The main highlight from the past 12 months has been how well the farmers in the dairy industry handled the pandemic.
It threw up a lot of unknowns and as an industry we got through it relatively unscathed through the good work of processors and Dairy Australia, which come up with plans to comply with.
The code of conduct has worked really well with our long term contracts and given farmers more stability.
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Australian Dairy Farmers are doing a lot of work on plant labelling and with the elections coming up, I think it is really crucial to have them as a voice into government.
Consumers are recognising the benefit and the value of local.
Some decreases in production in other areas of the country and the world means demand is strong and we are receiving good prices.
Having said that, we are keen to support the continued growth both for the industry but also for the state and we have got a few things where we are seeking the support of the government.
The key one is to recognise we have workforce challenges and we are calling on the government to support a skills fund to support the dairy industry in a flexible manner.
Challenges with accredited training supported by the government at the moment is that its delivery style is not fit for purpose for agriculture and certainly not a dairy business, where people are remote from institutions and have work hours which are sometimes different to the norm.
We are also seeking the government to provide a stamp duty rebate for agricultural land that is returned to commercial production.
We want all parties to recognise we are working very hard on methane capture abatement and we'd be looking for their support in the dairy industry continuing its response to climate change.
A critical thing is that parties commit to the Murray Darling Basin plan as it exists.
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