Dairy Sustainability Framework celebrates 10th anniversary
When the Australian dairy industry developed its Sustainability Framework in 2012, it was a landmark achievement that put the Australian dairy at the forefront of sustainable food production globally.
Australian dairy led the way, becoming the first agricultural sector to take an industry-wide approach to tackling sustainability through the development of a comprehensive framework.
In 2015, the Australian dairy industry was recognised for these pioneering efforts by being named the winner of the Food for Sustainable Thought Award at the Banksia Sustainability Awards.
Designed to be responsive to the changing global landscape, the Australian Dairy Industry Sustainability Framework is based around Australian dairy's core promise to provide nutritious food for a healthier world.
Through the framework, the industry reports against that promise and its commitments to dairy people, the community's wellbeing, animals and the environment.
A decade on from the initial development of the framework and the urgency around the need for developing long-term sustainability is as great as ever, as highlighted by the recent catastrophic bushfire and flood events.
Much remains to be done but the Australian dairy industry can be proud of what it has achieved thus far.
The release of the 10-year anniversary report of the Australian Dairy Sustainability Framework was timed to coincide with World Milk Day on June 1, a day of celebration for the dairy industry worldwide.
The report provides highlights from the dairy industry's sustainability journey over the past 10 years and confirms our commitment to continuous improvement so that dairy continues to be part of a healthy, nutritious, affordable and sustainable diet.
Overall, there has been a 23.5 per cent reduction in dairy manufacturers' emissions intensity since 2010/11, with 94pc of dairy farmers now implementing some measures to reduce emissions on-farm to reduce environmental impact.
There has also been significant improvement in how the industry approaches animal care in the last decade.
Research shows that 100pc of dairy farmers now support compliance with animal welfare standards, with most going well beyond this to ensure the best possible care for their animals.
In terms of dairy's role in improving the wellbeing of people, 88pc of general practitioners now feel confident in recommending dairy as a part of a balanced diet.
Investment by Dairy Australia in research has also shown that dairy reduces fractures in aged care residents by 33pc.
Australian Dairy also now plays a major role in enhancing people's livelihoods and our country's economic viability.
Dairy companies generate $15.7 billion in sales and support 70,000 full-time jobs.
Importantly, the Australian Dairy Industry Sustainability Framework is fully aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The framework also includes targets that set the industry's sights for continuous improvement, with indicators and metrics for measuring and reporting progress.
The Australian dairy industry can be justifiably proud of the fact that it supports national and global commitments to net zero emissions.
The industry's commitment to sustainability has been an integral element of the success of the first ten years of the framework.
In their foreword to the framework's 10-year anniversary report, Graeme Nicoll (chair - Dairy Sustainability Steering Committee) and Rick Gladigau (chair - Australian Dairy Industry Council) wrote that:
"In 2022, the urgency of managing sustainability risks such as climate change is increasing," they wrote.
"So, too, is the pace of change in our operating environment. As a result, the framework continues to evolve. It is, after all, a living document that responds to changes in needs and events.
"The dairy industry's vision of sustainable development is as clear today as it was a decade ago. We remain at the forefront of sustainable food production. We intend to still be there in 10 years from now - and beyond."
Action taken over the past 10 years has shown that the Australian dairy industry is serious about being sustainable.
For more information about the internationally recognised Australian Dairy Industry Sustainability Framework and the dairy industry's commitments to its people, animals, the community and planet visit website dairy.com.au
Source: The Land, 6 August 2022
Ekka 2022: Henry family celebrates five generations of showing dairy cattle at the Ekka
THERE'S no doubt the dairy industry runs in the blood of many families and it would be hard to argue that there was a better example at this year's Ekka than the Henry family.
A staple of the Royal Queensland Show's dairy competition, the Henry's introduced a fifth generation of the family to the judging ring with three-year-old Liv.
Representing the family's White Park and Tara Illawarra studs, Liv was flanked by her father Matt and her grandfather Mike as she helped parade cattle in an Ekka ring for the first time.
"Our family has been showing dairy cattle for a long time, generations in fact," Matt Henry told the Queensland Country Life.
"Obviously it's pretty special for my daughter to be able to show here with us and for my dad to be here as well makes it three generations showing together, which is pretty special."
The COVID-19 pandemic has meant the Henrys have been unable to visit the Ekka for the past two years, but Matt said the family had been eagerly awaiting the chance to enter the ring on Monday.
"It's a bit of a tradition for us to show here and I have a lot fond memories of the Brisbane show from when I was a kid," he said.
"Hopefully Liv will be able to look back on her days at the show when she's a bit older because it is pretty special to come along as a kid.
"She's been practicing with a calf at our place near Toowoomba, but she has been pretty excited to come to the Ekka.
"We have been to other shows where she has been able to have a go, but this her first Ekka where she's been old enough to have a go."
Mr Henry said he was hopeful his daughter would carry on the tradition of showing dairy cattle at the Ekka, which was first started by his great-grandfather.
"I hope we're able to carry the tradition on for Liv's generation and beyond, but it is a bit difficult to say," he said.
"Every year it gets more challenging to bring cattle in for the show, but we will certainly like to keep it going.
"It's given me so many good memories and it is always special to come with your family, so I'm hoping we can continue on for hopefully a long time to come."
As well as celebrating a fifth generation entering the judging ring, the Henry family also tasted plenty of success in the Illawarra competition by taking out the champion intermediate female with White Park Joyce 38 as well as the reserve champion junior female with Mash Rosso Beauty alongside the Bourke family.
Plan to vaccinate all livestock in Bali
A $32-million plan to vaccinate all livestock in Bali could protect Australia from the devastating impacts of foot and mouth disease, experts say.
The plan, drawn up by a key cattle industry player with direct working knowledge of the Indonesian cattle industry, would see all the estimated 1.35 million cattle, sheep, pigs and goats fully vaccinated on the Indonesian holiday island within a year.
But the proposal is yet to be presented to Agriculture Minister Murray Watt and has drawn mixed reactions from industry bodies
The plan and budget has been developed by industry stalwart and current Queensland Livestock Exporters Association president Greg Pankhurst.
Mr Pankhurst, who co-owned two Indonesian feedlots for almost two decades, calculated the cost of the four-vaccine program, which would involve 50 vaccination teams and support resources. The plan covers everything from renting office space to airfares to guards, fuel for vehicles and even an incentive for some Balinese farmers to encourage vaccination.
Indonesian-based veterinarian Dr Ross Ainsworth said the proposed vaccination plan “showed the back of the envelope cost is in the order of $32 million” and that Mr Pankhurst had worked on it “given the apparent lack of a coherent plan”
“Assuming this was accepted by the Indonesian government, it has the potential to bring the risk of FMD transmission from Bali to Australia from red hot to minimal, just like the rest of Asia,” said Dr Ainsworth, the author of the South East Asian Beef Market Report.
Dr Ainsworth said the risk of FMD coming into Australia was “getting higher and higher”.
“With minimal vaccination in Bali, the risk of transmission is high and rising,” he said.
“Rome is burning and the fire is in the neighbour’s house. Australia needs to do more to protect itself from the FMD wildfire.
“I don’t doubt that our government is trying but I also expect that the Indonesian Government simply doesn’t have the same level of urgency.”
Both the wool and the meat industries have significant industry funds which supporters say could fund the vaccination plan.
Australian Wool Innovation currently holds $85 million in reserves while Meat and Livestock Australia has a similar amount and spent more than $280 million in 2020/21 on research, development and marketing.
AWI chief executive John Roberts said the organisation “continues to invest with governments and other organisations involved in the livestock industry to help prevent the spread of FMD”.
“AWI is willing to play its part in tackling this threat and is happy to consider proposals from industry that have the support of veterinary authorities from the Commonwealth and state governments”.
MLA was more guarded, with a spokesman telling The Weekly Times the organisation “is working with the Federal Government to best direct resources into vaccine support that are aligned with the Indonesian government priorities”.
