Australian dairy farmers offered premium for organic milk

Australian Consolidated Milk (ACM), in Northern Victoria has offered farmers a guaranteed premium of $8/kg (42 c/l) for two years if they convert to organic milk production.

John Boylan

21 November 2016

Australian dairy farmers offered premium for organic milk

Farmers in Northern Victoria are being offered a guaranteed premium of $8/kg (42 c/l) for two years if they convert to organic milk production.

ACM will have organic milk in the shops in February from 30 suppliers who are well on with their conversion to organic milk production.

The company will produce UHT and fresh milk for domestic and export markets.

Peter Jones, general manager of ACM said: “The thing about organic milk is that it is suitable for virtually any dairy product. Whether it’s powder, cheese, butter or yogurt, there is demand for all those products on the basis they are organic.”

Australian organic industry

The Australian organic industry is growing at 15% per year to about S2bn (€1.38bn) and is the fastest growth area at present.

In the global market the industry produces 100bn litres of milk for organic products. Most of this is produced in the US where high premiums are also being paid for organic milk.

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