United vision vital for dairy success ALISTAIR LAWSON20 Mar, 2014 03:30 AM Print Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Comments 0 STRONG VISION: Horizon 2020 participant Simon Bennett said more work was needed to better promote on-farm success and reshape the dairy industry’s culture. STRONG VISION: Horizon 2020 participant Simon Bennett said more work was needed to better promote on-farm success and reshape the dairy industry’s culture. RELATED Hay forum ‘shares’ a point Lay down plans for autumn feed Penny outstanding in her field Poll: An uncertain result in the state election has left two Independents with the power to help decide who governs SA - will this be an advantage for rural SA? LATEST Slaughter sets cracking pace Soil carbon scheme may be blind hope Comedy the new anti-cruelty weapon Water traders to shed ASIC scrutiny SA Livestock Exchange calf report - Mar 17 Mid North event tackles plant stress AUSTRALIAS dairy sector needs a whole of industry vision in order for it to progress in the right direction, according to Tasmanian dairyfarmer Simon Bennett. Mr Bennett, who was part of the recent Horizon 2020 project organised by Dairy Australia and the Gardiner Foundation, was one of the keynote speakers at last weeks DairySA Central Conference held at Hahndorf. He told the audience that a poor business culture, high labour costs, a lack of self-promotion and a weakening connection with customers were all hurting the dairy industry, but it could be fixed if the sector embraced technology and had strong, well-resourced industry leadership. As part of Horizon 2020, Mr Bennett travelled to China, New Zealand, Europe and the United States. As he travelled around the world, he said it was interesting to talk to different farmers and learn about their ability to understand their business. We all understand that the volatility within the industry is here to stay and its something as an industry we all know about, but how that volatility changes quite rapidly is one of the biggest issues dairyfarmers have to face, he said. As a dairyfarmer, Im well and truly aware of how profit margins are being squeezed and I think as farmers we need to focus on the things we can control and managing our costs is really what we need to be focused on. Whether it be a farmer in the US who knew exactly how many dollars it took to get a heifer into his system, or whether it was the New Zealanders who very rarely talked about milk price ((x2026))… they were looking at the things they could control within their business. Mr Bennett said the biggest issues were people, planet and profit; what he called the sustainability debate. To me, sustainability before this project was about environmental issues and it wasnt until I really got my teeth into all this that I realised sustainability is about all three of these things, and its incredibly important that it does include the profit, the people and the planet, he said.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 21:38:44 +0000
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