Cheap milk ends 100 years of dairy farming

‘‘Enough is enough’’ said Dardanup dairy farmer John Giumelli as he turned his back on the struggling dairy industry.

This year marks 100 years since the Giumelli family bought their Dardanup farm, something they should be celebrating.

But the state of the industry has forced John and wife Kerry to hang up the boots.

Tears welled in Mr Guimelli’s eyes as he told the South Western Times of his decision and that a fourth generation of Guimellis would not continue the century-old tradition.

‘‘It is sad that we could have had a fourth generation in the dairy industry, but it won’t be,’’ Mr Guimelli said.

‘‘The cost of production is about 80 cents per litre and the industry has only been getting 40 cents per litre.

‘‘The power in the whole chain from the pasture through to the bottle has all gone into the hands of the two big retailers and unfortunately they have abused that power.’’

Mr Giumelli said the thing that really damaged the industry was the $1 per litre milk at Coles and Woolworths.

‘‘It has devalued the price of milk, it has devalued dairy farmers and it has devalued dairy farms,’’ he said.

‘‘Farmers make their decisions across generations, whereas the buyers for Coles and Woolworths are only in the job for about five years.

‘‘If the dairy industry collapses within five years, the buyers don’t care because they are gone with the millions that they have made.’’

Mr Giumelli pointed the finger of blame at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission which ‘‘smoothed the way’’ for the retail giants to have so much power.

‘‘The ACCC have been totally ineffective,’’ he said.

‘‘When the two big supermarket chains applied to buy up the other retailers, the ACCC gave them the tick of approval which was another big nail in the coffin.

The number of dairy farmers remaining in the Shire of Dardanup is in single digits and Mr Giumelli expects them to further decline.

Mr and Mrs Giumelli will end more than a century of dairy farming to take up farming angus beef cattle.