National Farmers’ Federation chief executive Tony Mahar said the plan had not been presented to its organisation but they would “support actions that focus response efforts on areas of highest risk and need” but at the same time, respected Indonesia as a sovereign nation.
“The NFF has welcomed efforts from the Australian Government to offer technical, vaccine and other support measures to Indonesia,” Mr Mahar said.
“Industry, too, is working hard to support our regional partners, with organisations such as MLA building on longstanding partnerships to offer support programs during this period.”
Mr Mahar said the NFF had welcomed the ramping up in biosecurity measures, but “we do want them to go further”.
“This means 100 per cent screening of passengers returning from Indonesia and high-risk areas, more front-line biosecurity officers, and constant review of physical and technological screening methods.” he said.
“We will not lay down on our call for long term sustainable biosecurity funding, as well as the finalisation of the National Biosecurity Strategy.”
A spokesman for Senator Watt said the Federal Government was already supporting the Indonesian Government’s vaccine program by investing $1.5 million to deliver at least one million vaccinations along with technical and logistics assistance to assist with its ongoing work.
“We are listening to, and working with industry on practical measures and will continue to do so,” the spokesman said.
Official Indonesian government data showed there were 554 cases of livestock infected with FMD in Bali last week with 27,480 animals vaccinated against the disease. This represents less than 2 per cent of all the cattle, sheep and pigs estimated to be on the holiday island.
But on Monday, the Indonesian Government told media the outbreak on Bali was now under control.
Meanwhile, a traveller was last week pinged for bringing beef and pork into Australia from Indonesia. A sniffer dog identified the products in the traveller’s backpack and he was fined more than $2000 and the food — two Sausage and Egg McMuffins and a ham croissant — are now being tested for traces of FMD.
Skyrocketing input costs eat into dairy margins, despite record milk prices: ADF president
GRAIN PRICE INCREASE: Currently, one of the biggest costs is grain, with wheat prices jumping 25 per cent in recent weeks.
While high opening milk prices are critical for the viability of the Australian dairy sector, increasingly volatile global markets are taking effect with rising cost pressures through the supply chain.
There is strong competition from processors in the market, which is fantastic for dairy farmers.
The increase in the milk price paid to dairy farmers is not keeping pace with the unprecedented rises in the cost of farm inputs. Some farmers are under significant pressure. - Rick Gladigau
ADF recognises that these opening prices for milk at the farmgate are strong, and we believe there is potential for more increases because processors need to meet existing domestic and international contracts with a limited milk supply.
However, the costs of fodder, fuel, fertiliser and electricity are skyrocketing, eating into the margins of most dairy producers.
Currently, one of the biggest costs is grain, with wheat prices jumping 25 per cent in recent weeks. In extreme cases, feed costs can represent one-third of a dairy farm's turnover.
In a volatile market, the increase in the milk price paid to farmers is not keeping pace with the unprecedented rises in the cost of farm inputs. Some dairy farmers are under significant pressure.
It is timely for farmers to review their operations in response to the increasing input costs.
Real action needed to support dairy recovery
The next three years is a defining period for the sustainability of the Australian dairy industry. As the recognised national policy and advocacy organisation working for dairy farmers, we will be doing our utmost to ensure the reality of this situation is well understood by the Labor government and consumers.
The government made pre-election pledges that respond to several issues in our policy statement - which if properly executed - will help the profitability and sustainability of dairy farmers. These include:
setting minimum standards for nutrition in residential aged care;
improving existing regulations that deliver accurate and clear food labelling;
providing $500 million for agriculture in the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund;
protecting the competitiveness of emissions-intensive export industries;
investing $3 billion from the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund to fund emission reduction initiatives; and
directing financial support to energy efficiency projects under a new Powering the Regions Fund and funding two regional tech hubs.
More money needed for regions, biosecurity, jobs
Beyond these pledges, ADF is calling on the federal government to invest more in regional development, biosecurity capabilities and a skilled regional workforce to reduce risks to dairy production, support the adoption of supply chain traceability reforms and reduce the impact of pests and weeds.
It is heartening to read that 88 per cent of respondents to the 2022 National Dairy Farmer Survey reported an operating profit in 2020/21. With the rising cost of inputs during the past two months, the outlook for some farmers in 2022/2023 is less optimistic.
For many dairy farmers the uplift in opening prices will give them the confidence to continue to invest into their farms. For others, however, labour shortages, high beef cattle prices and soaring land values we will see them make a business decision to exit the industry for differing reasons.
Due to the surging costs of farm inputs, the need for movement in retail prices is critical. A significant upward movement in milk prices at the checkout in the short to medium term is essential.
The ongoing strength of the dairy sector is crucial to Australia's future, as we navigate the COVID-19 recovery phase. Resilient and prosperous regional communities need a robust dairy sector.
We look forward to working with the new Labor government to deliver on our election platform, much of which seeks to drive profitability and sustainability through the Australian dairy industry. This includes creating even more transparency of prices across the dairy supply chain.
Source: Rick Gladigau, President, ADF, The Land, 1 August 2022
'Bonfires of burning animals': NSW dairy farmers warn of foot and mouth disease outbreak
NSW Southern Highlands dairy farmer Bill Smillie paints an apocalyptic picture of what a foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak really looks like.
"You would be driving along roads and there were just bonfires of burning animals," he said.
"It was a pretty ordinary time to be over there. It was incredible to be honest."
The owner of Moss Vale, NSW, Highland Organics was working in the United Kingdom during an outbreak of the disease in 2001 and said it 'decimated' the livestock industry.
"It decimated parts of the country, everything had to be slaughtered," he explained to the Southern Highland News.
"My cousin's farm, he actually didn't have FMD but the farm two farms away had it so they had to slaughter every animal on his place."
FMD affects hoofed animals such as cows, pigs and sheep, giving them lesions on their mouths and feet that can prevent them from eating and can lead to lameness and death.
It's currently infecting animals on Indonesian farms and authorities are concerned it will make its way to Australia. One of the ways it can enter the country is via dirt on people's clothes and shoes.
On Monday (July 25) federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt asked state counterparts for their opinions on a National Biosecurity Strategy.
It follows the recent varroa mite outbreak in NSW, a parasite deadly to European honey bees which make up the bulk of Australia's honey industry.
Hives near the detection site at Port of Newcastle have been destroyed and it is feared further detection of FMD will lead to similar measures for livestock.
Fellow dairy farmer Tim Cochrane called for people returning from places like Bali to burn their thongs so he wouldn't have to burn his cows.
"I'm telling people to burn their thongs, not our cows," Mr Cochrane told the South Coast Register.
"You can easily bring the disease into our country on infected soil trapped on your shoes."
Mr Cochrane and his two brothers own approximately 2000 cows. He issued a dire warning for what an FMD outbreak would do to the region.
"Think of this, 20,000 cows in the Shoalhaven all dead," Mr Cochrane said.
"I say 20,000 because if one cow or farm gets infected in Nowra, they will have to deal with every cow in Nowra.
"You think things are expensive now? If this happens and it gets in, cattle will have to be killed and the price of beef, milk, these essentials will sky rocket."
As for Mr Smillie, he's optimistic authorities are on high alert but warned against complacency.
"You would hope no one is going to be taken by surprise, especially the authorities," he said.
"They must know the danger and I certainly hope they're putting in place all the protocols.
"Hopefully the general population is well aware of what can happen. If you're travelling, be responsible, take it seriously."
Massively under-resourced response compounds Indonesia's FMD disease crisis
INDONESIA's foot and mouth disease crisis is being compounded by a massively under-resourced response to what is considered the world's most economically destructive livestock disease.
According to the latest PRISMA report, only 498,893 animals had been treated as of July 14, despite 3 million vaccine doses being secured by the Indonesian Government.
To put the FMD crisis into some form of perspective, Indonesia has 16 million cattle and a further 49 million susceptible goats, sheep and pigs on at least 6000 of its more than 17,500 islands.
