THE United Dairyfarmers of Victoria (UDV) is pursuing a number of avenues to help struggling dairy farmers including investigating whether milk payment claw-back clauses can be removed from supply contracts.
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UDV president Adam Jenkins said dairy farmers were frustrated and angry at the recent milk price cuts and payment claw-backs that Murray Goulburn and Fonterra had implemented.
Mr Jenkins said the UDV was seeking legal advice on removing the claw-back clauses in dairy farmers’ supply contracts.
It was also pushing processors to reform their milk pricing structures and to deliver certainty to farmers by announcing an opening price for the 2016-2017 milk season as soon as possible.
Mr Jenkins said the UDV had also recently met with Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Agriculture Commissioner Mick Keogh and other ACCC officers who were examining the timing and notice of the MG and Fonterra milk price cuts to determine if they involved misleading conduct or unconscionable conduct.
He said the $11.4 million dairy support package announced on Tuesday would not put more money in farmers’ pockets but would help farmers get through the present industry slump.
He thanked the state government for “again stepping up to the mark and offering support in a difficult time for the dairy industry”.
“This crisis is all about farmers working together to find practical solutions to the enormous challenges we all now face,” Mr Jenkins said.
‘’People need to take stock of where their business is and be quite clinical about that. And then they can move forward.”
The $11.4 million package includes a $5.2 million industry contribution, comprising $1.4 million from the Gardiner Foundation, $2.8 million from Dairy Australia and up to $1 million from Murray Goulburn. The package follows a $1.5 million mental health wellbeing initiative announced last week.
That package included extra counselling services, mental health first aid training, support for community events and a $100,000 boost towards the Look Over the Farm Gate program.
Premier Daniel Andrews said the government was “putting dairy farmers and their families first by providing them with the support they need to look after themselves – and each other”.
However Farmer Power president Chris Gleeson said the 50c a litre milk levy proposed by his group would be more effective in supporting struggling farmers.
Mr Gleeson said there were strong indications that consumers would support paying the levy, which would go directly to farmers.
