Bega Group requests more milk from FNQ farmers
Far North Queensland dairy farmers are being asked to supply more milk as processor Bega seeks to reduce its reliance on supply from southern states.
Bega Group, one of Australia's largest dairy processors, has requested Far North Queensland dairy farmers to increase milk production by up to 30 percent for its Malanda factory. The company aims to reduce its dependency on milk supply from Victoria. CEO Pete Findlay stated that the company currently receives about 30 million litres of milk annually from the tablelands farmers and hopes to increase this to 35-40 million litres.
He explained that seasonal disruptions could force the company to bring in an additional 1-2 million litres of milk from Victoria annually to keep the factory operational. The company has recently increased prices paid to farmers and introduced incentives to encourage milk production. Dairy advocacy group eastAUSmilk welcomed the request but emphasized that increased pricing is necessary to make the industry sustainable.
Farmers in southern Queensland are struggling to secure milk supply contracts due to cheaper transport costs from Victoria, leaving local producers at a disadvantage. Bega Group is also building a new cold chain storage in Cairns, which will hold 50 percent more milk than its current site at Malanda. The company hopes this will address issues of running out of space at Malanda.
Young farmers in the Atherton Tablelands are optimistic about the future of the industry and are hopeful that increased demand will encourage more young people to get involved in dairying.
Written by urgent.news from ABC News AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
