Dairy deregulation hits Oz farmers

5 February 2001



Dairy deregulation hits Oz farmers

By FWi staff

DEREGULATION has driven record number of Australian dairy farmers out of business, a federal government study has found.

Some $A170 million has been stripped from dairy farm incomes, reveals the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics report.

And once-profitable farmers in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia will be in financial trouble before the end of the year.

This is despite the Federal Governments $A1.8 billion dairy support adjustment package.

In the six months since deregulation 110 farmers quit in Queensland, and 200 in NSW. This compares with just 44 and 46 respectively for the previous year.

The profit turnaround was caused by a 29% drop in the average farm gate price for milk in NSW to 25¢/l (9.3ppl), a 24% drop in Queensland to 30¢/l (11.2ppl) and a 30% drop in WA to 25¢/l.

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