A leading south Gippsland dairy farmer, Marian Macdonald, has urged others in the industry to be frank with their accountants and bank managers.
She said a recent meeting with the accountant and bank had been of great relief.
“It was the most valuable meeting I have had in years – I used the Taking Stock tool, and it is just amazing,” Ms Macdonald said.
Ms Macdonald, who has a strong social media presence under The Milkmaid Marian handle, said she had used the dairy tool to “paint a picture” for the professionals, before they came on farm.
“I would urge farmers to take advantage of the tools they are rolling out in the dairy package – it may well reveal you are in a much better position than you feel you are in and it enables you to communicate with the numbers men.”
Ms Macdonald, who supplies Fonterra, said the lead up to the meeting was stressful.
“ I knew our numbers inside-out but didn’t really know what the bank expected and the uncertainty of it was horrible,” she said.
But she said the bank offered her a deal of interest only repayments, until the end of next financial year.
“They said if the season has been kind, and the milk price is not as bad as we thought it would be, you can start paying off a bit of principal,” Ms Macdonald said.
She said Taking Stock was easy to find and was intuitive, once the basic data was plugged into it.
“When you speak to the bank manager, you are speaking his language; it worked for me, and saved my sanity,” she said.
“There is some good news coming out of this – while the (State and Federal government) packages won’t do anything to make the problem go away, it is going to smooth it out.
“What I would like to see is something that deals with the long term problem we have – it’s a structural problem, there needs to be a shift in the balance of risk between processor and farmer.”
Another dairy farmer, Cath Jenkins, said grass roots producers were getting on with business, but there was a need to now focus on the bigger picture.
“We can get on with business, on the farm – and we will – but we need to see changes in the industry,” Ms Jenkins said.
“Grass roots farmers need to push up for change – if they don’t like something, they need to say they don’t like it, instead of accepting mediocrity.”
She said the discussion now needed to be around pricing structures, governance and transparency – with a solid outcome as to how the industry would be structured.
“We need to see changes in the industry,” she said.
“We can work out a five point plan, on farm, on how to get through, but what’s the industry’s five point plan ?”
And Wannon United Dairyfarmers of Victoria (UDV) branch president Craig Dettling said primary producers were proactive in working out how to get through the current crisis.
He said more than 200 farmers had attended a Warrnambool forum, at which the industry was discussed, and the feedback had been very positive.
“I think with the first announcement, everyone thought the worst – once you took a step back, got over the emotion, it wasn’t as bad as people thought,” Mr Dettling said.
“We are in the middle of refinancing, we have had no problems with any of the banks.”
He said farmers would be able to ride out the current crisis, “as long as you have a plan, know your numbers and know your business.”
PLANNING TIME: Dairy farmers have been urged to have a full set of figures, to present to their bank managers and accountants, during the current crisis. Picture: Andrew Miller.
He said all the processors appeared to be making statements from their own position, and not considering the overall industry.
“It has to be a position where it is not just the industry driving it, there has to be input from farmers,” Mr Dettling said.
Source: Stock & Land
