Dairy farmers head to cities for nationwide rally over industry crisis

Tractors, four-wheeler motorbikes and even a dairy cow were among a crowd of thousands marching through Melbourne CBD at lunchtime.
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For Basil White the rally started on Tuesday at 4am, when he set off in his tractor to reach the Victorian Parliament House in time.
Most other farmers did not have the luxury of spending a night away from the farm.
Their day started in typical pre-sunrise darkness, milking and feeding herds in sheds across the state.
The rally, organised by lobby group Farmer Power, certainly attracted attention and support from the general public but there was confusion as to what it was calling for and who it was targeting.
The Federal Government got in before marching began, announcing a relief package that included money for industry programs and rural financial counselling.

The key offering from Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce was an extension of the Government’s controversial low-interest loan scheme.
It is a scheme already offered to drought-affected farmers but farm groups and the Opposition’s agricultural spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon have been highly critical.
State and Federal Government relief packageshave done little to appease the lobby group leading the charge, Farmer Power, which is calling for a review of the entire industry and prohibition of ‘claw back’ provisions that allow processors to retrospectively cut milk prices for farmers.
It was this mechanism that allowed Murray Goulburn and Fonterra to recoup money already paid to its suppliers, when they announced retrospective price cuts last month.
Farmer Power is also calling on government to establish a 50-cent levy on every litre of fresh milk sold in Australia, for a kitty that will assist farmers directly.
«[Farmers] do not need any more loans, they’re at the end of their line of credit now,» vice president Alex Robertson said, in response to the Federal Government extending its low-interest loan scheme.
But Victoria’s peak lobby group — United Dairy Farmers of Victoria — said re-regulation would be turning the lock back 20 years.
President Adam Jenkins said it would hurt farmers in the long run.

Minute’s silence for farmers lost to suicide

It was an emotional rally at Queensland’s Parliament House, where dairy farmers gathered to support dairy producers in Victoria and held a minute’s silence for farmers lost to suicide.
«This is an industry-wide problem and when we’re talking industry-wide we are talking about everybody in this country,» Robbie Radel, a dairy farmer from Biggenden, said.
«And while we’re thinking about everybody in this country I would ask you to take your hats of, we’re going to have a minute’s silence to honour those brave dairy farmers who couldn’t make their way out of this; they couldn’t see their way clear.
«They’ve taken their lives; they’ve taken what they believed to be the only option.»
Victorian police and dairy lobby groups have told the ABC they have been unable to verify any cases of farmers suicide as a result of the milk price cuts.
Mr Radel called on retailers to put an end to the so-called milk price war and for politicians to take bi-partisan action in support of the industry.
«We can only be pushed so far before we are out the back door. It is time to put aside your political differences stand up together and put the farmers first,» he said.
«Let’s get rid of dollar-a-litre milk, let’s get a fair base price for Australian dairy farmers and let’s get this country back on its feet,» he said to loud applause.
In Adelaide, 50 protestors braved the rain to stage a similar rally.

About 60 of South Australia’s 250 dairy farmers supply Murray-Goulburn and Fonterra.
David Smart supplies Warrnambool Cheese and Butter and is worried more processors will follow suit and cut their prices later in the year.
«Our current cost of production is 44 cents a litre if we drop below that, we’re finished,» he said.
«In six months we may not have a future, I’m trying to set up a future for my children and if things keep going the way they’re going, we just won’t be farming anymore.»
Mandy Pacitti who farms on the Fleurieu Peninsula said the Commonwealth’s assistance was only a short-term fix.
«It’s a help for those suppliers if they do want it, for sure but at the end of the day if we’re not going to get paid a profitable amount of money we’ve still got to service the loan,» she said.
«We still need to address a lot more in the industry before we say it’s all fixed.»
She said farmers were grateful to see consumers buying branded products and it was making a difference.
«If you buy a brand of milk over a generic or private label, you’re paying a bit more and we appreciate that,» she said.
«But those profits from there will filter back through the processor back down to the farm gate.»

 
Source: ABC
 

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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