Dollar-a-litre milk continues to hurt drought-hit dairy farmers

As you drive down the Princes Highway on the New South Wales south coast through the town of Milton, there are two large signs erected by the side of the road on the gates to Robert Miller's dairy farm.
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They are demanding better milk prices for farmers, and they are accusing big supermarkets of profiteering during the drought by selling milk at discounted prices to get people into stores.
Mr Miller claims the combination of drought and low milk prices are killing the dairy farming industry.
He said he believed that more than 50 per cent of dairy farmers could be broke by Christmas if the drought did not break and milk prices in supermarkets did not increase.
It is a figure that has not been tested, but the price of producing milk in comparison to supermarket shelf prices is uncontested.
«The cost of milk, just to source the feed alone, is $1.30 per litre. But the supermarkets are selling it for $1 a litre and it’s killing us,» he said.
To keep his farm afloat with such low milk prices, Mr Miller has been selling cattle to China and Japan to supplement his income for the past seven years.
However, this market has dried up too.
Minister says supermarkets should increase prices
The NSW Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair agreed with Mr Miller in saying that supermarkets should be raising their prices, particularly during such a harsh drought.
«We shouldn’t be seeing milk used as a commodity that is being sold under the price of production just to get people into supermarkets,» Mr Blair said.
«At the same time they are doing this, the supermarkets are saying they are helping out farmers and raising money for drought.»
He also encouraged consumers to take a stand and move away from buying the dollar-a-litre milk products on the shelves.
But he did not commit to introducing any kind of levy or government regulation on prices.
A report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released in April this year said low milk prices in supermarkets were not the cause of low prices for suppliers and decided not to take action against the big supermarkets.
The industry body for dairy farming in NSW, Dairy Connect, agreed with the decision, but said something needs to be done.
President of Dairy Connect, Graham Forbes said the issue was with processors, not supermarkets, and increasing milk prices on the shelves would not necessarily mean better prices at the farm gate.
«Certainly farmers of most other commodities don’t focus on the end price of their commodity,» Mr Forbes said.
«When we sell our cows we don’t complain what McDonald’s sell their hamburgers for or what mince sells for in the supermarkets.
«I think we have to be really focussed on on who’s paying the bills to the farmers and that’s the processors.»
The ACCC report also indicated a mandatory code of conduct for the industry should be implemented despite processors wanting the code to be voluntary.
Mr Forbes said a mandatory code should be introduced.
«That would allow a lot fairer playing field to occur between the farmer and the processor,» he said.
Mr Miller agreed that the drought was having a devastating effect on farmers, but said between that and the low milk prices in supermarkets it was just about at the end of the line for his farm.
«I’ve more than had enough,» Mr Miller said.
«I’m going broke.»

Mirá También

Así lo expresó Domingo Possetto, secretario de la seccional Rafaela, quien además, afirmó que a los productores «habitualmente los ignoran los gobiernos». Además, reconoció la labor de los empresarios de las firmas locales y aseguró que están «esperanzados» con la negociación entre SanCor y Adecoagro.

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