On Wednesday the Australian dairy giant revealed a 61.2 per cent lift in profit after tax, to $40.6 million.

Any business would revel in such an announcement but the news was hard to swallow for our dairy farmers.

Things turned sour for milk suppliers in April when the co-op retrospectively cut the 2015-16 farmgate milk price from $5.60 to between $4.75 to $5 per kilogram for milk solids.

At the same time the co-op revealed a revised net profit forecast of between $39 million and $42 million, less than half its prospectus forecast of $89 million from last year.

On Wednesday Murray Goulburn reported a final farmgate milk price of $4.80 per kgms. 

It costs between $5 and $5.50 to produce a kilogram of milk solids, about 40 cents a litre.

Murray Goulburn propped up its farmgate payments with a milk supply support package to put the payment total at $5.53 per kgms.

This extra support payment will be recouped from dairy farmers over the next three years.

The 2015 farmgate price was about $6. For many farmers, the price paid was below the cost of production.

The cost of production for a litre of milk in North East Victoria is in the range of 31-36c, due to higher rainfall and good grazing pasture.

It is closer to 45c a litre in areas such as Finley, Deniliquin and Berrigan. Murray Goulburn is a major employer in the North East, with processing factories at Tangambalanga and Cobram. 

Lets hope today’s symposium in Melbourne involving dairy farmers, industry representatives, processors, retailers and the ACCC works to get transparency back into the dairy industry.

NSW farmers is calling for the development of a milk price index and has urged those meeting in Melbourne to take a closer look at contracts between farmers and processors.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has already had a please-explain meeting with Murray Goulburn executives and today will hear from other players.

Let’s hope some confidence and stability comes out of it.