On The Land
23 January, 2025
Keen to get dairy plan going
WITH the Dairy Industry Plan for Queensland now completed, eastAUSmilk is urging government and industry participants to commit to its implementation.
Government relations manager for eastAUSmilk, Mike Smith, said the organisation expected to meet with the Minister’s advisors and Department of Primary Industries this month, asking that resourcing and implementation get underway as soon as possible.
Driven by concerns about the decline in milk production across the state, the plan is the culmination of extensive consultation – farmer district meetings across Queensland, one-on-one meetings, online feedback options, and individuals emailed their analyses, views, and suggestions.
The plan’s focus is reversing the decline in production, and building the economic viability of dairy farming across Queensland, and identifies four broad priority areas which can make a difference:
• financing the future – how to enable capital inflows to the farming section;
• pathways into the industry – how to get new participants to operate farms;
• risk mitigation for stable production – how to manage climate variability and other risks in a changing world; and
• productivity improvement – how to get the same, or more, milk for less inputs.
Mr Smith said the plan identified 15 action items which were best placed to provide responses to those priorities, with five of the 15 prioritised for immediate action:
• Improved support and more accessible information, including legal options, for industry entry and exit;
• Comprehensive climate and natural disaster program for dairying e.g. infrastructure to mitigate heat stress, mitigate feed issues in the wet, on farm sustainability, renewables;
• Identification of barriers and solutions to expand feedstock options, including imported strains, for pest and disease management, and further understand the barriers for the use of GMO feedstock options, and explore potential solutions;
• Supporting and facilitating on-farm uptake of changed practice, including new automation, technology and production systems; and,
• Improving the productivity, and management, of pastures.
Implementation of the plan is to be managed by an industry led group including eastAUSmilk, processors, government, and SubTropical Dairy.
