Last night’s video shown on The Project had farmers admitting they’d contemplate the unthinkable: suicide.

The two biggest dairy co-ops Fonterra and Murray Goulburn have made the decision to cut the prices they pay to dairy farmers, given $0.37 for each litre of milk they produce…when it costs farmers $0.38 cents to produce it. You don’t need a degree in maths to work out that is not just unsustainable, it will send dairy farmers broke.

It costs farmers $5.00 to produce a kilogram of milk solid, and until recently were paid $5.60 for this product. On The Project last night, host Waleed Aly explained the problem with it:

“What that means is that because our farmers have been paid $5.60 all financial year, Murray Goulburn and Fonterra are essentially claiming that the farmers were overpaid from July last year until the price cuts three weeks ago,” he said. “And now, the farmers suddenly owe Murray Goulburn and Fonterra massive debts. The average debt reportedly owed to Murray Goulburn by a dairy farmer is $120,000,” he said.

“They’re spreading that cut over the entire financial year so doesn’t look like such an extreme cut. When we recognise that it means that for the next two months, farmers will be paid 14 cents for that litre of milk that cost them 38 cents to make. The more successful they are, the further in debt they’ll become.”

Milked Dry

The main cause of the cuts is being blamed on China not requiring as much milk as had been predicted at the start of the financial year. This has resulted in an unwanted amount of milk and a drop in its value.

The show aired an interview with dairy farmer Wayne Johnson who made the startling claim about just how dire the situation is:

“We’re cutting costs left, right and centre,” he said, “But the news really hit me when I finally caught up with Marian (his wife) and that evening, and she looked straight at me and said, if it wasn’t for me and the children, she’d probably kill herself.”

Murray Goulburn released a statement to the show saying: “Naturally in the circumstances, the board has reflected on the process that led to this week’s announcement and their view is that there is nothing they could have done sooner or differently.”

Understandably, many people are upset by this. Aly urged viewers to dig in and pay a few extra cents for Aussie produced brand-name milk as well as imploring them to “eat more cheese”.

“And the good news is, thanks to data released last week by the bureau of statistics, nine out of 10 of us aren’t eating enough dairy produce to meet the dietary guidelines … so chow down,” Aly said.

“Farmers have told us that the best way to lend them a hand is to pay an extra few cents for Australian-produced, brand name milk. It really will help our farmers stay afloat.”