Rates, drought help needed for Victoria’s farming families under siege

Struggling Victorian farmers say the state government should initiate a process for cheaper council rates to help them weather drought and a cashflow crisis.

Struggling Victorian farmers want cheaper council rates to help them stay on the land.

The Victorian Farmers Federation has called on the state government to pave the way for primary producers to pay reduced rates, as dairy farmers face a cashflow crisis and crop farmers in the state’s northwest battle drought.

Federation president David Jochinke said Premier Daniel Andrews should take a personal interest in the drought-ravaged Millewa region of the Victorian Mallee and offer aid.

Victorian Farmers Federation president David Jochinke. Picture: James Wagstaff

The United Dairyfarmers of Victoria — an arm of the VFF — also wants a reduction in rates for cash-strapped dairy farmers who are battling rising feed and water costs and reduced income.

“Farmers just have to be more profitable at the end of the day if they are going to survive,” president Paul Mumford said.

He said, to be sustainable Victorian dairy farmers needed:

COUNCIL and shire rates relief;

A TRANSPARENT water market in which farmers could see who was trading water as a commodity and driving up the cost;

A PROGRAM that subsidised worker wages to keep employees in lean times;

FEE relief or subsidies to help with water transfer and feed costs; and

CONSISTENTLY higher milk prices.

Mr Mumford, as reported in the Sunday Herald Sun this month, called for the return of a free school milk program to boost the dairy industry and children’s health.

The proposal on Saturday received support from Australian Dairy Plan chair John Brumby.

Dairy cattle are starving in some parts of Australia due to drought.

The Sunday Herald Sun has campaigned to help dairy farmers — particularly in the state’s north — who say they are being forced to cull their herds and leave the industry. Water is more than six times more expensive than it was two years ago and drought has caused feed costs to skyrocket.

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Agriculture Minister Jaclyn Symes said the government knew dairy farmers were doing it tough. “We will continue to work with Victorian dairy industry leaders and farmers on the ground to support them through this difficult time,” she said.

It’s understood the state government is looking closely at ways to make water trading transparent.

It has also announced drought support initiatives.

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