A meeting of 500 dairy farmers at Terang in western Victoria, most of whom sell their milk to Australia’s two biggest dairy companies, Murray Goulburn and Fonterra, backed the idea of adding a 50c “farmer support levy” to every litre of milk sold in shops and supermarkets.
Amid predictions that 20 per cent of the 4600 dairy farmers who supply Murray Goulburn and Fonterra would go broke, Victorian Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford yesterday asked the major banks to show “sympathy and compassion” towards farmers facing sudden bankruptcy and farm foreclosure in a “catastrophic situation”.
It is understood all eight remaining farmer directors on the Murray Goulburn Board will stand down today, including Phil Tracy, the chairman and steadfast supporter of resigned chief executive Gary Helou.
Three directors of the 12-member board have quit in the past week, leaving non-farmer special board member Peter Hawkins and new chief operating officer Fiona Smith as the sole surviving directors.
Murray Goulburn two weeks ago slashed its farmgate milk price by 15 per cent to 34.6c a litre and demanded farmers retrospectively repay “overpaid” milk income for the past 10 months, a move that Fonterra mirrored a week later.
This has left 75 per cent of the Victorian dairy industry — the core of the $2 billion dairy export industry — with a “claimed” clawback debt of $120,000-$150,000 each, according to the milk companies.
Chris Gleeson, farmer and president of dairy activist group Farmer Power, said the proposed “emergency milk levy” would solve the crisis and ensure “food security for the nation”.
Mr Gleeson, of Crossley in southwestern Victoria, said it would cost consumers $50 a year extra for their milk but would stop young farmers going broke and stall the flooding of local meatworks with dairy cows that farmers can no longer afford to keep and milk.
If the government will not allow a 50c emergency levy, Mr Gleeson said a regulated minimum floor farmgate price was the only way to ensure that farmers were fairly paid for their milk.
