'Basically slavery': Struggling farmer makes emotional-plea to Australian retailers amid drought

The father-of-three dairy farmer has made a desperate plea to retailers, urging them to pay farmers more during Australia's severe drought
The father-of-three dairy farmer has made a desperate plea to retailers, urging them to pay farmers more during Australia's severe drought

An Australian dairy farmer has made an emotional-plea to supermarkets urging them to pay farmers more amid the worst drought Australia has faced in years.

42-year-old Shane Hickey, a father of three, took to Facebook on Tuesday (14 August) to explain how he is earning a measly AUS$2.64 an hour.

It comes as Australia suffers one of the worst droughts in a generation.

“I’m a proud dairy farmer … I work very hard,” the New South Wales farmer said to the camera.

“But I’d like to say that I worked this month [July] and we just got paid in August for a whole month.

“I worked for $2.46 an hour. Something has got to change. You can’t keep this sh*t up.

“People can’t expect farmers to continually work for nothing. That’s basically slavery.”

'Production is down'

In the video, Mr Hickey urges Australian supermarket chains Coles, Woolworths, Aldi and IGA to pay more to farmers.

“Coles and Woolies keep selling milk and cheese and keep screwing the arse off us all,” he added.

“If the drought keeps up, I don’t know where they are going to get it from. It’s not coming from here. Our production is down 50 per cent to this time last year and our water is disappearing quickly.”

Social media users flooded the post with concerns and questions about how they can help dairy farmers.

Carrollyn Marshall Lowe said: "I am positive all the negative commentators wouldn’t work for $2.36 an hour. Most farmers have massive overdrafts, work longer hours than any of us and deserve the good times."

Robert Goldspink added: "Who would pay an extra dollar per litre for milk if the supermarkets passed all extra dollars directly to the farmers?

I would."

The desperate situation in Australia comes as British farmers face issues with sustained hot, dry conditions.

The impact of the summer heatwave on livestock and growers will be felt “for months to come”, according to the Royal Agricultural University.

The NFU has explained how crops are "being parched to the bone", and how vegetable farmers are facing issues as their depleted reservoirs, used for irrigation, begin to dry up.