Milk prices need to rise, dairy judge says

"The price that people pay in supermarkets for milk has to go up and that price has to come to the people who produce the milk," he said.

"You only have to look at the number of people who are exiting the industry all around Australia to know that things are tough."

Mr English, Eachamvale, Malanda was down in Gatton to judge the supreme awards in the Queensland Dairy Showcase.

"I judged at the first Queensland Dairy Showcase here 10 years ago so it was an honour to be invited back 10 years later to judge the supremes," he said.

"The quality particularly within the Illawarras and the Jerseys was outstanding but the overall quality of everything was very high."

Mr English said given the tough times challenging the dairy industry, events such as the showcase were important to highlight the work of the dairy farmers.

"All of Australia needs to know where their food comes from, they need to know that in Australia we produce top quality food and we need to be paid more for it," he said.

"I think people just need to realise they need to pay more for quality food. Whenever the price of milk goes up there's always a public outcry but a lot of things go up in price at the same time and nobody bats an eyelid.

"When milk goes up in price even by one or two cents, people think the world's going to come to an end but it won't."

Mr English said skyrocketing input costs were putting dairy farmers in a tough spot across the entire country.

"Last year our cotton seed cost us $290 per tonne, this year it's costing us $590 per tonne. So basically it's doubled in price but the price we get for our milk hasn't shifted at all."

This story first appeared on Queensland Country Life

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