2019 shapes up as another challenging year for dairy farmers and the dairy industry. As has been the case for the past eight years, retail pricing and the impact on dairy farmer and processor incomes is still by far the biggest challenge to overcome. Other key issues include the Australian dairy industry plan and biosecurity.
After many years of no change re retail milk prices, finally in 2018 some movement occurred largely as a result of a concerted campaign by QDO. This has led to an increase in prices received by Queensland dairy farmers. For some this increase was very short lived while for others it will lead to an increase in price of around 5 cents a litre for almost a year.
The challenge in 2019 is to turn these temporary increases into a permanent long-term solution. This needs to occur for all dairy products, across all of Australia and lead to more sustainable prices for both dairy farmers and processors. For this outcome to be achieved we need to have a united industry and run a concerted campaign across Australia.
The dairy industry will develop a plan for the entire Australian dairy industry in 2019. It is very important that this process leads to a small number of clear priorities to help farmers significantly increase profits and manage risk. In addition, there needs to targets set, clear plans to achieve targets and responsibility with resources given to organisations best able to achieve these targets. We need to ensure that significant outcomes for farmers are achieved given the significant investment made by farmers in industry organisations.
In the first half of 2019, QDO will undertake free Johnes disease testing for QDO members. This needs to be undertaken by June 2019. It follows the considerable effort made by QDO, with the assistance of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, in providing education workshops on Johnes disease and helping farmers develop farm biosecurity plans.
