His call centred on the actions of the Premier in the firefighters’ pay dispute and the independence of CFA members. Mr Feldtmann faced a motion of no confidence last year and it seems that if his recent outburst was his true form, he should have gone at that time. Without any doubt, the Premier of Victoria should speak at the state’s peak farm organisation’s annual conference. So should the Agriculture Minister and Opposition Leader.  

When I last checked we were a democracy and ostensibly we believe in free speech. Also, the VFF have been entrusted by the state government, and therefore the Premier, to administer the ATV roll over scheme. Hopefully the thoughts of Mr Feldtmann were not those of the VFF, however, it would be handy if the incoming president could clarify the matter. 

Some handy points around the downturn being felt in the dairy industry. The overlying factor is that world markets and production trends have all changed at the same time, bringing a perfect storm. Europe has done away with production controls and increased production must find a home. Given the world dairy trade market is only seven per cent of total production, any increase in percentage terms floods the market.

In the USA, where feed makes up 80 per cent of production costs, grain prices have fallen in a market not feeling competition from biofuels that have been replaced in the energy sector with fuel from increased fracking. So with cheaper feed, dairy production has increased.

There are also other extenuating factors that mean the world dairy market will reset to countries with the lowest cost of production and sadly they do not include Australia and New Zealand.   

The headlines screamed that dairy giant Murray Goulburn had lost a contract to supply Woolworths supermarkets. Now, just maybe Murray Goulburn wanted to lose the contract, due to low returns and loss of supply.