ANIMAL HEALTH AND RESEARCH
192
Technology and teamwork drive a new era for dairy Australia’s dairy heartland is under pressure. Rising costs, shrinking milk pools, and ageing farmers test resilience, but new technology and fair policy could revive the industry.
By Bernie Free
Most of the farms still standing are bigger, using new tech and smarter ways of working just to keep afloat. Across Australia, we're producing just over eight billion litres of milk this season. That’s everything— milk, cheese, butter. But the milk pool keeps shrink- ing. Rabobank’s latest forecast says national output is set to drop another 1.7 percent this year. Fewer cows, expensive feed, dry weather in west- ern Victoria and beyond. Some farms can’t make it work and close their gates for good. Feed shortages, rising hay prices, and stubborn dry spells hit us hard. When rain does come, it’s patchy. Most paddocks don’t bounce back. Technology and
Agriculture is the backbone of rural Australia. I see it every day—our livelihoods depend on the land, the animals, and being able to feed folks. Climate change and carbon reduction matter. But the truth is you can’t be green if you're in the red. If farms aren’t profitable, nothing else works. Farmers here do more with less every year. Less land, fewer inputs, a smaller footprint. That’s some- thing to be proud of. We're doing our bit for the na- tion’s carbon tally just by running more efficiently. But we’re at a real crossroads now. Twenty years back, we had close to 8,000 dairy farms. These days, there’s only about 3,900 left and falling every season.
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