Australia’s top dairy regions by value

The nation’s richest regions for dairy production have been revealed. See if your local area made the top 20.

Home to Western Star butter and Camperdown brand milk, Corangamite Shire is Australia’s top dairy dollar-generating council area.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the 2020-21 financial year show 13 of the top 20 most valuable regions for dairy production are located in Victoria.

Corangamite Shire, which covers the Cobden, Camperdown, Terang and Port Campbell regions, boasts the No.1 spot on the ABS dairy league table with a financial output of more than $455 million in the 2020-21 season.

Not far behind is the neighbouring Moyne Shire, which generated more than $409 million in dairy dollars during the same 12-month timeframe.

Corangamite Shire councillor Jamie Vogels was not surprised his municipality held the national title for top dairy council area.

He operates a 607ha farm at Scotts Creek, near Timboon, milking 700 cattle and producing four million litres of milk per annum.

“We’ve got the Fonterra factory producing Western Star butter at Cobden; we’ve got the Camperdown factory expanding - it’s a big part of the local economy,” Cr Vogels said.

Colac Otway Shire, which also neighbours Corangamite, also features in Australia’s top 20 dairy dollar-generating municipalities, with an output of more than $130 million, as does Glenelg Shire, also located in southwest Victoria.

Corangamite Shire councillor Jamie Vogels

Cr Vogels said the wider region produced more than $1 billion in dairy output a year.

“It’s a fact we’ve made to governments to get more funding for our local roads and other infrastructure. We contribute a lot to the state and national economy,” he said.

Gippsland’s top dairy municipality in the 2020-21 league table is the Wellington Shire, which covers Heyfield, Maffra, Sale, Stratford, Newry, Tinamba and Yarram.

Wellington Shire’s dairy farmers generated more than $326 million to the national economy during the 2020-21 financial year.

In northern Victoria, the Campaspe Shire pumped out more than $259 million during the surveyed period.

Campaspe covers notable dairy towns such as Girgarre, Echuca, Kyabram, Rochester, Tongala and Rushworth.

While Victoria remained Australia’s dairy powerhouse, the number of dairy cattle fell during the ABS surveyed period while NSW and Tasmania stabilised during the same timeframe.

Dairy Australia industry analyst John Droppert said the figures related to the 2020-21 financial year, with farmgate figures flourishing more recently.

“The years following the 2016 clawback (by Murray Goulburn and Fonterra) saw a reduction in the number of dairy farms operating in some parts of Victoria,” he said.

“Meanwhile, the drought was starting to ease in NSW.”