By RICK GLADIGAU, AUSTRALIAN DAIRY FARMERS PRESIDENT
Australians often take the dairy industry for granted as they tuck into their breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts, or a nice cheese platter.
Having returned recently from trade missions to Asia and Europe, I can say with confidence that Australia is blessed with its huge array and ample supply of fresh, nutritious dairy food.
Unlike some markets overseas, our dairy products, right down to the basics like fresh milk, are readily available wherever we are in Australia.
This is not always the case overseas.
UK deal welcome
Australian dairy has a reputation globally for being a reliable export trade partner, providing quality nutritious food for a healthier world
About one-third of Australian dairy production is exported.
Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF) supports global free trade.
This is why we welcome the ratification of the Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement (UK FTA) by the UK Parliament.
The free trade deal is the first with the UK since Brexit. This highlights the speed with which the Australian government and negotiators in the Department of Agriculture moved to secure the deal.
The deal eliminates tariffs on dairy trade between Australia and the UK within five years.
It provides immediate duty-free access for significant volumes of milk, cream, yoghurt, whey, butter and cheese.
Further, the deal increases access to Australian ice cream and infant formula in the UK.
Time to work together
Trade is especially important to the Australian dairy industry.
Having worked with Dairy Australia on trade issues and participating in trade missions, I have learned that it is this Australian demand that the European Union (EU) wants to target in the EU Free Trade Agreement (EU FTA) negotiations.
ADF supports free and fair trade and market access, however, we do not support so-called geographical indications (GIs) being used to effectively trademark commonly used names for cheeses.
Accepting GIs would have a huge economic impact on our dairy processors and farmers – estimated at a staggering $77 million to $95 million a year in the early stages of the FTA.Up to 1000 jobs are at risk.
As a wine maker in France said during my recent visit there with other farmer leaders as part of a National Farmers Federation mission, “we work cleverer together than we do apart”.
The Australian dairy industry took that spirit of unity to Canberra last week when 80 pollies attended a “Celebration of Dairy”, hosted by the Parliamentary Friends of Primary Producers group.
The event’s guests also heard that while the Australian dairy industry enjoys strong demand and faces competition from overseas, it is facing the dilemma of declining milk production.
Dairy farmers have weathered droughts, fires, floods, a pandemic, and rising input costs – however, despite strong milk prices and profitable farmers, we see production has declined.
Our challenge is to sustain strong dairy prices into the long term, address impediments such as workforce shortages, and provide the incentive and confidence for farmers to invest to produce more milk.
It is clear the domestic market; export markets; and processors all want more supply of our great, fresh and nutritious product!
Leading the way
Dairy farmers and manufacturers have long recognised that to continue to produce their delicious and highly nutritious food, they need to operate sustainably.
Australia’s dairy industry has led the way when it comes to sustainability.
It is 10 years since the industry embarked on implementing the Australian Dairy Sustainability Framework – the first of its kind in the world.
It is important to remember when discussing carbon and emissions that everything has an environmental footprint.
As a collective, dairy farmers have voluntarily reduced their methane emissions by 40 per cent between 1980 and 2016.
But we need support and investment to continue to meet our greenhouse gas target of net zero by 2050.
Worth celebrating
Australia’s dairy Industry is the nation’s third largest rural industry, generating $4.9 billion in value at the farm gate.
It produces eight billion litres of milk from 1.3 million cows, averaging 6200 litres of milk per cow per year.
They live on 4400 farms with a workforce of 34,700 people.Despite the challenges in food production, dairy farmers and processors have become more efficient.
As a result, the dairy foods they produce represent better value now than ever for consumers.No wonder Australians consume 93 litres of milk and 15 kilograms of cheese per year!It is a challenging, yet exciting time to celebrate dairy – an innovative and progressive industry and a source of nutritious food for a healthier world.
We have come a long way in the past decade.