The disease has now officially spread to 22 of Indonesia's 37 provinces and has placed the Australia livestock industry on red alert.
It is estimated an outbreak of FMD in Australia could cost as much as $80 billion, including in the immediate closure of export markets for meat.
PRISMA - which stands for Promoting Rural Incomes through Support for Markets in Agriculture - is a bilateral agricultural market systems program funded by the Australian Government, which supports the development of the beef, dairy, and pig sectors in Indonesia.
PRISMA's report says demand for pharmaceutical and biosecurity products including antibiotics, vitamins, analgesics, and disinfectants had skyrocketed, with supply unable to keep up with demand.
The Indonesian Government had identified 366,875 infected animals as of July 14, 60 per cent of which were active cases. Some 38.4pc of animals had recovered, while the mortality rate was low at 0.7pc on top of the 1pc culled in the containment effort.
However, those numbers are likely to be significantly lower than the real figures, given there is a reluctance by local farmers to report animal diseases. Sheep and goats also often show few clinical symptoms of the FMD 'O' variation currently active in Indonesia.
Uncontrolled livestock movements
Adding to the problem is that livestock movements appear poorly controlled. The spread of FMD to the islands of Bali and Sulawesi are thought to have occurred following the recent Eid al-Adha festival. This four day event is one of Islam's most important holidays, and includes the sacrifice of animals with the meat often given to poorer people.
The report also says farmers are also unwilling to invest in feed and healthcare products as they begin to lose livestock.
"This is particularly important for smallholder farmers who usually have less than five head of cattle," the report reads.
"Cattle infected with FMD eat less, reducing weight gain and/or milk production.
"Farmers are less likely to invest in high-quality inputs such as commercial feed if they think they will not get a return on their investment."
In addition to the problems caused by reduced nutrition, the report says government veterinarians are also under extreme pressure as they are unable to keep up with the demands from farmers.
"Farmers have resorted to using traditional medicines for their livestock, despite the cost of those also increasing exponentially."
Indonesia was FMD free
Indonesia had been officially free of FMD since 1986, after Australia efforts helped eradicate the disease.
However, FMD was detected in Indonesia between April 28 and May 3 in 2022, when 1247 cattle showing clinical signs of FMD were diagnosed in four districts in East Java.
The current outbreak is thought to have occurred with contaminated meat brought in from India, based on the variant infecting the Indonesian herd.
According to the World Organisation for Animal Health, FMD circulates in about 77pc of the global livestock population, particularly in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, as well as some parts of South America.
National Emergency Animal Disease Watch Hotline: 1800 675 888.
Manning Valley producers says there is no resilience left after latest flood emergency one year after the big one
Mid North Coast dairy farmers struggling with repeated wet weather are taking drastic steps to keep their farms viable.
Last week's inundation delivered 300mm in three hours to the Neal family's operation on Oxley Island in the lower Manning, covering 150 hectares of their best-producing paddocks for a week and drowning winter feed that had been planted three times so far.
"We need water to farm but it's been a challenging time," said James Neal who runs 1500 head of dairy cattle but sent 500 young stock away to Walcha on agistment. "We have been flat-out feeding hay, silage and grain to all the remaining stock for past four months."
The fifth-generation dairy farmer usually tops the charts on somatic cell count but in the current climate with mud everywhere more time is needed to wash clean teats at on the 60 head rotary dairy in order to keep mastitis somewhat at bay.
The Norco supplier was thrilled to receive a rise of 12 cents a litre in this year's contract but when he sat down and crunched the numbers was dismayed to discover he was no better off than last year as a result of a massive rise in nearly all input costs.
"It's tough on everybody. We feel we're not going forward and in fact right now we're making a loss.
Supermarkets count on a 15 per cent to 20 per cent return every year, while the average NSW dairy farmer last year struggled to achieve 4.9pc for all the risk of working in an extremely variable climate, seven days a week.
"We are lucky to to have the Norco cooperative up here leading the milk price, as the other international processors only opened with a five cent increase, but later matched Norco when they were going to lose supply to the co-op.
Mr Neal praised the timeliness of government disaster assistance which "stopped many from going under both financially and mentally.
"Farmers hate being reliant on these disaster grants, but there is no fat left in the system after the run of poor seasonal conditions over the last few years. In the longer term we would rather have a more sustainable milk price, which factors in all risks we are exposed to, and allows us to put some money away for the next run of years, when we have these natural disasters."
Stewarts River dairy farmer Tim Bale is still waiting on his farmgate price as a member of Manning Valley Fresh which sells to Woolworths.
Rising inflation and floods have caused expensive setbacks in feed and production to the point that his farm is down in income $1000 a day.
Last week's flood was not nearly as severe as last year's record inundation yet delivered 17 inches or 431mm during 36 hours that caused waters to rise so quickly that cows were separated from the dairy by gullies that ran deeper than Mr Bale's head.
"We've had two metres of rain so far this year and 2300mm for the whole of last year. Our average annual rainfall is 1500mm, compared with 1050mm at Taree.
"We keep getting bashed but we're still here," Mr Bale says, while praising his manager manager Bryan Bartlett and neighbour Trent Dean for helping to wade out into paddocks and open gates before all working together to drive cows to safety.
"Once a few started moving the rest followed and when the last one went to cross the gully Bryan grabbed her tail for a tow," Mr Bale said. "I had to swim across."
Dairy leaders urge Australia to throw “the kitchen sink” at FMD
The Australian dairy industry has enacted the emergency animal disease team to coordinate the dairy value chain’s response to the heightened threat of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD).
Representatives of the dairy industry’s farming, processing and research and development sectors, from Australian Dairy Farmers, Australian Dairy Products Federation and Dairy Australia, are part of this team.
“Together, the dairy industry and the Australian government, are working together to prevent an incursion of FMD in Australia, not just from Indonesia, but from other countries as well,” Australian Dairy Industry Council (ADIC) president Rick Gladigau says.
Mr Gladigau says the dairy industry supports the Australian Government’s increased surveillance and testing of meat and other animal products for FMD, both at the border and through targeted checking of retail outlets as well as the amplified measures as recently announced. The addition of sanitised foot mats at Australian airports and more control measures in Indonesia are welcome, too, and the industry looks forward to these being rolled out as soon as possible at all appropriate airports," he says.
“We have been working closely with the Government every step of the way. We’re asking the Government to throw everything at FMD, especially at our borders, and take all suitable measures to ensure that FMD does not enter Australia!” says Mr Gladigau.
“Border checks of imported food products – in travellers’ luggage and retailers’ consignments – are vital because the main way FMD is spread worldwide is in food. It’s not just in footwear. It’s not only from Indonesia. Where the Government can do more, then we look forward to them doing so.”
Mr Gladigau says some media outlets reported yesterday that Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry testing had detected FMD when this was not the case. Viral fragments were detected – not the disease. “We urge the media to use extreme caution in their reporting. Australia is free of FMD and LSD,” he says.
“These detections of viral fragments are a timely reminder that Australia needs the strictest biosecurity measures possible. There are no silver bullets for biosecurity. There is no one measure that works on its own.
“It's everyone’s job to ensure emergency animal diseases do not enter Australia. Biosecurity is everyone’s business. We all have a role to play in protecting Australia’s livestock industry from pests and diseases.”
The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences estimates that a widespread FMD outbreak in Australia would have a direct economic impact of around $80 billion.
Australian Dairy Products Federation call for government assistance
Sky-high farmgate figures coupled with low retail prices have led dairy processors to make an extraordinary plea to government.
Australia’s dairy processors need immediate government assistance, their chief advocate says, otherwise rationalisation is a high risk.
The Australian Dairy Products Federation has warned mounting costs are jeopardising the ability of processors to maintain the dairy status quo on the nation’s supermarket shelves.
Writing exclusively for The Weekly Times, ADPF executive director Janine Waller said rising energy bills, labour shortages as well record-breaking milk prices were taking a toll on processors big and small.
