Cash boost a godsend for Australian Dairy Farmers, former industry leader says

A former Victorian dairy leader says a surprise $11 million fund, finally handed to Australian Dairy Farmers after 16 years, is a godsend for the underfunded dairy lobby.

UDV president Adam Jenkins says a cash boost is exactly what the underfunded Australian Dairy Farmers needed.

THE surprise $11 million cash boost to Australian Dairy Farmers coffers is just what the underfunded lobby needs, a former Victorian dairy leader says.

Former United Dairyfarmers of Victoria president Adam Jenkins said the transfer of the $11 million from Australian Dairy Industry Council to ADF – 16 years after it was supposed to occur – was a “wise move” and hoped it would allow ADF to work on new projects for farmers.

“From my former role, ADF was seriously underfunded to do its job properly,” Mr Jenkins said.

“It’s all very well to say go out and advocate but it needs to be funded properly.

“The balance got a bit out of whack, over who was funding who.”

Mystery remains over why it took so long for ADF to be found the rightful owner of the $11 million, which had been sitting in trusts managed by ADIC since 2003, with both ADIC and ADF using the dividends.

The money was meant to be transferred following the sale of ADIC assets but did not occur until July last year when the original deed was found in ADF archives.

Earlier that month, ADF had announced it would no longer take $1 million a year in processor funding amid accusations of a conflict of interest – leaving a massive hole in ADF’s budget.

Mr Jenkins – who stepped down as UDV president in December 2018 – said he was unaware of why the transfer never occurred, but suggested the fund’s management may have been less of an issue prior to 2016’s milk price clawback.

“It was a time when the industry was mostly dominated by cooperatives, so working together was a really high priority – it was seen as industry money doing industry good,” he said.

Mr Jenkins said farmers and processors now felt “more divided than ever seen”, which would not suit Australian dairy in the long-term because “you need to work together to have some competitive export future”.

“You’ve got some companies that will work really well for Australian industry, and others that you have to question their long-term commitment and we are just a chink in the armour for them to get into Asia and other markets,” he said.