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There is so much choice at the milk fridge today, how can you possibly choose?
Are you confused between the health benefits, the price point and or supporting your dairy farmer? Marketing gurus tell us that we purchase products emotionally, and we become loyal to a brand, so sometimes the decision is made before you get to the fridge, out of loyalty you pick up the bottle you have always chosen. There is a feel-good story about your dairy farmer that needs to be told. It might just change the way you think next time you’re peering into the supermarket milk fridge.
Yes, the supermarket milk war continues, but it’s the dairy farmer who is taking the brunt. Yes $1 milk can be supplied to supermarkets, the milk processor has signed a contract to confirm that it’s possible. The processor then tells the dairy farmer the milk will be purchased from them, for less money then what it costs the dairy farmer to produce. Deal done.
It’s just a couple of cents the processor argues, it won’t hurt the dairy farmer. Let’s have a look at the difference 1c can make to the dairy farmer, no big deal. One cow produces 20L of milk per day, 200 cows is the size of an average dairy farm, a total of 4,000L per day, 1,460,000L per year at 1c well that’s . . . . . $14,600 per year. The processor is happy for the dairy farmer to take this cut or even bigger in some cases, they just wish the dairy farmer would stop whingeing about it.
Let’s talk about the dairy farmers who made their own deal with Woolies. This deal was not made to benefit Woolies, it was not made to benefit the processor, it was made to benefit the dairy farmer. This deal is a dairy farmer funded initiative, a risk taken to ensure a better future for their farm and their families.
This group of Manning Valley dairy farmers got together and decided to cut out the middle man, the processor who is happy to squeeze the life out of them. The deal was funded by the dairy farmers themselves and approved by the ACCC. Armed with the quantity needed to sustain a brand, the facts and the figures and their best weapon of all, their milk. Produced on their own farms by them, that very day. The dairy farmers met with Woolworths and laid it out on the table.
A trial was agreed to, 8 local stores and 12 Sydney stores. The demand was there and not long after all 200 plus stores in NSW stocked Farmers Own milk. Over the next 2 years the same dairy farmer initiative agreement was rolled out to other states. Milk purchased in your local Woolies store is produced by your local dairy farmer.
The milk is processed, it must be by law. It’s pasteurised, to kill any bacteria living in the milk. There are no additives and the least amount of mechanical intervention. Reduced fat is available due to popular demand, a conundrum to the dairy farmer as there is only 4% fat in full cream milk. Unhomogenised milk with the cream on top, just the way milk used to be, is the third product in the milk trilogy. Award winning milk, from the cow to the bottle within 24 hours.
It’s an exceptionally heartening story but not one many people are talking about. The industry is hurting and the devastation is very real. All dairy farmers are at the mercy of farming life. At least some are not at the mercy of the processor predator too. When you buy Farmers Own milk you are directly supporting your dairy farmer. Drink the milk your farmer drinks.
