Crisis, devastation, severe financial losses. These words have all been used to describe the woes hitting the Australian dairy industry.
More recently, especially on social media, other words have crept into the discussion about the industry, including the word "suicide".
A number of posts have been placed on social media recently claiming that dairy farmers have taken their lives because of the crisis sparked by plummeting milk prices. The deeply worrying claims have come in less than a month since the first milk price cut was announced.
But to date, the social media claims of suicide seem to be unsubstantiated and unconfirmed. A spokesman for the United Dairyfarmers of Victoria said on Monday afternoon that there was "no evidence of suicides attributable to the dairy price cut".
In response to claims of farmer suicides, the president of the Victorian Farmers Federation, Peter Tuohey, called for calm and cool heads in the dairy industry.
"It's irresponsible to make those claims when there's no confirmation around," he said, when told of one dramatic social media post.
"It distresses the whole industry, the whole community," he said.
"That could actually distress people enough, (who are already) in a distressed state they are, it could actually cause them to think well if other people are doing it they might do it themselves," he said.
Last week, the following dramatic post appeared on Facebook. It appeared to be a screen grab of an exchange of text messages.
Person A: "Our sales rep in Gippsland is apparently off on leave as he found a husband and wife hanging in their dairy. Sad"
Respondent replied: "Oh my f---ing God." Followed by "That is absolutely devastating!!!"
Person A: "Yeah, that's the side of the milk problem we won't read or see in the paper." Followed by "See on TV" and then followed by "Read in the paper".
Respondent: "Exactly the things the public needs to know so they can make better and more informed choices…."
The post did not mention the location in Gippsland of the alleged incident, the company the "sales rep" worked for, or when the incident allegedly happened.
In response to the post, the United Dairyfarmers of Victoria gave the following statement to The Age: "It is an unsubstantiated claim. It is a rumour at this stage, we have no evidence that suggests that this is an actual incident," a spokesman said.
The spokesman also said: "We take all reports of alleged incidents seriously, because we want to make sure that people who are facing financial and emotional stress receive the assistance they require."
In a package announced last week, the state government boosted the amount of funding for counselling services and Lifeline by $940,000 to give farmers more support and advice.
The government also announced $345,000 for grants for affected communities to get together and talk about issues of concern, and $150,000 to give 750 people mental health first aid training.
