ADF elections provide clear mandate for change

At Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF) AGM, existing board members Heath Cook, Ben Bennett and David Beca were all re-elected to the ADF board. This is a good result for NSW and Queensland dairy farmers that eastAUSmilk represents. Also, it would have been a mockery if there were no Victorian dairy farmer on the ADF board given that over 60% of Australia’s milk comes from Victoria.

It is a win for all dairy farmers in Australia who want change in the industry. For too long, the industry has been held back by people and organisations who want to keep the industry the same. It is now well beyond time for ADF to lead the industry forward and the excuses must stop.

There are a few issues in the industry that must be fixed by ADF in the next few years. These will only be fixed by strategic, clear and forceful leadership by ADF. Being nice has failed ADF for many years and has led to ADF being largely ignored by other stakeholders within and outside the industry.

Massive change is required in our RD&E sector. We must see the significant RD&E resources available used effectively on priority issues to drive profitability for farmers. We need to see a focus on regional solutions and programs which drive profitability not a centralised model which is doomed to fail farmers. The current DA plan is even greater centralisation, and this is a disaster. Also, we cannot allow processors to continue to be equal partners with ADF to oversee RD&E unless they contribute equal funding.

Another priority for ADF is ensuring integrity in price setting. It was disgraceful to see prices in southern Australia plummet in July this year to levels well below what economics could justify. Prices around $8/kg were not justifiable and showed the power of processors and ADPF to dictate prices. This compares to an announcement by Fonterra last week for a price of $NZ9.50-10.50 which is over $A1/kg more than what Australian farmers are receiving. This plummeting of milk price has made a complete mockery of the dairy code and highlights the massive problems in competition policy.

Eric Danzi, CEO eastAUSmilk