Milk processing giant Murray Goulburn won't confirm if Hunter dairy farmers will suffer the same fate as their southern counterparts, despite strong calls from the NSW Farmers Association.
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Association dairy chair Rob McIntosh has been lobbying the company to immediately release its farm-gate price for the next financial year so farmers can plan, but the company won’t budge.
In a statement to the Mercury a Murray Goulburn spokesman confirmed current prices in the NSW-Sydney market, which includes the Hunter, were fixed until June 30, but would not indicate what would happen to the price from July 1.
The spokesman said the farm-gate price would be reviewed at a board meeting in June and “released in due course”, in accordance with the company’s normal procedure.
But Mr McIntosh said there was nothing normal about the sudden dairy crisis, which had torn through the livelihoods of thousands of farmers and left others in limbo as they awaited their fate. He said the company should reveal its intentions and Coles should stop selling $1 a litre milk.
He challenged other milk processing companies to keep paying a fair price, but acknowledged they saw Murray Goulburn as the market leader and would follow any drop.
“This is the most extreme situation we’ve faced,” he said.
“It’s terribly unsettling and sad, it hits young farmers who are just getting into the industry the hardest, and family farms who’ve been going for generations.
“The impact Murray Goulburn is having is widespread whether you’re supplying fresh milk or dairy products for export.
“The other companies will fall quickly in line with Murray Goulburn.”
Mr McIntosh is a dairy farmer and supplier to Murray Goulburn. He has been left to reassess the future of the family farm.
“We’ve had to go back to the bank and re-evaluate our balance sheet because the assets we had are now less,” he said.
Mr McIntosh said the national dairy crisis was an opportunity to rethink the industry and pave a new future.
Murray Goulburn entered the fresh milk market two years ago and offered farmers a good price for their milk to entice them to leave their milk processor.
The company maintains it has had a "positive impact on the dairy industry in the state and continues to do so”.