Less than a fortnight ago, several processors broke the $10/kg milk solids ceiling — only four months after the very same factories were offering prices around $7.50/kg to kick off the 2022-23 financial year.
“Dairy processors are contending with surging costs,” Ms Waller said.
“Not just (the cost of) raw milk, but steep rises in gas and electricity, fuel and freight, packaging, as well as labour shortages and the costs associated with devastating floods along the east coast.
“(This is) confounded further by the difficulty to pass full price increases through the supply chain.
“To ensure dairy processors can continue to put Australian’s favourite dairy products on shelves for years to come, it is critical that the industry and government collaborate effectively to help establish a profitable and sustainable supply chain for all.”
The processor plea is not isolated to dairy, with famed Shepparton cannery SPC warning it would need to raise prices if government support wasn’t forthcoming.
“As an industry, Australian manufacturing must find a collective solution to the energy crisis for the benefit of Australian consumers and the broader community,” SPC chief executive Robert Giles told The Weekly Times last month.
“We encourage the Government to accelerate its push to oversee a rebuild of Australia’s manufacturing base to bolster local food security and build a more resilient local supply chain. “It’s about investment and it’s about technology.”
ADPF executive director JANINE WALLER says the whole dairy supply chain needs to be profitable to keep Australian dairy on shelves.
As we move into the new 2022-23 milk season, the pre-farmgate celebrations of unprecedented record milk prices are peppered with the realities of post-farmgate pressures.
The current market conditions risk crippling Australian value-added milk processing businesses. And the significant biosecurity threats nearing our shores, further exacerbate that.
To ensure dairy processors can continue to put Australian’s favourite dairy products on shelves for years to come, it is critical that the industry and government collaborate effectively to help establish a profitable and sustainable supply chain for all.
Dairy processors are contending with surging costs – not just from raw milk, but steep rises in gas and electricity, fuel and freight, packaging, as well as labour shortages and the costs associated with devastating floods along the east coast – confounded further by the difficulty to pass full price increases through the supply chain.
There is no doubt that 2022-23 will be remembered for its record high opening farmgate milk price in the Southern Milk Region, with the recent Milk Value Portal Q2 Dairy Market Insight report (June) showing opening prices averaged $9.55kgMS, $2kgMS or almost 30% above full-season 2021-22 average prices.
Since 1 June, milk prices have continued to climb as processors jostle to secure supply and lock in contracts for the year ahead. Whilst this is positive news for producers and will help alleviate on-farm challenges, the reality is, if we continue to experience such volatility then our industry faces an extremely difficult future and will continue to do so until the value of dairy products is better reflected in their price. No other commodity market in the world requires processors to announce farmgate milk prices 13 months out from the seasons end, leaving dairy processors totally exposed.
Whilst demand remains strong for dairy, to maintain supply and the value of our products to consumers, we need that core ingredient of ‘raw milk’. Just 20 years ago, we produced 11 billion litres of raw milk and the 2020/21 season is expected to finish around 8.6 billion litres, 3.5% down on the prior year. The new seasons volumes are expected to stabilise, but still be down 1%. We must arrest the decline and grow the raw milk pool.
The dairy processing sector generates close to $16 billion in revenue each year and more than doubles the value of raw milk between farm gate and the consumer. We create more than 70,000 jobs, of which 29% are directly within dairy processing and more than half (56.5%) are in regional Australia. Our reputation for delivering high quality, nutritious dairy products that are enjoyed locally and around the world is second to none – we export around 32 per cent of our milk production, valued at $3.3 billion.
But the reality is, without immediate and long-term interventions there is a high-risk dairy processor will rationalise their operations, which will hit regional Australia hard – jobs and local economies.
Why then is such an essential component of Australia’s agricultural industry, with such a positive story to share, left so unprotected?
The next three years, working in partnership with a new government and key Ministers, must be a period of real change.
For ADPF, our new 3-year strategic plan will deliver a road map to greater profitability and sustainability for our sector and focus on addressing the barriers to profitable raw milk production growth, attracting skilled labour, and prioritising strategic international trade partnerships, along with climate adaptation initiatives and ensuring dairy’s health credentials as part of everyday diets are well understood.
All parts of the dairy supply chain need to be viable, but we need the right reforms, resources and tools to enable this.
Foot and mouth disease: How Australia dealt with the 2001 UK outbreak
When foot and mouth disease threatened Australia two decades ago, federal officials acted swiftly. This is how they protected Aussie farms.
NSW Deputy Premier Paul Toole says there is “too much at risk” to be “complacent” about foot and mouth disease as he calls for the federal government to increase airport security. “We can’t afford to see FMD getting into this country,” he told Sky News Australia.
A biological crackdown was enforced by Australian authorities two decades ago when the nation’s agricultural sector was last shaken by foot and mouth disease.
With Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt visiting Jakarta this week to discuss the Balinese FMD situation, attention has turned to the last time Australia was confronted with an FMD scare abroad.
In February 2001, an outbreak of FMD was confirmed in the UK, with initial detections in Essex and Buckinghamshire.
Cumbria in England’s far northwest was hardest hit by the epizootic – the animal equivalent of an epidemic – with nearly 900 cases.
British exports of cheese, meat and other animal products were banned for months by most countries – leading Tony Blair’s Labour Government to institute a financial rescue plan for the UK’s flailing farming sector.
HOW DID AUSTRALIA RESPOND?
In the first fortnight of the outbreak, the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) placed bans on a range of products – not just from the UK but also from parts of western Europe.
Travellers from the UK, Ireland and France were required to have their footwear disinfected upon arrival in Australia.
Returning travellers were initially asked whether they had visited any farms while visiting the UK or Europe. But heightened concerns in March 2001 led to travellers having their footwear disinfected upon arrival.
The new airport regulations led the Howard Government to raise the rate of departure tax from $30 to $38 to help cover AQIS costs.
AQIS director Meryl Stanton received criticism for an immediate ban on infant formula, which was reversed in 48 hours to allow for small amounts of the product to enter Australia.
“We clearly are not in the business of having hungry babies arrive in Australia not knowing where their next meal’s coming from,” she said in 2001.
“So it’s a practical measure. We believe the risk again is extremely minimal.”
Apart from infant formula, restrictions were placed on most animal products, not just food. Leather horse-related products, scoured wool, pet food and animal hair were also put on an AQIS blacklist.
Australia’s strict approach earned a swift rebuke from Brussels.
Then EU food and safety commissioner David Byrne threatened to take the matter to the World Trade Organisation.
Restrictions on British, French and Dutch goods were eased by the AQIS later in 2001 as the three countries brought the disease under control.
FMD’S WIDESPREAD REACH
The outbreak didn’t hit just British agriculture.
Major events including the Cheltenham Festival, one of the UK’s top horse racing carnivals, and the British Rally Championship were cancelled.
International tourism went into abeyance and even domestic travel slowed to the point Cherie Blair, the wife of the UK’s then Prime Minister Tony Blair, spearheaded a tourism campaign to get British holiday-makers back on the road.
By the end of the 2001 calendar year, more than six million cattle and sheep were destroyed by UK authorities to eventually bring the disease under control.
Smaller outbreaks were also notched up in France and The Netherlands, with Dutch authorities destroying thousands of livestock there to curb the spread.
OTHER FMD OUTBREAKS
Until the 2022 outbreak, Indonesia had been free from foot and mouth disease since 1986, when Suharto was in power in Jakarta.
Throughout the 1980s, Australia provided financial and on-the-ground support alongside Indonesian administrators to contain any outbreaks.
The FMD-free status was recognised internationally by the World Organisation for Animal Health in 1990.
Other nations to be hit by FMD include South Africa earlier this year.
More than 50 cases were detected in March and April in Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, North West and Gauteng.
Several countries, including neighbouring Mozambique, instituted trade restrictions, although concern in Australia was less pronounced compared to the latest detection in Indonesia.
