official cash rates by 0.25 per cent.

The RBA said the economy was doing better than expected and there was no reason to keep rates at the "emergency" levels of 3 per cent designed to keep Australia out of recession.

But NFF chief executive Ben Fargher said the rate decision was a "cruel blow" for many farmers already grappling with high debt on the back of a long drought, and the impact of the high dollar.

"It’s not good news.  Farmers now face the double whammy of rising interest rates and a high and rising dollar," Mr Fargher said.

The latest federal estimate found rural debt totaling more than $58 billion in June last year, or an average of more than $500,000 per farm.

The dollar has risen by 35-37 per cent since February this year, reaching US88 cents this week.

The NFF estimates that every 1 per cent rise in the dollar costs farmers about $190 million in lower net export returns, which would be as much as $7 billion over the next year if the dollar stays at this level.