Mixed messages with Fonterra’s milk price
Students at St Joseph’s Primary School and Marist Sion College will be able to take a safer path to school, following installation of a new footpath in Burke St, Warragul.
The footpath upgrade formed part of Baw Baw Shire’s 2016/17 footpath program, which is closing missing footpath links across the shire.
The program runs annually and works by identifying areas that are missing footpath networks and allocates funding from the capital works budget.
Council has invested $900,000 in the current 2016/17 financial year for the new footpath program.
Baw Baw Shire mayor Joe Gauci said council was committed to continuing to work with local schools, sport clubs and community members to provide safer and more accessible footpath networks where it mattered.
Marist Sion College principal Peter Houlahan and students at the school are already reaping the benefits of the newly constructed footpath along Burke Street.
“Thank you for your work to provide this facility for the local community”, Mr Houlahan said.
The 2016/17 Footpath Program has seen new footpaths constructed along:
Morwell-Thorpdale Road in Thorpdale; Tarwin Street in Warragul; Sargeant Street in Warragul; Burke Street in Warragul; Settlement Road in Drouin; Western Park Drive in Warragul; Davey Drive in Drouin; Hearn Street in Drouin; Bullen Court in Trafalgar; Acacia Street in Drouin; Erica Playground in Erica; Gardner Street in Longwarry; and Depot Lane in Trafalgar.
Additional footpaths scheduled to be completed in this year’s program include:
Church Hill Road in Walhalla; Landsborough Street in Warragul; Kitchener Street in Trafalgar; Brown Street in Trafalgar; Thorpdale Road in Trafalgar; Albert Road in Drouin; Hazeldean Road in Yarragon.
Fonterra has announced its forecast full year farmgate milk price range for 2017/18 six weeks before the start of the season, honouring its ongoing commitment to provide clear and timely price guidance to suppliers.
But the United Dairyfarmers of Victoria said the announcement sent mixed messages to farmers.
While acknowledging the forecast closing milk price would assist in farm planning, the UDV raised concerns about Fonterra’s move not to reimburse farmers who switched processors when it slashed the farmgate milk price from $5.60/kg milk solids down to $1.91/kg milk solids last season.
“Fonterra has listened to industry and is taking steps to provide a more stable commercial environment for their farmers by providing an indicative forecasting for the season’s milk price,” UDV president Adam Jenkins said.
“However, this was an opportunity to draw a line in the sand and start rebuilding trust in the industry after the milk crisis, but nothing has been done to rectify the heartache caused to many farmers who bore the burden of management decisions last year.”
Fonterra announced a full year farmgate milk price range of $5.30 to $5.70 per kilogram of milk solids for2017/2018.
Fonterra Australia managing director René Dedoncker said the business was in a stronger position, which underpinned its competitive forecast full year range of $5.30 to $5.70 per kilogram of milk solids (kgMS).
“Providing Fonterra’s forecast full year price range now is aimed at giving our farmers guidance so that they can plan for next season with confidence,” Mr Dedoncker said.
Fonterra also announced that it will pay its Australian suppliers an additional payment of 40 cents per kgMS next season, bringing its forecast full year milk price range to $5.70 to $6.10 per kgMS. “We said that we would consider Murray Goulburn’s recent announcements including the decision to forgive its Milk Supply Support Package. We’ve consulted with the Bonlac Supply Company on the best way to respond to our suppliers,” he said.
The additional payment of 40 cents per kgMS will be available to all current, retired and recommencing suppliers. Fonterra will reimburse the interest charge for the Fonterra Australia Support Loans package that was included in this season’s milk price to all current suppliers.
“We believe this payment is the right thing to do and we’re committed to ensuring our farmers are better off by partnering with us,” Mr Dedoncker said.
But, Mr Jenkins said Fonterra’s refusal to compensate farmers who switched processors for financial reasons would make the dairy industry more inequitable.
“Farmers who were financially forced to leave their processors should not be forced to continue to bear the cost of processor actions and serious questions must be answered about the fairness and equity of the treatment of those who have left through no fault of their own,” he said.
“They should be paid a fair price for the milk they delivered last year and all farmers who supplied should be paid no matter who they now supply,” he said.
Mr Jenkins said the UDV had been working to implement a code of conduct for the dairy industry in a bid to avoid a milk crisis from occurring again.
“Australian dairy farmers need to have a say in how our contracts and supplier agreements are determined and what is reasonable, and the Code is integral to achieving that outcome,” he said.