Revealed: The 13 farm machinery scam websites stealing millions from Aussies
Details of more than 10 active online farm machinery scam websites have been revealed as Aussie farmers continue to be caught out by sophisticated thieves.
More buyers have come forward, with a Mornington Peninsula farmer recently losing $21,000 to a tractor scam.
Richard Buriss, from Balnarring, said he was scammed by so-called Devon Farming in April.
Mr Buriss said he was frustrated the Devon Farming website was still online even after he had reported the scam to Report Cyber-crime.
“It is galling to see, and it is rubbing salt in the $21,000 wound, that these scammers are still online,” he said.
“They are still there with the same address, same phone number and same bank account details.
“Why can’t they shut them down?”
Mr Buriss is in his mid-70s and works and lives on his property at Balnarring.
He said he spoke to the scammers on the phone while organising what he thought was a purchase. The online thieves had set up a sophisticated operation, posing as a legitimate company, he said.
Even after being reported, some scammers continue to operate after redesigning their website, changing their name but keeping the same online address.
As more and more stories emerge of scam victims losing thousands of dollars, The Weekly Times has compiled a list of more than 10 machinery scam websites that are active or have been recently active:
13 farm machinery scams to watch out for:
www.ainsliefarms.com – Ainslie Farms
https://www.all-states-machinery.com – All States Machinery
www.altoequipment.com – Alto Equipment
www.auheavymachinery.com – AU Heavy Machinery
www.btfarmingltd.com – B&T Farming
https://bigred-tractors.com – Big Red Tractors
www.blandequipment.com – Bland Equipment
www.boramachinery.com – Bora Machinery
www.brheavyequipment.com – BR Heavy Equipment
https://devonfarmmachinery.com – Devon Farming
www.kymachineryltd.com – KY Machinery
www.plantconstructions.com – Plant Constructions
www.sandalwoodequipment.com – Sandalwood Equipment
In the past 12 months, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s annual Targeting Scams report showed Australians lost more than $1.5 million to scammers targeting the agriculture industry.
Scamwatch received 313 tractors and other agricultural machinery scam reports in the past 12 months, totalling $1.4m.
The Weekly Times last month reported fake company Big Red Tractors was running an online tractor scam claiming it was based in the small northern Victoria town of Cohuna.
Earlier this year Western District farmers Katherine and Greg Stephens lost $17,000 in an online farm machinery scam through fraudulent seller All States Machinery.
Melbourne-based Andy Knight also lost $13,000 after he tried to purchase a secondhand tractor from All States Machinery too.
Up to 450mm of rain falls in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven region, devastating farmers
Shoalhaven dairy farmers are again battling the elements as yet another east coast low dumps up to 450 millimetres of rain in four days.
Wogamia's Daniel Cochrane is currently milking 450 cows.
He says milk production is down by approximately 20 per cent.
Between 350-380mm of rain has fallen on the property located on the Shoalhaven River since the skies broke open on Friday.
"For us farmers here in the Shoalhaven, it's the second time in three months that we've had water up over the farms, and the river is still rising now," he said.
"Many farms had just dried out enough to sow winter and spring feed, and now it's all under water."
Daniel said the weather was taking a toll on farmers' mental health.
"I'm not sure how much more some people will be able to take," he said.
"It's not necessarily financially, but mentally."
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Nowra received 366mm, Kangaroo Valley 454mm, Robertson 562mm, Albion Park 477mm, Moss Vale 333mm and Kiama 429mm in the seven days to Wednesday, July 6.
While further north, Camden received 390mm.
Major flooding occurred along the Upper Nepean River at Menangle Bridge, which peaked at 16.61 metres on Sunday morning.
Major flooding is occurring along the Hawkesbury River at North Richmond where river levels peaked at 14.18m early Monday morning, followed by a second peak of 14.19m on Monday evening.
The Upper Nepean River at Menangle Bridge peaked at 16.61 metres around 07:50 am Sunday with major flooding.
The Hawkesbury River at North Richmond (WPS) peaked at 14.18 metres around 03:15 am Monday. Renewed rises were observed overnight Monday with a second peak of 14.19 metres around midnight Monday.
Pyree's Tracey Russell described the situation as heartbreaking.
"We worked so hard to get the seed in the ground, and now it is all under water again," she said.
"What little we did have has flown out the window."
Tracey will be forced to run nearly 1000 cows on just 5 hectares of land.
"Our cows spent that time here for the last three months following the last flood," she said.
"It's devastating. The cows ended up getting so sick with mastitis and sore feet, and they had nowhere to lay down. That was the biggest problem.
"They are freezing; they are really suffering. We've just got to keep the feed up to them; that's all we can do.
"I don't know what we are going to do this time.
"We have got some woodchip in to build a mound for them to be able to lay down."
Jim Hindmarsh & Son Nowra manager Jim Hindmarsh said a cattle supply shortage was inevitable.
"Last week, there was a severe drop in the restocker and feedlot markets, the meat market held its ground, but due to the wet weather, the supply has been taken out of the game," he said.
"There's going to be a shortage overall going to the processors."
Mr Hindmarsh had hoped the rain would steady on Monday, but it had not abated.
"This will have a major impact on farmers; with 300mm of rain, people won't be able to move cattle," he said.
"Thankfully, they were able to clear off cattle in the last few weeks before the rain hit."
Mr Hindmarsh was forced to call off Camden's Tuesday sale.
"The flood water is at the highest level since we have been operating there for 12 years, and a lot of people who have worked there much longer than that have said it was the highest they had ever seen," he said.
Maleny Dairies addresses animal welfare concerns with artificial insemination, adoption
It has long been a stain on the dairy industry — the slaughter of unwanted male "bobby" calves in their first week of life.
Key points:
Maleny Dairies program sexes semen before the herd is artificially inseminated
Practice ensures majority of calves are born female
The home farm is trialling Ceres Tags to monitor animal movements
Maleny Dairies, an independent dairy processor on the Sunshine Coast, says it is addressing those concerns on its home farm.
The family-owned business has celebrated the arrival of its first female calf born from a program that sexes semen before the herd is artificially inseminated to ensure the majority of calves are born female.
Bobby calves welcome tourists on farm visits to the factory and there is a waiting list for an adoption program.
Owner Ross Hopper said he was asked lots of questions about what happened to male calves.
"We've had activists ring us up and we just encourage them to come on a tour and we'll answer all your questions," he said.
He said the dairy had nothing to hide.
"We have bobby calves as our tour calves and then when they are getting a bit too old and boisterous and too rough on the tourists here, we have got an adoption program," he said.
"We sell them on and people use them as their pet lawn mowers."
The dairy has also tagged 10 cows with GPS trackers in a six-month trial with Brisbane-based agtech company Ceres Tag.
Solar-powered ear tags weighing 35 grams communicate directly with satellites to monitor activity levels, temperature and if the animal is being attacked, stolen or behaving abnormally.
Maleny Dairies chief executive Stephen Tait said big retailers such as Coles and Woolworths wanted primary producers to be more transparent and to have more responsible management of their herds.
"With Ceres Tag we can use technology and data to prove how well we run our herd and our business," Mr Tait said.
Improving traceability
At $US3,000 for 10 tags the price is high.
But Ceres Tag general manager of projects Greg Campbell said the cost would come down and the tags provided proof of provenance to producers' customers.
"If it is reduced stock theft, through carbon accounting or through better identifying sick animals, all of those things add up to savings," Mr Campbell said.
Industry in decline
Savings are important as challenging times continue for the dairy industry.
Just 53 per cent of 573.8 million litres of fresh milk sold in Queensland last year was produced in the state.
The rest was trucked up from southern states where the cost of production is lower.
The number of dairy farms in the state has shrunk from 1,500 to fewer than 280 since deregulation in 2000.
The average price paid to farmers in Queensland and northern New South Wales last year was 71 cents per litre.
