Australia-Dairy industry faces a global downturn.
The Australian Dairy Industry Council (ADIC) chaired a meeting last week of dairy leaders who agreed on an immediate plan of action in response to the milk pricing impacts being driven by the global downturn.
ADIC chairman Allan Burgess said the outlook for dairy has "significantly and rapidly changed."
"Every farm is different" Mr Burgess said.
"And as such it is imperative that each business is working to best understand how it currently sits and what future pricing scenarios might mean to their bottom line.
"There is a lot of uncertainty in the current environment, but at times like this we need clear heads and better information to make sense of the potential impact on our business.
"Accordingly we will be doing as much as possible to better inform our industry and its service providers on the situation as we see it.
"As the coming autumn wears on, we will have significantly more analysis and information coming to hand which we will then immediately share."
The meeting of farmers, dairy companies and representatives from industry organisations and government agreed that Dairy Australia and its partners should implement a plan of action based on:
• Greater analysis of the economic and global conditions we are now experiencing as well as deeper analysis of the on farm impacts.
• Creating the opportunity for farmers and service providers to industry – in particular the financial sector - to hear the information being collated and to better improve their understanding of where the issues, risks and volatility lie.
• Ensuring that all farmers have the support they need to do the individual analysis that is vital in this situation.
Dairy Australia Managing Director Mike Ginnivan said the dairy industry has a good history of working together to find solutions.
"As an industry, we will continue to work closely in order to agree to a common position on the key issues in play and then coordinate our response across all industry partners, including the Government.
"This response has already started, and will develop as the market situation becomes clearer.
"Information and support will be targeted where and when it is needed," Dr Ginnivan said.
