ABOUT 130 central district dairyfarmers headed to the Murray Bridge Racecourse for the 2022 DairySA Central Conference which hosted many guest speakers, indoor trade exhibitors and outdoor stands.
Dr Nollaig Heffernan builds from within
The sessions held throughout the day captured the attention of many attendees, but the most discussed session was People- building from within, hosted by Dr Nollaig Heffernan.
Dr Heffernan presented on the shift in dairy workplaces as a result of COVID.
She said the challenges surrounding retaining workers in the current workforce meant there was a higher introduction of less-skilled personnel and her session would provide employers with skills to develop the capacity of the workforce they have available.
"Every single person who passes through your farm is a brand ambassador of your business," she says.
"We need to be very mindful of any single experience that a person has when they come on farm.
"It's important to be an employer of choice - someone who people want to work for - you have to work hard to create that brand."
Dr Heffernan explained that business awareness, planning, and controlling the controllables were the three most important factors when hiring an employee.
"We have to deal with what we have and make the most of it by looking at the positives and building on top of it," she said.
"Continuous improvement and upskilling employees is important.
"To invest in the asset, being the employee and offer a progression in skill sells."
She said businesses ran well were good but family businesses ran well were stellar.
"Respect was key to those family operations, they listen to each other and do not force their own agenda on the previous or next generation," she said.
"Success breeds success - believe in the business and have patience.
"Accountability is an exercise in empowerment not an exercise in control."
The importance of word of mouth publicity and being visible through networking meant the business was more sought after by an employee.
"Never negotiate on the absolutes, for example milk standard or animal health," she said.
"But there are other factors which you can get some leverage with negotiation whether that be working days or hours - never at risk of the business.
"There is short term pain for long term gain when it comes to spending time with training."
Dr Heffernan said working on the business every day was important so when a potential employee comes along they should fit within the business like a jigsaw and not be bolted on after the fact.
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Droppert describes pressure cooker pattern for industry.
In the industry outlook session, Dairy Australia industry insights analysis manager John Droppert said in the past year there had been a four per cent increase in profits and a two pc increase in farmers owned business.
"Those numbers have consolidated quite well over the last 12 months," Mr Droppert said.
"We know that historically one of the biggest linkages is between confidence and milk price - perhaps for obvious reasons $7 is almost starting to sound a little bit low.
"When we study indications for the next season they are already well above that but historically, we're in very strong territory from a price perspective."
He said globally, commodity prices were extremely strong.
"We have seen a really steady increase over the second half of the last calendar year," he said.
"We all know what's happening with fertilizer prices at the moment, add diesel prices, and labour forces it has all been a bit of a perennial challenge.
"I think we've probably got less to worry about from from a milk price perspective this season and more to worry from a cost and margin perspective as that is probably where the first sign of trouble is going to come from.
"The price of getting things to market is just going to ridiculous levels and that is before diesel prices doing what they're doing now and before the Ukraine invasion."
He said there had been massive increases in the cost of shipping with disruptions and ports being skipped.
"This all adds to the cost and complexity of doing business creating a pressure cooker situation that we're in at the moment," he said.
"In the medium term, this pressure cooker situation isn't gonna last forever, but some of these things are going to persist.
"Increasingly, we're seeing imports brought in to balance by developed exports.
"When production drops, we don't necessarily see a corresponding decrease in exports."
He said in a lot of cases farmers are looking to protect high value export markets.
"Nonetheless, some of our key markets have have felt the downside in milk production over the years and Japan is one of those," he said.
"We're not necessarily essential with some of our major markets and I think from an Australian industry perspective, we actually do a really good job at diversifying.
"Fundamentals globally are also very strong.
"We've seen growth in China and that doesn't come without risk and the same with Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa as well."
He said their dairy demand grows by about 2pc year in year out.
"While there are challenges that come out of COVID recessions and more inflation driven recessions - we have seen that is fairly repeatable and fundamental over the long term - and we don't see that changing anytime soon," he said.
"Australia has a comparative advantage that helps keep those sorts of pressures a little bit further at bay and have a very productive industry, stance towards you know, environmental, social and governance.
"I think that's something that we probably understate as an industry, but we're very good at it.
"We're in a very unstable global situation, and we are going to see that popping up in many different places."
He said we don't know how the the developments around China and their economy in the last few weeks would play out.
"But I think we're gonna see some real volatility," he said.
"We are in a period where margins and prices are very good at the moment.
"Don't try to draw a straight line from where you are now to where you might be in a couple of years time.
"It is going to be a bumpy ride but I think if you look at the fundamentals, dairy is still a winner."
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