Co-chief executive of farmer advocacy group eastAUSmilk, Eric Danzi, said farmers had continued to exit the industry and record prices were now being offered for fresh milk, with competition fierce for supply.
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Uncharted territory
Mr Danzi said Maleny Dairies, Lactalis and Bega were currently offering an average of 86 cents per litre while Norco was offering 84 cents per litre.
"It is a reflection of the massive shortage of milk but also the high escalation in input costs for fertiliser, fuel and chemicals," Mr Danzi said.
"Realistically the price needs to go up by at least 15-20 cents per litre at the farmgate just to cover the farm cost increases."
Investing in the future
Ross and Sally Hopper have spent millions of dollars upgrading their factory.
Mr Hopper said Maleny Dairies' point of difference was supporting smaller family farms that would never receive bonuses from larger processors because their volumes were too small.
"Demand is high and we are positive about the future," Mr Hopper said.
"We don't want any more farmers to disappear, we've got to look after them.
"Once they're gone there are no new ones starting up."
Feed additive studies at Ellinbank Research Farm continue in effort to reduce dairy’s methane footprint
The challenge to balance livestock and farm-level methane emissions against production has had scientists, industry and policy-makers working together for several years.
Methane research involving feed additives has been ongoing at Ellinbank Research Farm, in West Gippsland, Vic, particularly measuring cows' burps against milk production.
In 1980, the methane intensity of producing Australian milk was 33.6g methane/kg of milk produced.
Thirty years later, with increasing milk production per cow, the methane intensity was measured at 19.9g methane/kg milk.
Research undertaken by Dr Peter Moate at the time indicated genetics, feeding and pastures caused these reduced measures.
Feeding supplements at the time was shown to have more impact when fed in summer and dry, warmer months of the year.
Feeding a mix of starch and fat additives was shown to be effective in fresh cows, if they also had access to low NDF (neutral detergent fibre) forages.
Ellinbank Research Farm is a premier facility for investigating a range of industry-led and commercial-in-confidence research activities involving animal health and welfare, fodder, pasture production, and renewable energy projects.
Milking about 400 cows off a 150-hectare grazing system, with supporting country, provides opportunity to identify projects that could be investigated for results that can be extrapolated for industry.
Dairy Australia and Agriculture Victoria are key funders of projects implemented at Ellinbank Research Farm.
A major focus of Ellinbank is reducing the methane footprint of the dairy industry.
A decade ago, Ellinbank scientists developed a sulphur-hexafluouride (SF6) technique to measure methane/kg/dry matter eaten by pasture-fed cows, as burps.
This technique enabled them to measure the burps using a tube suspended over the animal's nose, which sucked the air through and into a saddle apparatus around its body.
At the time, the technique measured 21g methane/kgDM eaten, applied against diets where the cow is eating more than 70 per cent forage.
As few years later, using the SF6 technique, an international team of scientists from Ellinbank and Penn State University, United States, discovered a feed additive included in the diet of 48 barn-stalled dairy cows reduced their methane emissions.
One gram of the feed additive, 3-nitrooxyproponal (NOP), was added to the daily grain feed ration for each cow for 12 weeks and methane emissions were measured using the SF6 technique.
About 6 per cent of the food consumed by the cow was converted to methane gas and the NOP additive reduced this amount by 30pc.
The reduced methane production was converted into increased body weight without reduction in milk production or composition.
Ongoing research has continued to investigate if feed additives reduce methane emissions in cows.
Dr Pablo Alvarez Hess has been leading recent Ellinbank research projects identifying the effect of feed additives added to wheat, maize or commercial grain feed, on cows' methane emissions.
The cows used for these investigations have been fed silage on a feedpad, to mimic a grazing system.
Forty cows with the same condition score and age were removed from the main herd, with half of these 40 used as a control group.
The other 20 cows received the feed additive, in the form of canola oil.
With only 20 cows in the experiment, canola oil was hand mixed with wheat and corn and fed to each cow in the bale during milking.
"By adding additional fats to grain, we saw cows reduce methane emissions," Dr Hess said.
"The cows were fed wheat and corn separately. We wanted to see if the fat behaved the same in the gut, and it did.
"We saw methane reduced about 10pc."
In another recent experiment, grape mark was fed in a similar style to a small group of cows.
"There was some minor reduction in methane," Dr Hess said.
Neither of these experiments extrapolated into analysing milk manufacturing properties.
Two more recent experiments, completed in spring 2021, did analyse milk manufacturing properties, as well as methane production.
The two experiments investigated the addition of red seaweed Asparagopsis taxiformis and commercial microbial liquid feed supplement Mylo
Again, 40 cows were used in each experiment, with 20 as control markers and 20 cows identified for treatment. All were fed silage on the feedpad.
The seaweed and Mylo supplement were mixed into a commercial grain-based feed, by hand, and fed in the bale twice-daily during milking, over a period of 35 days.
"Hay mimics a grazing system and we can measure consumption because it's being fed on the feedpad," Dr Hess said.
"That's very valuable for us for measuring intake.
"In a grazing based system, feeding supplements like this at milking time in the bale is the most practical method."
Both additives created a methane reduction, but there were variations in the effects on production.
"There was a moderate reduction in methane for the cows fed grain with Mylo added, and a strong reduction in methane from the seaweed additive," Dr Hess said.
"With the seaweed, we didn't see any productive benefits.
"With the Mylo (a probiotic fed as a liquid), we measured productive benefits - there was a slight increase in milk and a slight increase in feed conversation - and a moderate decrease in methane."
Dr Hess said the milk was analysed for change in manufacturing properties - yoghurt and cheese production - but that data was not yet available.
Deakin University is involved in a project measuring the effect of adding Asparagopsis armata to the feed of dairy cows. A. armata is harvested in Victoria's coastal waters.
Source: Jeanette Severs, Queensland Country Life, 23 June 2022
Australian dairy groups call for end to loss-leader generic milk
Milk prices have been running below the rate of inflation for years and dairy leaders say the era of cheap milk needs to end.
Inflationary pressures on agriculture should spell the end of loss-leader milk pricing, dairy leaders say.
Record farmgate prices were redoubled in the past week with both Bega and Saputo confirming average weighted farmgate prices of more than $9/kg of milk solids.
However, United Dairyfarmers of Victoria vice president Mark Billing said for the future viability of the sector, the price of generic milk would need to rise, in line with recent price increases of other household staples.
The dollar-a-litre milk push - which put retail milk prices at or below cost of production - was introduced by Coles and Woolworths in January 2011 and lasted eight years.
Along with Aldi, Australia’s big three supermarkets quietly increased the price of generic milk to $1.30 just before Christmas, although fuel costs have skyrocketed since that time.
“Inflation is hitting every business and dairy is no exception,” Mr Billing said.
“There’s a battle to find workers, and that increases costs. Urea, fertiliser, grain, electricity - we’re seeing substantial price rises in several areas.
“Record farmgate prices are welcome, and provide confidence to farmers, but it has to be put into the context of rising input costs.
“Now is the time to raise the price (of generic milk). There’s been plenty of coverage about fruit and veg rising in price, lettuce and broccoli have been in the news, because that reflects the availability and pressures those farmers face.”
Mr Billing’s comments echo eastAUSdairy vice chairman Graham Forbes, who in March called for the price of generic milk to lift from $1.30 to $2 a litre.
Mr Forbes said $2 a litre was still lower than most industrialised countries and below prices set for soft drink and bottled water.
Both Coles and Woolworths have pointed to an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission report which previously noted that domestic retail pricing strategies are unlikely to have a direct impact on farmgate prices.
A Woolworths spokeswoman said: “We’re consulting with our processors for the supply of our own-brand milk from July onwards and we will continue to review our retail price on an ongoing basis.
“In response to rising farmgate prices, we’ve accepted tens of millions of dollars in wholesale cost increases from dairy suppliers in recent years.”
