About 300 dairy farmers from western Victoria and South Australia attended an open day at Midfield’s new milk powder plant on Thursday at Penola in SA to hear the company’s offer to attract suppliers.

Midfield’s dairy operations director Daniel Aarons said the company was offering no milk price clawbacks, stability and customer service.

Mr Aarons said the company was seeking 220 million litres of milk to supply the new milk powder plant next year.

Mr Aarons said western Victoria currently produced 1.6 billion litres of milk while the south east of South Australia produced 330 million litres.

He said Midfield had been “consistently overwhelmed” by enquiries from farmers wanting information about what Midfield was offering since it announced its intention to build the plant.

The decision by major south-west dairy processors Murray Goulburn and Fonterra to slash their farmgate milk prices earlier this year has sparked unrest in the industry with many farmers looking for processors offering better returns.

The move by processors to claw back money already paid outraged many suppliers.

But Mr Aarons said interest had come from dairy farmers from across the industry and not just those supplying processors who had cut their milk price.

He said Midfield had not yet secured any of the 220 million litres of milk it was seeking for the new plant.

The company would not be contracting suppliers until next year and the price it would be offering would not be set until next year, Mr Aarons said.

The open day was held to launch Midfield’s milk business and provide information to farmers, he said.

Farmers were given a tour of the recently completed milk drier at the plant and an insight into how the business would operate.

“We introduced our joint venture business partner and explained what role parties within the business would play,” Mr Aarons said.

Midfield last month announced it had entered into a joint venture with Dutch-based global food giant Louis Dreyfus Company Dairy Asia (LDC) for the construction, development and management of the Penola plant. 

Midfield’s managing director Colin McKenna has said the joint venture partnership would provide the plant with “market intelligence and an immediate competitive presence in global markets.”

Mr Aarons said Midfield intended to run workshops over the next 4-8 weeks to hold discussions with farmers on a “one on one” level.

“We will talk about what is important to them relative to the milk supply model,” he said.

Midfield would be highlighting to farmers its ability to be flexible, to provide customised  arrangements and “to take on board the needs of farmers,” Mr Aarons said.