Earlier this year, the media and consumers were finally awakened to the drought crisis faced by our dairy farmers. While there is no doubt that all agricultural industries are hurting, the dairy industry faces a tougher challenge than most.

To produce milk, dairy cows need to be in peak health and their food quality and quantity maintained. Whereas beef cattle can be fed lower quantity and quality feed to see them through the drought.

So the increasing scarcity and the price of freighting in fodder has hit the dairy industry hardest. Some people have been asking why is this a national appeal when only NSW and Qld are in drought declared regions? Our dairy friends in WA, SA, Tas and Vic need the assistance of the 10c/litre Drought Levy since scarcity has led the price of grain and feed to record highs in all states. 

Combined with lower than sustainable farm gate prices in both states, we are imploring consumers to get behind a petition to all supermarkets, in particular, Coles and Woolworths, to increase the price on all milk by 10 cents per litre and for processors to guarantee that the full amount will go directly back to the farmers.