Yesterday, Saputo became the latest processor to raise its opening weighted average price - to $9.10/kg of milk solids.
It followed moves by Bega last week, with a lift in southern Victoria and southeast SA to $9.10/kg. Bega’s Northern Victoria and Riverina opening price is now $9.25/kg of milk solids.
Fonterra Australia managing director Rene Dedoncker at an industry forum last week said retailers were “moving in the right direction” when it came to valuing dairy produce.
“There’s definitely some products there (that are) not reflecting the value of what we create,” Mr Dedoncker said.
“We’re making valuable primary products that should be valued on the shelf. But as a processor, we don’t determine that. It’s a retailer’s decision.
“But a lot of the products we play in, the branded products, in cheese and butter, we think the price reflects the decent return and the quality of products we’ve got.”
Interest rates: What the latest rates hike means for farmers
After this week’s big jump in interest rates, see what it means for the agriculture industry and rural property prices.
Rising interest rates are unlikely to take too much of an edge off Australia’s record rural property prices and might not necessarily be bad news for agriculture, experts say.
CBRE Agribusiness managing director David Goodfellow said the Reserve Bank’s decision yesterday to lift the official interest rate by 50 basis points to 0.85 per cent, in a bid to help curb inflation, was “not unexpected” and not necessarily a bad thing for farmers.
Access to cheap loans has been touted as one of the key drivers, along with strong commodity returns and improved seasonal conditions, of a record rural property market in recent years. Farms in some parts of the nation have doubled in value in the past three years as cashed-up family farmers compete with domestic and international companies and funds to grow their businesses.
Rural Bank general manager sales partnerships and marketing Simon Dundon said despite the rise in the interest rate, supply still exceeded demand when it comes to farmland, continuing to buoy prices.
“I don’t think we’ll see much softening this calendar year,” Mr Dundon said.
“However, a change in commodity prices, the season or other impacts, the combination of those events could have an impact, but we’re still expecting robust land prices this year.”
Mr Dundon said interest rates would have more of an effect on the housing market when compared to farm land prices.
“The other thing is banks usually put in a buffer when we look at the serviceability of loans and new lending, about 2.5 to 3 per cent,” Mr Dundon said.
“And we’re not there yet, we don’t see that happening.”
Mr Goodfellow said declining interest rates had been a feature in Australia for the past 40 years and “at some stage there had to be at least a bit of a correction”.
He said comparing Australian Bureau of Statistics interest rates data with the consumer price index over the past 50 years showed interest rates generally followed inflation “because they are used as a tool to measure inflation”.
“When interest rates go up, it’s normally because inflation is going up. When inflation is going up … among other things, commodity prices are going up,” Mr Goodfellow said.
“What that does is give huge confidence that commodity prices will remain (strong).”
Mr Goodfellow said producers should take solace in the strength of prices for agricultural commodities, from wheat to young cattle.
“If you think about it this way, interest rate rises from 3 to 5 per cent per annum, on a business that’s 20 per cent leveraged, which is pretty common in Victoria … you only need a very small increase in the base price, or the wheat price, to offset that,” Mr Goodfellow said.
Meanwhile, the National Farmers’ Federation has warned positive numbers for Australian agricultural exports conceal the true cost of farming this season, as input costs continue to rise for primary producers, after the latest Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics report forecast agricultural exports to reach $64.9 billion in 2022-23.
NFF president Fiona Simson said despite the promising figures, farmers were feeling the sting of rising input costs.
“Prices for fertiliser, fuel and power are on a rocket ride to the moon,” Ms Simson said.
Colostrum’s impacts on milk production
DAIRY farmers statewide flocked to the South East earlier this month for the annual DairySA Dairy Innovation Day.
Speakers on the day were Dairy Australia's James Mann and Glenys Zucco, DairyBio's Jennie Price and DataGene's Peter Thurn.
Additionally, Agriculture Victoria Dairy Production Sciences research manager Bill Wales, Adelaide University pasture agronomy professor Kevin Smith and Mount Gambier vet and Adelaide University student Rebel Skirving spoke during concurrent sessions.
Dr Skirving presented her research project, Get It Right From the Start, on the day which aims to understand more about colostrum and its potential to program cows for the future.
"I started my PhD in 2020 at the start of the COVID lockdown which gave me a lot of time to read journal articles," she said.
"That came with the realisation there's a lot of information already out there about dairy cattle and how they work.
"But the more we find out about cows, the more we realise we actually don't know much about them at all.
"Every research project gets one answer, but then it creates six other questions."
One question Dr Skirving wanted answered was what impact colostrum had on the rest of a calf's life.
She said research showed piglets that received steady hormones through colostrum from a sow were more likely to become more fertile than those who were not receiving enough.
This led her to research the lactocrine hypothesis, which questions whether an animal's future can be changed by the milk they are fed or if their production is predetermined by their genetics.
"In 2018 a vet did a study looking at the early life events that can affect heifers in their first lactation, and one of the things she looked at was colostrum," Dr Skirving said.
"In her study, she found calves with good colostrum transfer did actually produce more milk at the first lactation.
"However, a year later, another vet did a similar study and her results showed that there was no effect of colostrum and the first lactation results."
Armed with a herd of 2668 calves spread across various dairies in the South East, Dr Skirving said she aimed to support one of the two previous studies, but was unsure what her results would show.
Each cow was blood tested and weighed on day one, then the same again on their first birthday.
Once the herd turns two, they will be blood tested, weighed and then pregnancy tested - this will continue each year as they get older.
Dr Skirving's study will be completed in 2027, and she said either outcome was favourable to the industry.
"If I can show that colostrum does change how a cow turns out then we put all the more effort into colostrum for calves," she said.
"If it turns out that it makes no difference to the milk production and fertility, then it takes the pressure off, because as long as that calf survives the first three months, the colostrum doesn't matter and we can use other genetic factors to make sure she still reaches her potential."
Inflation set to alter consumer behaviour with dairy purchases
The pandemic has fuelled dairy consumption, but buyers are slowly starting to cut back. Here’s the industry’s plan to defy inflation.
Twelve-dollar iceberg lettuces are getting plenty of attention from price-conscious shoppers.
But inflation concerns are yet to hit dairy sales, a market analyst says.
NielsenIQ director Faith Lamont was part of an industry panel at a recent Dairy Australia conference in Melbourne.
Ms Lamont’s research showed just 14 per cent of respondents said they were struggling financially but 65 per cent were more spending-conscious as prices rose.
“We will see lot of change in loyalty, whether that’s to retailer or brand, but we are not quite seeing it just yet,” Ms Lamont said. “Because dairy is more of a staple product, it is more likely to maintain stability in its share of (supermarket) sales. Milk prices particularly haven’t risen like what we’ve seen in other categories.”
However, Ms Lamont said potential price rises — be it milk, cheese, butter or yoghurt — needed to be explained to shoppers through marketing.
Changes in consumer behaviour since the end of coronavirus-era lockdowns have been registered in the latest Nielsen Homescan data, included in DA’s Situation and Outlook Report.
Milk consumption nationwide sits at 1.4 billion litres as of March 2022, a year-on-year decline of 3 per cent. In the same survey period, butter and butter blends dropped 4.4 per cent.
Cheese and yoghurt figures saw little change with Aussies going through 187 kilotonnes of cheddar, blues and soft cheese to post a 1.4 per cent decline year-on-year. Yoghurt sales over the same period rose slightly — 0.9 per cent.
BROWNY SPRUIKING MILK’S HEALTH CREDENTIALS
Nutritious and delicious, milk, cheese and yoghurt have been part of the Australian diet for generations.
But in an era of greater information and misinformation, the dairy sector has had to work to correct perceptions that its produce is seemingly unhealthy as the vegan movement broadens its reach.
In a presentation to the United Dairyfarmers of Victoria conference recently, Dairy Australia marketing strategy manager Glenys Zucco outlined how consumer perceptions of dairy had altered over the past decade.
