The ability to access new technologies is essential for dairy farmers to keep the cost of production down.

DairyBio CRC and DataGene are two organisations that are steadily delivering solutions for the dairy industry in the fields of animal health, fertility, herd improvements and genetics.

Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF) and the Australian Dairy Products Federation recently attended the Dairy Bio CRC Open Day in Hamilton, Victoria. More than 150 dairy and livestock farmers, and service providers from all over Australia attended the Open Day to view how research programs are changing the way dairy farmers innovate on-farm.

Hamilton’s Agriculture Victoria research farm is the site where all the large-scale, field-based pasture activities are located for DairyBio, and it is the best place to see how innovations will deliver game-changing increases in pasture yield, persistence and quality.

Throughout the day we were informed of the world’s largest precision-planted ryegrass filed trial, viewed drones and ground vehicles with advanced sensor technologies, walked through glasshouse facilities with the latest forage innovations and shown drought-tolerance trials which could be a game-changer for farmers in the future.

One of DairyBio CRC’s major achievements is the invention of a hybrid technique for ryegrass breeding. This will unlock a 20 per cent yield advantage in hybrid ryegrass varieties and also make it easier for plant breeders to use genomic selection and add novel endophytes in new pasture varieties. The current modeling suggests that hybrid ryegrass could deliver a benefit of $300 per hectare to Australian dairy farmers.

These viable solutions are a great example of how industry and research sectors work together to deliver some of the most positive and permanent changes to dairy herds and dairy pastures.

ADF recognises the potential productivity benefits of these new technologies and the need to innovate to compete on the global stage. The adoption of these technologies is going to become increasingly important to help farmers remain profitable, improve natural resource use and facilitate adaptation to ongoing business pressures.

The Australian dairy industry has achieved considerable improvements in farm productivity through the adoption of new technology and will continue to find new ways to be more efficient, and environmentally sustainable while still remaining profitable over the long term.

David Inall

ADF Chief Executive Officer

Nominations for three Business Director positions and an Independent Director on the Australian Dairy Farmers’ (ADF) Board opened today.

ADF is calling on its members to nominate eligible candidates for three Business Director positions and an Independent Director position.

ADF President, Terry Richardson said that we are looking for dairy farmers who are passionate about advancing dairy farming in Australia and have a strong industry commitment.

“The maximum term a Business Director may serve is three years without submitting for re-election and an Independent Director may serve two years without submitting for re-election,” said Mr Richardson.

ADF currently has two Business Directors who were elected at the 2014 AGM for a three (3) year term, these Directors must retire and may nominate for re-election.

Additionally, following the retirement of a past President in February, a temporary Business Director was appointed in May 2017 to fill the casual vacancy. As required by the constitution, the Business Director must retire and may nominate for re-election.

The Independent Director was elected in November 2015 for a two-year term and must retire, however may seek to be re-appointed for another term.
Director elections will take place at the ADF’s next Annual General Meeting on Thursday 24 November, 2017.

The eligibility criteria for the position of Business Director are:
• Must be in the business of dairy farming
• Must be a member of Australian Dairy Farmers Limited; and
• Must be eligible under clause 4.2.2 of the ADF Constitution (no more than two Business Directors from any one state)

If you wish to receive a nomination form or position description please contact the ADF Office via (03) 8621 4200 or email operations@australiandairyfarmers.com.au.

Applications close midday (AEST) Thursday 28 September 2017.

Terry Richardson

ADF President

Starting a new job (adventure) is sometimes difficult, particularly after a crisis.

Over the last couple of months, I have had the opportunity to sit down and discuss many of the issues that the dairy industry has faced.

Last year was an extremely challenging time in the world of dairy, both internationally and domestically.

Many farmers were hit by late season farmgate step-downs, which came after a difficult season due to dry conditions and increased input costs.The lack of demand and oversupply of dairy worldwide caused prices to crash which left many farmers with significant debt.

No doubt it will take the industry a long time to recover, not just financially but emotionally as well.

Now, when some dairy farmers may still be questioning their future I challenge all within the dairy industry to work with each other in collaboration to show our farmers what we can provide for their future.

The future of dairy must become exciting and rewarding. It needs to be driven by smart business decisions, strong leadership and the willingness to work through our differences to get the job done.

This will not happen by accident, rather through visionary people working across the whole supply chain.

We realise that some dairy farmers have reached a ‘fork in the road’ and are looking for immediate answers. It would be wrong of us to say we had all the answers, which we don’t.

Let’s get our collective efforts behind something we can do in partnership for our industry.

Advancing dairy farming is our top priority.

David Inall

ADF Chief Executive Officer