It is all very well getting excited about building a factory and making your own product but who is going to pay for it? To maintain control farmers will need to reach into their own pockets. This article provides a guide to how much is required and explores the options for financing the investment.

This is where the rubber hits the road for farmer control of their milk surplus. Building and running a factory comes with risk and uncertainty but some simple back of the envelope calculations will tell you whether it is worth considering. What farmers can be certain of is that private companies are not going to solve their problem of low prices for milk surpluses.

If dairy farmers want to take control of their destiny they need to think about having some control over seasonal milk surpluses. Converting that milk into product via toll processing seems like a good idea ... or is it?

All dairy farmers dream of being able to be the makers of their milk price rather than just taking it from processors. But how can they achieve this? In this DFMC sponsored commentary Dr Hauser delves into the issue and argues that to do this farmers need to be able to choose where their milk is going and control seasonal surplus milk in order to maximise value.

After two years $1 milk has come, but not gone as the Australian dairy industry had hoped. Neither have the major supermarkets admitted that they are having an effect on the industry. The numbers are however now in - Northern NSW and Queensland milk production has plummeted - and any more of this from the supermarkets is pure denial.