Dairy Australia 2024 annual report shows levy revenue jump

A multimillion levy boost to Dairy Australia’s bottom line has been revealed in its latest set of figures, as herd numbers continue to fall.

Service levy revenue paid by farmers to Dairy Australia jumped by more than $1.8m last financial year, despite a decline in farm numbers.

Figures confirmed in DA’s annual report show $30.5m was collected from the dairy service levy in 2023-24, a 6.3 per cent rise from the 2022-23 tally of $28.7m.

Government matching payments also grew over the same time frame from $25.7m in 2022-23 to $27.8m while external contributions declined from more than $8.6m to a tick under $7.9m.

Employee costs — long criticised by farm lobby leaders — reduced somewhat between 2022-23 and last financial year, with the total employee expenses tally easing from $21.98m to $21.15m.

However, Warrnambool accountant Kevin Ashworth said employee expenditure still chewed through a disproportionately large slice of the levy revenue pie.

Mr Ashworth, a former dairy farmer, said DA’s annual reports provided little clarity when it came to questions over value for money.

Kevin Ashworth is an accountant turned dairy farmer at Warrnambool. Picture: Nicole Cleary

“What is still obscene is that the expenditure on employee benefits still runs at 69 per cent of the dairy farmer levies,” he said.

“That is that the government co-contribution is contingent on the receipt of the dairy farmers levy and should not be used or included in any calculation of efficiency of DA.”

Mr Ashworth said the broader DA statistics on the state of Australian dairy provided “telltale signs of a collapsing industry”.

“Over a five-year period — national herd numbers have fallen by 5.67 per cent; dairy farm numbers have fallen by 23.05 per cent; workforce numbers have fallen by 28.05 per cent, milk produced has fallen by 4.56 per cent and average litres per cow dropped by 1.63 per cent.”

A DA spokeswoman said the dairy services levy was calculated on milk production, not farm numbers, hence the rise.

“Australia’s total milk production increased 3 per cent in FY24 to 8.37 billion litres of milk, up from 8.12 billion litres the previous season. Based on this, the dairy services levy income increased from FY23 to FY24,” the spokeswoman said.

“Dairy Australia receives external financial contributions from government and investment partners for key projects.

“A number of large, multi-year projects in trade and on farm innovation are funded by these external contributions. Some of these projects concluded in FY23, reflecting the decline in external contributions from FY23 to FY24.”

Dairy Australia managing director David Nation in 2018. Picture: Andy Rogers

Just prior to Christmas, DA managing director David Nation announced he would step down from the top job after more than six years with the organisation.

His replacement is yet to be confirmed.

eastAUSmilk president Joe Bradley said DA’s years of strategic planning had failed to boost the national milk pool or stem the flow of farmers from the sector.

“There’s a lot of frustration out there from farmers about the direction of Dairy Australia. When it comes to their role with promotional work, they’ve been missing in action.”