UNITED Dairyfarmers of Victoria (UDV) president Adam Jenkins knows only too well the problems a lack of three phase power can cause for dairy farmers.
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Mr Jenkins, a dairy farmer at South Purrumbete near Cobden, said a few motors blew up each year at his dairy because they could not handle the workload operating on his dairy’s inferior power supply.
That experience gave him lots of understanding for the long-running campaign led by Tyrendarra dairy farmer Bruce Knowles to get three phase power connected to the area between Yambuk and Portland.
Mr Jenkins and UDV Region 10 policy councillor Oonagh Kilpatrick met with Mr Knowles on Friday to help step up the campaign, saying the UDV would lobby the state government, state opposition, power companies and Regional Development Victoria (RDV) “to push the issue (of three phase power) up the agenda.”
Mr Jenkins said the lack of three phase power in the area from Yambuk to Portland was not only limiting the ability of dairy farmers to operate and expand their businesses, but the growth of the community in that area.
“The bigger that agriculture is, the bigger the community,” Mr Jenkins said.
Mr Knowles said he had earlier this year given the RDV the names of 50 people in the area from Yambuk to Portland who had said they wanted three phase power.
He expected the RDV would call a meeting at Tyrendarra within the next month to outline its next response to the community campaign.
Mr Knowles said the demand for three phase power was coming from across the community in the area and not just from dairy farmers.
Those wanting the power upgrade included businesses such as engineering firms as well as beef and sheep producers, he said.
Mr Knowles said that under the present funding arrangements for three phase power he would have to pay half the cost, which was a prohibitive figure.
He said the state government needed to recognise the wider economic benefits, such as enabling an expansion of the area’s dairy industry, which three phase power would allow.
“There needs to be a coordinated effort from shires, businesses, the UDV and farmers to get the state government to put in more money,” Mr Knowles said.
Mr Jenkins’s talk with Mr Knowles was part of two days of discussions by the UDV president with dairy farmers, local government and businesses in the south-west.
Among the issues raised in those talks were how agriculture could get access to more water and raising the profile of agriculture with local government.
