Win for dairy farmers
Producers back scrap of $1 milk
PETER Garratt’s family legacy is in dairy, but between the supermarket milk wars and severe drought, he started questioning recently if it would still be his family’s future.
The Southbrook dairy farmer, who produces 2.5 million litres of milk every year, is now breathing a sigh of relief after Woolworths became the first supermarket to pull its $1 milk from shelves and increase the price of larger bottles.
“There was a range of emotions, but it was mainly a great big sigh of relief,” he said.
“(It’s) the thing that’s been really holding us against the wall, and a lot of pressure has been taken off us.
“It’s really a chance for us to breath and start focusing on the future a bit.”
Woolworths has been praised by the dairy industry and the Federal Government for increasing prices and passing on the difference to the farmers.
Mr Garratt said it would make a real difference to his bottom line, after successive failed crops meant needing to buy feed for his 225 Holstein Friesian cows.
“I’ve never really questioned our ability to stay in the industry and continue farming, but I tell you what, it’s been probably the toughest circumstances we’ve ever been through,” he said.
“Our future success has been threatened in the past 12 to 18 months by the drought, because our ability to grow our own feed has been reduced. We’ve had a failed winter and summer crop.
“We’ve harvested 175 tonnes of conserved feed for silage, in a timeframe that should produce 3000.
“We (have to) meet our obligation to feeding our animals correctly, and that exposes us to the element of having to buy all that extra feed.”
With Woolworths making the first move, Mr Garratt called on Aldi and Coles to follow suit and scrap its $1 milk sales.
“I just don’t know how anyone could unconscionably continue to sell milk at $1,” he said.
“There’s no reason for it – I guess it’s a battle between David and Goliath. They don’t care what the cost is.”
Woolworths Group CEO Brad Banducci said the company wanted to see a sustainable dairy industry in Australia.