09/06/2011More certainty needed on groundwater in Basin Plan By ROSS McINNES, QDO Vice-President
A PARLIAMENTARY report last week into the impact of the Guide to the Murray Darling Basin Plan does little to allay the concerns of Queensland dairy farmers in the Basin, who are craving increased certainty surrounding their water entitlements.
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02/06/2011French connection creates interesting discussion and delivers some messages for Government By BRIAN TESSMANN, QDO President
ON Tuesday night last week dairy farmers in the South Burnett had an interesting and innovative discussion with dairy farmers in the leading dairy region of France.
The farmers from Brittany in western France were keen to inform Queensland farmers of the issues that were affecting their business functions and performance as well as discussing the issues that are important to the Queensland dairy industry.
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26/05/2011Wesfarmers hides behind legal advice on EGM By BRIAN TESSMANN, QDO President
WESFARMERS’ decision last week that the company would hide behind legal advice instead of facing questions from its shareholders has been seen by many people as disgraceful and un-Australian.
More than 100 Wesfarmers shareholders had signed a request for an extraordinary general meeting, expressing their collective concern about the marketing strategy which Wesfarmers’ wholly owned subsidiary Coles has undertaken with its ‘Down Down’ campaign on milk.
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19/05/2011UK experience has lessons for Australia By BRAIN TESSMANN, QDO President
THE visit this week by the director General of Dairy UK Jim Begg was an opportunity for farmers and other industry members to hear how supermarket pricing strategies have impacted the dairy supply chain and farmers’ bottom lines in the United Kingdom.
Mr Begg brought his message direct to farmers on Monday, at Wally Holcombe’s farm near Beaudesert.
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12/05/2011Government needs to muscle up tick legislation By BRIAN TESSMANN, QDO President
THE widespread severe wet conditions that we in Queensland have experienced over 2011 has allowed pests and diseases to spread, proliferate, and put even more pressure on hard hit primary producers.
I have heard of instances where plants and animals have been washed or carried a far into new areas where they had not been before.
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05/05/2011Too many gaps in SCL criteria By BRIAN TESSMANN, QDO President
THE recent release from the State Government of the criteria to identify strategic cropping land (SCL) has disappointed many farmers on some of the State’s best land for human food production and left them very concerned about the future. They are wondering why their high quality soils would not be classified as strategically important.
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20/04/2011QDO sets out recommendations By BRIAN TESSMANN, QDO President
SINCE the cutthroat retail milk price war was started by Wesfarmers wholly owned subsidiary Coles on Australia day the resultant impacts have always been clear to dairy farmers across the country.
Farmers knew that with their relatively weak bargaining position, at the start of the supply chain supplying a highly perishable product, they would cop the consequences of the devaluation of milk by Coles abusing the unique nature of fresh milk as a ‘loss leader’ marketing agent and their massive market power to steal market share from other supermarkets, small retailers and distributors, while at the same time growing the market share of their own supermarket branded milk.
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13/04/2011Farm exit sign of industry pressure By BRIAN TESSMANN, QDO President
LAST week I was approached by number of people with a contradictory view of the milk price issue to that of the QDO. These people questioned the reason why a number of dairy farmers have recently left the industry, over the last few months, or are planning to leave the industry.
If I had been able to see into the future I would have told them to listen to the ABC Country Hour the next day where a farming family from the North Burnett gave the reasons that they were quitting dairy farming in Queensland.
The farmers made it clear that the problem started when the new milk prices were adopted by their processor National Foods, and it reduced their farm income by hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. National Foods is the milk processor that supplies Coles store brand milk in Queensland and many other regions around Australia.
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07/04/2011Coles disappoints dairy farmers at inquiry
AS many people know, dairy farmers live very busy lives and they only take time away from the farm for important issues.
One such important issue saw over thirty farmers along with other industry people travel to Canberra on Tuesday last week to voice their concerns over the ruthless price cutting started by Wesfarmers wholly owned subsidiary Coles on Australia Day.
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31/03/2011Shareholders Need to Scrutinise Company Management By BRIAN TESSMANN, QDO President
IT was with interest last week that I read the concerns of the shareholders of Cougar Energy, which is the company that had its underground coal gasification (UCG) permanently closed down by the Queensland Government earlier this year.
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