Dairy Symposium
On 22 March, a national dairy symposium was held in Melbourne. Almost 100 people attended included myself, the eastAUSmilk president Joe Bradley and a range of people from industry, government and unions. The key issues in the dairy industry are restructuring the dairy industry, increasing profits leading to growth and prioritising Australian dairy products.
Restructuring the dairy industry was the key outcome from dairy plan and nothing has been done on this front except QDO merging with Dairy Connect to form eastAUSmilk. This has caused massive frustration for dairy farmers who want duplication and waste removed and outcomes for dairy farmers. This was the focus of a farmer forum before the main symposium and the need for change was extremely clear to farmers and their representatives. Unfortunately, this issue was barely touched on during the main forum.
Minister Watt committed to seriously considering proposals from the industry to restructure the industry. Given the minister overseas Dairy Australia, no meaningful restructuring is possible without his approval. He has the power to lead or block change in the industry.
There was some discussion re increasing profitability and production and a commitment from the minister to explore this further. Key issues to drive profit and production including increasing the price and fixing market issues relating to the retail sector. The 7 retail inquiries must lead to meaningful change not be swept under the carpet. Improving pastures is critical for farmers in Queensland and NSW where we have lagged behind over the last 50 years. Restructuring the industry to effectively focus on farmer profits and production is key.
Australian dairy products must be prioritised in the eyes of consumers. It is hard to understand why countries who heavily subside their industries are able to dump products into Australia.
If the dairy symposium is to be of value, then rapid progress must be made on the real issues facing the dairy industry. If not, the decline will continue and it will be another talk fest with no outcomes for farmers.
By Eric Danzi, eastAUSmilk CEO