It has been a year typified by tumult for the agricultural sector, with cattle farmers taking blows over international trade stoppages and dairy farmers going to war with supermarket giants over prices.
The Gillard government suspended Australia’s live cattle trade to Indonesia after an ABC TV report in June on animal cruelty in the country caused uproar.
The move took the cattle industry and the Indonesian government by surprise. Trade was reinstated about a month later but the damage was done and progress to resuming normal trade has been slow.
But last week Indonesia said it would move toward having a more self-sufficient beef industry and would slash live cattle exports from Australia by nearly half in 2012. It plans to phase out all cattle imports from Australia within three to four years.
“This decision will be a devastating Christmas present for northern cattle producers,” Western Australian Farmers Federation president Mike Norton said.
Dairy farmers have battled the big supermarket chains this year. Cheap Coles and Woolworths-branded milk hit the shelves in January and remains in the market despite dairy farmers and processers alike claiming the $1 a litre price tag would cut their margins and potentially sound the death knell for the industry.
Lion, the parent company of brands Pura and Dairy Farmers, said in its third-quarter trading update revenue from its dairy and drinks division fell 8.9 per cent this year.
Lion said this was directly linked to the “loss of key private label contracts and deep discounting on white milk”.
“As a result of this continued discounting activity Lion has seen a transfer of sales volumes from higher margin-branded products into private labels and from the non-grocery channel to grocery, and is now projecting a full-year loss in its white milk business,” the report said.