Yet, under the surface of these national level aggregates, the story has some positive elements.
Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) executive director Dr Jared Greenville said Australian dairy is operating as a ‘multi speed’ industry, with clear differences in productivity growth between dairy regions.
“While dairy farm productivity growth has slowed in some regions, it has accelerated in others,” Dr Greenville said.
“We are seeing variability in productivity performance driven not only by climate but also differences in input use and the degree of intensive management practices.
“Large dairy farms have also been able to achieve stronger productivity growth than small-and medium-sized dairy farms.”
Dr Greenville said further incremental productivity gains are expected to stem from continued on-farm innovation, increased scale, and the gradual exit of dairy farms with marginal profitability and lower productivity.
“Continued investment in research, development and extension will also help as it’s a well-established driver of productivity,” he said.
“We need to make sure innovation is reaching the farm gate and being adopted to ensure prosperity of this integral industry.
“Differences seen across regions and between farms also point to opportunities for cross learnings to help kick-start productivity.
“Efforts to increase productivity growth will be important in offsetting any further increases in input prices, and to buffer against any future fall in milk price.”
Read the ABARES Insights Report – The ’multi-speed’ industry: Dairy productivity in the spotlight - at https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/products/insights/australias-farm-productivity-slowdown.
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