The Victorian dairy industry and state government have joined forces to launch an information hub centralising helpful resources for farmers, facing challenging economic and seasonal conditions.
And discussions are now underway to roll the hub out, nationally, with an Australian Dairy Farmers spokeswoman saying it could soon be tailored to farmers in all states.
The hub – dairyfarmercentral.com.au aimed to become the ‘go-to’ directory where dairy farmers could access a collated list of industry and government endorsed programs, initiatives and events.
Project partners, United Dairyfarmers of Victoria (UDV) president Mr Adam Jenkins said dairyfarmercentral.com.au was a great platform that would help streamline all of the useful programs, initiatives and events for farmers.
“We felt there was a strong need to develop Dairy Farmer Central to ensure dairy farmers had a singular, easy-to-use information source to find out more about all of the avenues for support that are available to them and their families,” Mr Jenkins said.
“We fully support working collaboratively with industry partners and government on initiatives such as Dairy Farmer Central, as we are all stronger when we are united to face the challenges of our industry.”
Delivered as part of a collaborative approach from industry and government, the content on dairyfarmercentral.com.au connects farmers with helpful tools packaged in three streams: farm business management – financial and farm management; farmer wellbeing and support; and events.
Project partners include the Dairy Australia, Victorian Government, Australian Dairy Farmers, Australian Dairy Products Federation and Victoria Farmers Federation (VFF).
It has the independent support of the Gardiner Dairy Foundation, which led, developed and funded the website.
Mr Jenkins said the project partners encouraged the entire dairy community to share existing programs, initiatives and events that could help strengthen the content on dairyfarmercentral.com.au by contacting Tim Roache, Business Manager of the Gardiner Dairy Foundation, at tim.roache@gardinerfoundation.com.au.
They could also join the conversation about Dairy Farmer Central on Twitter @farmercentral with #dairy247.
For dairy farmers and their families seeking help, please phone Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyondblue 1300 224 636.
