Country Valley bucks trend and fights back against milk monopolies
IT’S the case of the little farm that could. This Family-owned dairy farm is fighting back against the milk giants by processing, bottling and selling their milk under their own label.
Macarthur
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A FAMILY owned dairy farm is fighting back against the major milk monopolies and proving it is possible for a “little guy” to stand alone, even in tough times.
Owned and run for seven generations by the Fairley family, Picton-based Country Valley is flourishing amid an industry-wide downturn.
Across Australia farmers are being paid less than the production cost for their milk and the major retailers keep cutting the price of milk on the supermarket shelf - forcing many dairy famers to shut down and leave the land.
But Tom Fairley said his family’s company, Country Valley, was bucking the trend because it manufactured its milk, yoghurt and cream on the Picton farm under its own label and also bought milk from seven local farmer suppliers.
“All of our milk goes into the bottle and we buy in from seven local farming families,’’ he said.
He said the local farmers were paid over 50c a litre for their milk and they were looked after.
“Our farmers get a good price,’’ he said.
On the Country Valley website, the family states: “Why sell our milk for next to nothing to a big processor when we could bottle it ourselves and start making farming a viable way of life again?”
Mr Fairley said he supported a petition on change.org calling for a 50c levy to be placed on milk and the money being passed on to farmers.
The petition started amid reports that some Victorian farmer suppliers were facing an uncertain future after the payments they received from companies including milk giants Murray Goulburn and Fonterra were being cut.
Mr Fairley, who runs the business with his dad John, said although the Country Valley brand was sold in the major supermarkets and local shops, they did not sell milk to manufacturers.
He said he had heard that some farmer suppliers in Victoria had had the price they received for their milk cut from 38c a litre to 14c a litre.
He blamed the falling price on factors including changing weather patterns and the recent supermarket price war with some supermarkets selling milk on the shelf for $1 a litre.
“Our long-term plan is to offer locally sourced products from local dairy farms,’’ he said.
In a statement, Murray Goulburn said its goal was to maximise milk payments to farmers and therefore dividends to shareholders/unitholders.
It said the business had been affected by factors including an appreciating Australian dollar, forecast sales of adult milk powders to China not materialising as expected and dairy commodities trading at GFC levels on global markets affecting all of the world’s daiy companies.
In a statement, Fonterra said Australia was not immune to the current global dairy challenges and the company had been upfront about this all season with its farmers.
“We’ve been meeting with and listening to our farmers and we understand they are hurting,’’ the statement said.
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