Australia’s dairy future is bright

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/31/australias-dairy-future-is-bright

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Jane Stanley recently painted an unrelentingly bleak picture of Australia’s dairy industry by claiming that milk was now “cheaper than water”. Expensive bottled water is not a new phenomenon and, depending on the brand, it has been more expensive than milk for a very long time. Stanley asks what is wrong with this picture, but she neglects to describe all the facts.

It is true that the Australian dairy industry has been buffeted by the perfect storm in the last decade: severe drought, the global financial crisis, a persistently high Aussie dollar, rising costs for feed and depressed milk prices. It’s been rough ride, but the majority of the country’s dairy farmers have by and large weathered the tempest by adjusting their businesses to meet these challenges. There is no better example of this than the dairy farmers in Northern Victoria’s irrigation block, who not only operated in difficult drought conditions for 10 years but have lead the industry in growth in the last two years.

The fact is, we remain a $13bn manufacturing and export industry that employs 43,000 Australians directly on farms and in milk factories in towns where they are often the economic mainstay. More than 100,000 more Australians rely on our industry for their livelihoods as truck drivers, vets, agronomists, financial advisers, feed and water brokers – the list goes on. 

Dairy is also the third largest agricultural industry in Australia and the largest in Victoria. Our exports in 2012-13 were worth $2.76bn. The bidding war for Warrnambool Cheese and Butter between Canadian and Australian dairy companies shows that where some of our farmers see only collapse and gloom, the world thinks Australian dairy has so much to offer that they want to invest in our industry to supply new markets in Asia. 

I know farmers who have collectively invested millions of dollars securing their place in the future of the Victorian Dairy Industry. They are not lucky – they are smart, and continually invest in their own farming skills and business management capability. They make good strategic and operational decisions most of the time, and can always point to things they could have done better. They look to themselves to ensure their business settings are appropriate for the environmental factors they cannot control.

The recovery we are now experiencing is still fragile, and we can’t do it without the support of Australian consumers. We farmers don’t want anyone lumping us in with the likes of the domestic car manufacturing industry – we don’t think of ourselves as an economic mess making products no one wants to buy and unable to survive without government hand-outs.

Dairy Australia, the Australian national body for the dairy industry critised by Stanley, is funded by a compulsory levy. Farmers voted for the continuation of the levy because they understand it is essential to the future success of the dairy industry. Dairy Australia invests in both short and long term research and development (mostly about farm profitability); a range of trade and policy support activities to support our representative bodies and a whole lot of other "behind the scenes" activities which ensures the industry has a secure future in our communities.

That said, farmers do need to hold Dairy Australia to account for the spending of our levies. We need to ensure real value is created from our investment and we must work closely with the researchers to ensure work is being done on the right topics to ensure farm profitability long in to the future. These are just some of the tasks of our dairy representative bodies – our members pay a subscription and for that they have many opportunities to shape the future of the industry through their involvement. 

At the same time, it is farmers' responsibility to take up the challenge of adopting and adapting new techniques and technologies to ensure they are profitable. A medium sized dairy farm will turnover about $1m each year. Proprietors need a broad range of skills as well as a range of support services. The industry is very well placed to assist anybody who wants to develop their skills to ensure they have a bright future.

Australians can really help us here at home by seeking out Australian cheeses, yoghurts and other products – and eating lots more of them. They can also help by encouraging their sons and daughters to embrace the looming dining boom in Asia, and make a career in one of the many fields where we desperately need highly skilled workers. This is a diverse industry: we need more people making careers in animal husbandry, crop science, agri-business management and development, food technology, machinery technicians, government relations, financial services, just to mention a few.

While farm gate price volatility and unpredictable seasonal weather patterns are create serious challenges for dairyfarmers, the overall picture in Australia’s dairy community is not doom and gloom, but rather a sense of hope and opportunity. 

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