The $6 price applies to milk sourced from its own farms and used by the company, plus that sold to other processors.
Group chief executive Peter Skene said more than half the milk produced on its own farms was sold to other milk processors
Mr Skene said the opening price was 22 cents a kilogram above last season’s opening price of $5.78/kgMS.
Australian Dairy Farms Group, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, owns the Camperdown Dairy plant in Camperdown.
“Since day one, we have been evaluating options to use our own farm milk for Camperdown Dairy products in an effective and cost-efficient way, while also ensuring we achieve the best price for any surplus milk,” he said.
“With the co-operation or our milk supply partners we have achieved this target.”
Australian Dairy Farms Group has been producing organic butter for Organic Dairy Farmers of Australia through a joint venture arrangement for the past five years to improve throughput through the Camperdown Dairy plant.
As part of that joint venture, ODFA had the rights to sell all the organic butter produced at the plant, while Australian Dairy Farms Group took the non-organic butter.
But this week, the company announced it was taking sole ownership of the joint venture and now had the right to sell organic butter produced through its organic milk suppliers.
Mr Skene said the joint venture was dissolved because ODFA wanted to produce its own organic butter through its new plant in Geelong.
He said the joint venture had five years to run and as part of the severance arrangement, ODFA transferred its interest to Australian Dairy Farms Group for $400,000.
By: PETER HEMPHILL
Source: The Weekly Times
Link: https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/agribusiness/dairy/australian-dairy-farms-group-opens-201819-season-with-6kg-milk-price/news-story/eef49c5f37dc6280519a8c8735bef810
