A good fodder season and water allocation are thought to be behind northern Victorian dairy farmers having a positive outlook for the coming months, according to the nation’s most comprehensive quarterly farmer survey.
The Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey is a comprehensive monitor of outlook and sentiment in the country’s rural industries and questions an average of 1000 primary producers across a wide range of commodities and geographical areas throughout Australia every quarter.
The third quarter survey results were released on Monday, September 16, and showed that farmers in northern Victoria had lifted the average rural sentiment after a ‘reasonable’ season, compared to the rest of the state.
Northern Victorian dairy farms added to that bucking of the state-wide trend.
The survey found the majority of dairy producers in Victoria (50 per cent) thought farm business conditions were likely to weaken in the coming 12 months (down from 55 per cent), while 41 per cent expected conditions to remain unchanged.
Rabobank state manager for Victoria and Tasmania Sally Bull said seasonal conditions had been mixed across the key Victorian dairy regions.
Victorian farmers, particularly those in the south-west of the state and parts of Gippsland and the north-east, had been managing a drier than average winter.
“The sizeable milk-production regions in the state’s west have been affected by the severe rainfall deficiencies. However, seasonal conditions elsewhere have been mostly favourable,” Ms Bull said.
“In the northern Victorian irrigated dairy regions, dairy farmers have experienced reasonably good seasonal conditions, although the most recent rainfall events have been variable.
“Most northern dairy farmers are expected to have a big season for fodder production and a good water allocation for this season.”