September 19, 2014
A survey released today by the Queensland Dairyfarmers’ Organisation shows that less than a quarter of dairy farmers surveyed believe they will still be in the industry in five years.
QDO President Brian Tessmann said there were now 471 dairy farmers in Queensland, with 43 per cent responding to the QDO survey.
“The survey found that only 4 per cent said they were very confident in the future of the industry, 22 per cent said they were confident, 37 per cent were uncertain, and 37 per cent were not confident,” Mr Tessmann said.
“One of the most startling figures is that the survey revealed that only 24 per cent of respondents believed that they would still be dairying in five years’ time.
“Queensland is already short of milk for its own fresh milk requirements after the losses we have sustained from natural disasters and depressed farm gate prices from the supermarket milk price war.
“Those farmers who indicated they were leaving nominated ‘lack of profit’ as the biggest reason, at 84 per cent, which is 16 per cent higher than the previous survey in January 2014.
“We heard at QDO’s New Horizons conference this week that existing farmers will need to approximately double production in coming years just to meet the coming demand with population growth.
“With that in mind, plus the existing low levels of confidence, this is clear signal to the market that it needs to act now to restore confidence among farmers.
“It is also a strong message to the Federal Government that it needs to urgently adopt the QDO’s recommendations of a Mandatory Code of Conduct and amend legislation to improve the outcomes for farmers in the supermarket value chain.
“We also heard that farmers would like more flexibility with the rest of the supply chain, particularly when it comes to having the opportunity to supply milk to more than one processor, which they cannot do now.
“61 per cent of respondents said they would support a ‘dual-supply’ option, and a large majority of 74 per cent also expressed an interest in a Queensland-wide milk supply co-operative.”
