Victorian dairy farmers set up a new group, to run alongside VFF

United Dairyfarmers of Victoria president Mark Billing has registered an incorporated body called Dairy Farmers Association of Victoria Inc with Consumer Affairs Victoria.

Mr Billing said there was no plan to "blow up" the Victorian Farmers Federation, which UDV is a part of.

"Having that strong relationship with VFF is still very important to us," he said.

"The plan would be similar to the SA Dairyfarmers' Association (SADA) model, whereby they collect the levy and pass on a certain amount to support the peak body (Primary Producers SA).

"We have been talking quite a lot with SADA.

"Their model is quite attractive, it provides a level of resource in SA that we don't have in Victoria.

"SA has 180 dairy farmers and we have a tick under 3000.

"It's a little bit embarrassing that Victoria is the largest dairy state by far in Australia, yet we don't have a person dedicated to working on behalf of dairy farmers, even though we are putting $1 million into the VFF."

The plan comes as the VFF board rejected a call for an extraordinary general meeting.

Mr Billing said in 2017, the UDV had four staff, and now it only had "a 'part' of a person".

Mr Billing said the UDV was struggling to keep up with issues such as administration of biosecurity levies and the workload involved.

"We want to work with the VFF," he said.

"Our concern was that there were a lot of dairy farmers who were starting to say they were not going to continue putting their levy money into the VFF because the value proposition wasn't there.

"As president, it was a bit hard for me to argue against it.

"We are hoping by having an alternative that is still strongly linked with the VFF, particularly when it comes to cross-commodity work, [it might be more appealing for dairy farmers]."

Mr Billing said UDV members felt they weren't getting anywhere in trying to articulate their concerns and in the level of resources being delivered to members.

"The questions we are getting louder and louder are about the value being derived from dairy farmers' money going into the VFF," he said.

He said in February, the UDV Policy Council determined to look at options for the future.

"One of those was setting up a body to support dairy advocacy and policy in Victoria," he said.

He said the Dairy Farmers Association of Victoria would initially be set up to do policy work.

"UDV, in itself, is not an entity," he said.

"The logo and name are owned by the VFF.

"The UDV couldn't get a bank account, couldn't get a loan, couldn't employ anybody, so by setting up this body, that gives us the opportunity to do some project work.

"VFF told us they didn't have the resources to deliver on some projects we wanted to do."

VFF president Emma Germano recently defended her questioning of levy payments, saying changes were needed.

Mr Billing said the UDV could find funding but needed staff to set up the projects it wanted to run.

One was the annual New Zealand study tour for young farmers.

"We haven't been able to run one this year because there haven't been the human resources to organise it," he said.

Mr Billing stressed the UDV wanted the VFF to get through its current issues.

"Hopefully the VFF will work through all this pain they are going through at the moment with commodity groups not happy," he said.

"We just need to get some certainty - and what we are hoping is to have a stronger VFF."

VFF president Emma Germano has been contacted for comment.