Ms Zucco said DA had monitored the reasons behind dairy avoidance or reduced consumption since 2009. Thirteen years ago, 50 per cent of respondents said they tried to avoid dairy because they were “watching their weight”.
“There was a perception then that somehow dairy was fattening, with 50 per cent of those surveyed saying that’s why they reduced their dairy intake,” Ms Zucco said.
That view persisted in a 2011 survey with a top response of 35 per cent of those surveyed saying they avoided dairy “to reduce saturated fat intake.”
“In recent surveys, there’s been a trend away from perceiving dairy as somehow fattening. Now there’s a range of misconceptions that feed into dairy avoidance,” Ms Zucco said.
In the latest consumer survey conducted earlier this year, the top response was that dairy was “not healthy” or that “too much was not healthy.”
Ms Zucco said Dairy Australia’s latest marketing campaign covered three broad areas over the past 18 months with broadcaster and AFL legend Jonathan Brown as industry spokesman.
The first stage of the campaign, in early 2021, was focused on support for farmers while the latter half of the year was linked to Brown’s athleticism and dairy’s broader health benefits.
Will Albanese’s Labor government offer dairy new beginnings?
DA's latest Situation and Outlook report highlights the increasing input costs dairy farmers are facing.
With a newly installed Federal government comes newly appointed ministers who will be briefed by their policy advisors.
The public service and departmental heads will provide briefings as to how their policies can be implemented.
With it, industry bodies will seek meetings to put their member's views forward and ensure their positions are given appropriate consideration.
During the election, agricultural policy was announced in the broad brush but as always, the "devil is in the detail".
Labor announced changes to the agricultural visa scheme and a renewed focus towards to the Pacific to increase farm labour.
Promises have been made to increase biosecurity funding to help prevent lumpy skin and foot and mouth diseases breaching our borders.
These holistic issues are of most immediate concern to farmers and we welcome these commitments.
However, other immediate matters also need to be addressed.
Dairy Australia's latest Situation and Outlook report highlights the increasing input costs dairy farmers are facing.
Fertiliser, fodder, fuel and grain prices have doubled in price over the past 12-months.
These harsh imposts are contributing to the decline in the number of dairy farmers, especially where the farmgate price being received is not equal to their costs of production.
Hence the real need for supermarkets to increase the price of home-brand milk to a minimum of $2 a litre.
The Labor election commitment to convene a dairy symposium is a positive step.
The symposium will enable dairy representatives, from dairy farmers to supermarkets, to address the vast issues which were identified in recent parliamentary and ACCC reports.
The symposium may not be the panacea, but it will help crystallise the ongoing issues and the way in which we need to find a collaborative solution.
Otherwise, the dairy industry we know today, which itself requires strong positive change, will be very different to the industry that will or will not exist in the future.
Source: Queensland Country Life – written by Shaughn Morgan co-CEO eastAUSmilk, 4 June 2022
Queensland dairy farm numbers drop 90pc in four decades
Queensland has lost a staggering 90 per cent of its dairy farms in four decades, going from 3052 in 1980 to 327 in 2020.
That's according to recent Dairy Australia figures, but some in the industry say the number is now closer to 270.
Deregulation in 2000 and the supermarket milk price wars from 2011 are often blamed as the main reasons for farmers exiting the industry or encouraging the shift to larger, more intensive farming systems with greater economies of scale.
Even with the farm gate milk price set to jump significantly in the new financial year, some farmers say the family dairy farm will continue to struggle.
Dairy desert
At Tabooba, south of Beaudesert, Anthony Sellars is the last dairy farmer standing in his area.
"One just up the road shut down two months ago. I'm the only one left on this road now," Mr Sellars said.
Mr Sellars said the supermarket milk wars and rising fertiliser, grain, diesel and herbicide costs had put pressure on dairy farms, shrinking profit margins.
"The government needs to pull the supermarkets in line because they get away with anything they want. They dictate the price that the processors sell milk on," Mr Sellars said.
"It may be getting better, but I don't think so. We are getting a bit of a price rise in July - probably around eight to 10 cents a litre to take it to 83c, but with all the costs that we've incurred lately, we really need a 20c/L pay rise."
Down the road at Christmas Creek, Michael Cahill made the difficult decision to give up dairying in 2017 due to the milk wars and sustaining a serious head injury.
In 2010, he was getting about 58c/L, but when the price fell to 53c/L, it was the last straw.
He sold his family's 300 dairy cows and leased out part of their property and the milking shed, which included five automated milking robots.
"Everything got a bit too hard for me, so I gave up. I sold the cows to someone and they leased the dairy off me. That didn't work out too well, so the dairy's closed now," Mr Cahill said.
"I had been doing a bit of work off-farm milking cows for other people. I'm not doing anything much at the moment.
"It's hard. It's something I've done most of my life and it's hard not to be in it."
Mr Cahill is still looking to sell the milking machines and other equipment, but with not many Queenslanders looking to invest, they will probably go to a southern operation.
He's also still considering leasing the farm, but being a little 'gun shy' from his last experience, it would have to be to the right person.
Despite all the hardships, the farmer still thinks the industry has a bright future.
"It'd be nice to see some young people get back into the industry. It is a good industry to be in."
History preserved at Murgon
As more family dairies sell up or move to more automation, Cynthia Hatchett preserves Queensland's rich dairy history as president of the Queensland Dairy and Heritage Museum at Murgon, north of Kingaroy.
With travel opening up, the museum has been getting up to three busloads of adults and school children a week to soak up the history.
One of Mrs Hatchett's favourite things to do is put on a butter making demonstration - a crowd favourite.
"You'd be surprised by the comments we get. The older generation say, 'I did that before I went to school' or different things like that. It's really lovely to listen to them," Mrs Hatchett said.
The museum contains dairy memorabilia and machinery from across the region, including an old Lister cream separator.
"A number of people that have worked within the industry are very interested to still have a look at it," she said.
"It's surprising the number of men who say, 'Oh, that was my job. I used to have to do that'."
While her parents were not dairy farmers, she fondly remembers visiting farms owned by her aunties and uncles and helping. Her husband Rodney, however, did grow up on a dairy.
"Rodney's mother used to say, 'If the crop failed, you could always rely on your cream check to buy the groceries'," she said.
"I think every farm had some cows and milked cows, and had some pigs and different things, but not anymore. That's the way it is, isn't it? They don't seem to like the little man anymore."
There's still hope for the industry
Harrisville dairy farmer Paul Roderick said there were several factors pushing farmers out, including geography and family matters.
"I think there's outcomes for everyone, but the reality is, some farms are transitioning towards an exit because of all the headwinds and even succession planning and cost of land or alternative land uses," Mr Roderick said.
Mr Roderick said even if prices went into 'the early 80s', it wasn't a guarantee for success.
"We're going to see increased milk prices, but the reality is a lot, if not all of it, will be eaten up with higher grain prices and higher costs with the wet weather," he said.
"While I think there's a really good opportunity with the market, you've got to have a system and you've got to have the resources to be able to run a fairly large enterprise and that requires either family labour or also some employed labour, which is another challenge.
"Dairy has always been pretty good to us and we see a strong future in it but we probably realise to milk the amount of cows on our farm, we probably need to look at better housing and that's going to cost a bit of money but we reckon we can do a better job and iron out some of the seasonal bumps."
Mr Roderick said for the industry to be sustainable for everyone, the cost of production needed to be reflected at the supermarket predominantly.
"There's been 10 years of inertia with the price and I guess we're going to have to see rapidly increasing prices to make up for it, and it's hard for those retailers because they don't like doing that."
However, Mr Roderick, who is also a director at Dairy Australia, said there was hope on the horizon.
"If we get input prices under control and you've got your labour under control, there's a real opportunity for people to grow production with reduced costs and a really good milk price," he said.
"It's not all negative. I'm looking towards the 2023-24 year as the year that maybe dairy can potentially make some good money and maybe even see some new interest or new investment."