Raising a glass to World Milk Day
FAR Northerners are encouraged to pour one for an important part of our diet and our rural industry on World Milk Day.
Today is a day to celebrate dairy farmers, the regional communities they support, and milk in general as a global food.
World Milk Day was established in 2001 by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations to recognise the importance of milk as a global food.
According to the Queensland Farmers Federation, there are about 150,000 milking cows on about 430 farms across the state, including the Atherton Tablelands, centred around Malanda.
Queensland dairy farmers have had it tough, battling for fair milk prices since the industry was deregulated in the ’90s.
Consumers have often had to balance budgeting for milk or spending more on premium milk brands provided directly from dairy suppliers.
Cairns mum Shernoa Gordon does her best to make sure her three kids get their regular glass of milk each day.
Ms Gordon currently gets her milk cheap by buying cartons of supermarket homebrand milk for a dollar a bottle.
“I’ve considered moving up to premium brand milk, but it would be more expensive,” she said.
“Homebrand is cheap but doesn’t taste as creamy as premium milk.”