Australia may have to import milk if dairy industry crisis continues, farmers claim

And Farmer Power group tells Senate inquiry that 50c a litre levy on milk would allow most farmers to break even
Share on twitter
Share on facebook
Share on linkedin
Share on whatsapp
Share on email

Dairy farmers have warned a Senate inquiry that Australia could soon be importing milk from New Zealand and other countries if the crisis enveloping the dairy industry was not addressed.
A voluntary group, Farmer Power, has joined calls for a 50c a litre levy on milk to help farmers struggling against the pricing policies of major supermarkets and clawback schemes initiated by processors Murray Goulburn and Fonterra.
A dairy farmer, Alex Symons, told a Senate committee in Canberra on Wednesdaythat the situation was so bad you couldn’t give away a farm nowadays.
It had been building for years, but the past five months had been the straw that broke the camel’s back, he said.
Symons said raising the supermarket price of a litre of milk from $1 to $1.50 would take it back to 1980s levels.
“It’s not a big ask,” he said, disputing claims consumers would not want to pay the higher price if it meant helping farmers.
The measure would enable most farmers to break even.
“We’re not talking about making millionaires out of people here,” Symons said. “This is about saving people.
“We get out of bed at 5 o’clock and say, ‘Great! We’re going to lose another $1,000 today. Let’s go and do it.’
“We’ve turned into volunteers.”
A levy would also mean farmers wouldn’t have to keep funding Dairy Australia and money could be collected for loans to help other farmers buy their first property.
Symons said there was no confidence in the industry and in the past five or six months most of the 25- to 35-year-olds who had bought herds of cows had been wiped out.
He told the story of a “terrific” young farmer who owed about $150,000 on his cows, when overnight he was hit with a $140,000 bill from Murray Goulburn.
A bad season and the need for hay meant ending up with a $70,000 bank overdraft. Staying on for another year would have increased his debt by $130,000.
“He’s gone and, pardon the French, there are shitloads of them that are getting out,” Symons said.
The group said farmers did not need more loans or to go into more debt.
“Putting it on the credit card is not the answer,” its vice-president, Alex Robertson, said.
Another farmer, Darryl Cardona, said Australia would soon be importing milk, including from New Zealand.
“I pretty much guess that this will happen in the next two years if it continues without any change,” he said.
The trio said an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission inquiry into the industry wouldn’t hurt, but they had their doubts. They also thought the government’s $500,000 for financial counselling helps only some cases.
“To most farmers it’s a little bit laughable,” Symons said.
Earlier, the Australian Dairy Farmers interim chief executive, John McQueen, said he could not see consumers or parliament agreeing to a 50c levy.
Agriculture department officials told the committee 44 farm businesses had had concessional loans approved, from 170 applications.
They said the government had not considered a temporary milk levy in detail, but expressed concerns about consumers not buying milk if it cost more.
 
Source: TheGuardian
Link: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/oct/26/australia-may-soon-have-to-import-milk-farmers-say

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.

Te puede interesar

Notas
Relacionadas