How bushfire crisis could see supermarket milk prices soar

A NSW farmer says the country’s dairy industry needs help after being devastated by bushfires and is calling for an increase in milk prices.

Robert Miller told the ABC 160 hectares of his pasture, in Milton on the NSW South Coast, have been destroyed by bushfires.

Mr Miller added he’s waiting on feed for his cattle but due to the fires “it’s too dangerous” for trucks to bring hay in.

He’s suggested an increase in milk prices could help the dairy industry recover.

“I was saying $1.50 a litre but maybe it needs to go to $1.75," he told the ABC.

Milk supply not affected, Woolworths and Coles say

Woolworths told Yahoo News Australia bushfires haven’t impacted its milk supply.

However, the head of NSW farmers’ body Dairy Connect, Shaughn Morgan, told The Guardian last week milk supply “could be impacted” by bushfires.

He added it’s been challenging getting information from dairy farmers along the bushfire-ravaged south coast from Nowra to further south.

A Coles spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia the supermarket began sourcing its “Own Brand fresh milk directly from farmers in Victoria and parts of NSW” from July last year giving farmers greater certainty of income and allowing them to plan more confidently for the future”.

“Under these direct contracts, dairy farmers are receiving some of the highest farm gate prices being paid by any wholesale purchaser in their local market,” the spokesperson said.

“Since December, Coles has been making additional payments to directly-contracted dairy farmers in NSW and northern Victoria to help them meet higher expenses as a result of the drought, without making any change to retail prices.

“None of the farmers with whom we have contracts in Victoria and NSW have so far been directly impacted by the current fires however we are in regular contact with them and will provide further assistance if required.”

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Dairy farmers forced to shoot cows

Mr Morgan told the publication many farmers are “spilling their milk” as they’re unable to send it off.

Coolagolite cattle farmer Steve Shipton was forced to shoot a number of his cows last week including his favourite dairy cow.

Mr Shipton estimates he lost about a tenth of his 250-odd head of cattle after the Countegany/Dampier State Forest blaze ripped through his property.

Some cattle “were badly scorched”, he said.

Ongoing calls for increasing milk prices

There have been appeals from farmers across Australia to increase milk prices, long before bushfires made their circumstances worse.

South Australian Casey Treloar choked back tears in February last year as she explained her family was shutting down their dairy farm near Parawa on the Fleurieu Peninsula as it was no longer sustainable.

Ms Treloar said her family was getting paid 38c per litre at one point.

In August 2018, a drought-stricken NSW dairy farmer went viral with a tearful plea calling for an increase in milk prices.

Father of three Shane Hickey took to Facebook to say he was earning just $2.64 an hour in the last month as Australia’s east suffers from one of the worst droughts of the last 100 years.

With AAP

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