IT’S only been six weeks since the grassroots lobby group Farmer Power began its push for a better milk price, holding several emotional public rallies around the State since mid-January.
And last week the group were able to highlight the financial challenges of the dairy industry to Federal Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig, presenting their case for cash assistance at a meeting hosted by the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) in Melbourne, with United Dairy Farmers of Victoria (UDV) representatives also present.
Farmer Power co-organiser Chris Gleeson admitted he was pleased the group were offered the opportunity to speak with Mr Ludwig.
“I think he’s now acknowledged the impact our cost of production in relation what we are getting paid is having on farmers,” he said.
While Mr Ludwig did not give an indication about whether any action could now be taken, Mr Gleeson said he never expected him to make any decisions immediately.
“It’s up to the government whether they want to save the industry now or not,” he said.
“We’ve showed them how big the problem is and that dairy businesses are going into administration.”
He said he described the current situation as an “economic drought in regards to cash flow”.
In response, Mr Ludwig told Stock & Land he continued to recognise the ongoing concerns of dairy farmers.
"Australian agriculture is seeing a patchwork effect and while some areas are doing well, others are doing it tough," he said.
"For some dairy farmers in Victoria, a range of factors are combining to place pressure on their businesses."
He said Dairy Australia was aware of those pressures and was using levies and government funding to support producers through initiatives such as the Tactics for Tight Times workshops.
"The Transitional Farm Family Payment is available to producers to provide some financial assistance," he said.
"In addition to this, we will continue to work with industry to look at the issues affecting them and how we can assist producers going forward."
Meanwhile, Farmer Power continued to hit out at the peak dairy lobby group this week, after Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF) president Noel Campbell told the Australian Financial Review that the high Australian dollar – not the $1 a litre milk - was to blame for farmers’ problems.
Mr Gleeson said Farmer Power disagreed with that claim and that supermarket discounting was having a disastrous impact on the industry.
“We refer to Kirin, who since acquiring National Foods and Dairy Farmers have written off over $2.1 billion in four years, and have been quoted as a directly linking these to the supermarket wars,” the group said in a media release.
“A loss of $500 million per year for four years is unsustainable. These costs are then being shifted onto dairy farmers, with lower payments for milk, and increased cost of manufacture, an unsustainable situation.”
Mr Gleeson said Mr Campbell’s comments reiterated why the Farmer Power group had managed to gather so many disgruntled producers.
“This is just proof in the pudding. It ($1 milk) does have an impact on farmers,” he said.
“ADF are not performing for grassroots farmers. We are in this situation because of low milk prices, and you can blame the Australian dollar, but that’s not whole answer.
“ADF haven’t performed and should be made accountable.”
