Value ignored in local market

Mr Williams, who milks 550 cows at Parawa with wife Jill and children Angus and Amy, was one of more than 50 dairyfarmers sharing their experiences at the ACCC farmer forum at Hahndorf on Monday.

The family is also preparing its own submission for the inquiry.

Among broader issues about price uncertainty, a key concern for those in the Adelaide region was the price paid for milk, he said.

“Demand exceeds supply in this area, so why aren’t we doing better?” he said. “That’s really what some of our problems are about.”

Because demand in the Adelaide region often outstripped supply, Mr Williams said milk was sometimes freighted in from the South East and interstate.

Despite this, local dairyfarmers were paid using the Vic base rate, without allowing for the extra transport costs.

He said in other similar situations, such as in northern NSW, the prices were at least 10 cents a litre higher than Vic prices to reflect increased costs in freight.

“We need a better price for milk locally that reflects the value of the local market,” he said.

Mr Williams believes collective bargaining – a topic that was raised at the inquiry – could be a potential solution in the Adelaide region.

While he said dairyfarmers needed to accept some of the risks bought on by the global market, he questioned why profits were not filtering through to dairyfarmers, many of whom were paid below the cost of production.

Mr Williams welcomed the scrutiny by the government and industry leaders into the concerns of the sector, but said he wanted to see results.

“I’m still concerned and looking for some positive signs of change,” he said. 

“It has been talked about, but that’s not action and results.”