Australian dairy farmgate prices: Gippsland farmer Evan Campbell’s new season assessment

With drought enveloping Victoria, Evan Campbell says soft farmgate prices will do little help primary producers. See the video.

West Gippsland’s Evan Campbell says drought has eroded the margins of most in the sector, with this week’s new season farmgate milk prices doing little to help primary producers through one of their toughest times in living memory.

The Yannathan dairy farmer said it was “the same story across the state — you’re looking for any fodder you can get”.

“Palm kernel, barley hay, almond hulls, vetch from NSW. And our part of the world was in better shape than southwest Victoria, so we had something in reserve but now that’s blasted through,” he said.

“The fodder situation is dire and these farmgate prices don’t help the industry.”

While Mr Campbell’s dairy contract wasn’t directly impacted by this week’s release of soft farmgate prices, he said the indirect impact on the wider industry could not be understated.

Evan Campbell is a dairy farmer near Koo Wee Rup. Photo: Zoe Phillips

The Dairy Farmers Victoria committee member said weaker prices would undercut confidence in the sector and do material damage to national milk production figures.

“There’s always 10 per cent of the industry that would complain if we had prices at $10 (per kilo milk solids) and there’s another 10 per cent that would say ‘everything’s fine’ even if the price was rock bottom,” Mr Campbell said.

“But when you have the sensible majority, middle-of-the-road farmers saying these prices aren’t sustainable, then serious questions need to be asked.

“It’s not just tweaking the mandatory code (of conduct) – a range of measures need to be looked at by leaders across the sector to make sure we have a viable dairy industry in this country.”