A dairy plan for Queensland is another step closer.
The advisory group which is guiding development of Queensland’s dairy plan has started looking at all of the feedback received so far and identifying priorities and common themes — issues which must be addressed in the plan, and ideas for change.
EastAUSmilk is leading development of the plan, with government relations manager Mike Smith saying the plan is all about growing Queensland’s milk pool, building the economic viability of the industry, facilitating productivity and efficiency improvements, and building confidence in the future of the industry in Queensland.
“Queensland needs an effective dairy industry plan to make sure Queenslanders can drink fresh local milk into the future, that farmers run profitable businesses, and their communities remain vibrant,” Mr Smith said.
“Right now that’s not where we are. We have the smallest average dairy herd size of all states, our farms produce just 45 per cent of the milk Queenslanders consume, we’ve got only 40 per cent of the farms we had in 2011, and too many farmers are struggling to make a decent income.”
Mr Smith said feedback had been received from six district meetings (about 120 people attended all together), discussions among advisory group members themselves, and individual discussions with SubTropical Dairy, larger processors, and others.
“In addition, eastAUSmilk has received emails from several individuals about the problems they see as priorities, and suggesting solutions, and received responses to our invitation for online submissions.
“Notes of district meetings and other discussions, together with online and email input, have amounted to many thousands of words and over a hundred pages of notes.”
The advisory group is made up of representatives from eastAUSmilk, SubTropical Dairy, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Lactalis, Bega, Norco and Dairy Farmers Milk Co‑operative.
They all want to bring the industry together to lift production, increase farm gate profitability and drive efficiencies throughout the supply chain.
Mr Smith said once the advisory group has digested all the feedback and proposals received so far, the next steps will include seeking advisory group consensus on the issues which must be addressed and proposals for change, then trying to reduce them to a smaller number of concrete proposals which will have a real and lasting impact.
The group will then have to weave them into a draft plan.
“Once draft documents are ready to put in front of farmers, processors and other stakeholders, we’ll schedule another round of face-to-face consultations including district meetings,” Mr Smith said.
“Once that further feedback has been received, the advisory group is expected to modify their draft, and propose a final plan.”
For more information about the Queensland Dairy Plan, go to the eastAUSmilk website.