Gippy Goat and Caldermeade cafes founder John Gommans dies aged 64

John Gommans, owner of The Gippy Goat Cafe at Yarragon and Caldermeade Farm & Cafe, is being remembered as a person with "high principles and integrity" and an "entrepreneur in the fullest sense".

He died last week after a year-long illness, aged 64.

In a statement, Mr Gommans' family said it was with great sorrow they announced his death.

"John achieved a great deal in his life," the statement read.

"Full of ideas, always seeking opportunities, thinking laterally, and challenging the norm.

"What he and [wife] Penny have established will continue on, with the strength of the family and the management team behind it.

"He will be missed."

Mr Gommans owned dairy farming enterprises in Australia and previously in New Zealand and had more than 50 years' experience in the sector.

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Mr Gommans was born into a dairy farming family in Morrinsville, New Zealand, in 1957, and moved to Australia with Penny and their five children in 2006.

A year earlier they purchased the former Bonlac R&D factory at Dandenong, used as a powder-drying factory, and a farm at Trafalgar where they established a goat dairy.

In 2017, they purchased Caldermeade Farm on the South Gippsland Highway at Caldermeade.

It was there where the family established a paddock-to-plate experience and an independent milk label and food brand, Caldermeade Farm, milking 700 Jersey cows across two dairies.

In 1980, he obtained a Bachelor of Agricultural Science in Animal Production and Environmental Science from Massey University, and a postgraduate qualification in Business Management from Monash University.

Protests at Mr Gommans' Caldermeade and Yarragon properties in October and December 2018, respectively, made him become a vocal advocate for harsher penalties for animal activists who trespassed on agricultural properties.

In one incident, 70 activists invaded his Yarragon property and stole two goats and a lamb from pens before driving away with them in domestic vehicles.

A woman charged with stealing one of the goats was fined $1 for removing an identification ear tag and $1 for housing livestock without a Property Identification Code.

The family opted to close the cafe permanently four months after the incident, citing the health and safety of their staff after months of "constant harassment" via social media.

Mr Gommans later argued the $1 penalty was "extreme leniency afforded to the activists" and "merely emboldens them to commit further crimes".

Nationals MP and state member for Eastern Victoria Melina Bath said Mr Gommans left a legacy to Victorian farmers through stronger penalties and better legal protections passed in Parliament this year.

"John was determined to preserve his family's right to farm and protect his employees and animals from the reckless and cruel actions of activists," Ms Bath said.

"He advocated for real change to serve all livestock farmers and the wider agriculture community.

"His clarity on the need for on-the-spot fines to [discourage] the reckless behaviour of activists and his advocacy for the importance and value of livestock in Victorian agriculture cannot be overestimated."

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In his submission to the Inquiry into the Impact of Animal Rights Activism on Victorian Agriculture, Mr Gommans made four recommendations which included a minimum fine of 50 per cent of the maximum fine possible for those who trespassed, as well as on-the-spot fines for trespassers and breaches of biosecurity.

"Activists are confident in their ability to ignore police as it suits them," Mr Gommans wrote in February 2020.

"Penalties in NSW can include an on-the-spot fine of $1000 or a court ordered fine of $220,000 for individuals and $440,000 for corporations.

"A similar process in Victoria would be helpful."

He also lobbied the government to not treat farm trespass as a minor offence, calling for more convictions of charged offenders.

In March this year, new legislation passed in Parliament meant individuals caught trespassing on Victorian farms could be slapped with on-the-spot fines of $1272 and $8178 for an organisation.

The Victorian government described those laws at the time as being the toughest of their kind in Australia.

Mr Gommans told the ABC in March the on-the-spot fines should have been harsher.

"But it's a good place to start," he said.

"The fines wouldn't have stopped me shutting the cafe - it was the online trolling of the business and everything associated with that."

Gippsland Jersey owner Sallie Jones described Mr Gommans as a "pillar of the dairy industry".

Ms Jones credited her milk label's success partially to Mr Gommans' support during its infancy when her family ventured into processing milk several years ago.

"He started processing our milk in 2016 until we got our own factory in Lakes Entrance about two years ago so we'll always be grateful for him giving us a start," she said.

"He was such a robust man, full of life and energy and he could make anything happen.

"I really admired John's ability to be a real entrepreneur and his ability to stand up to the animal activists and to try and get some justice."

A public gathering to remember Mr Gommans' life and achievements will be held at the Caldermeade Farm on Thursday, June 9, at 1pm.

Mr Gommans is survived by his wife Penny and their five adult-aged children and two grandchildren.