McColl’s Transport leads the way with industry day
Insights into consumer trends, the impact of Covid-19 and global economic drivers were key items on the agenda at the 2021 McColl’s Annual Industry Day in Northern Victoria.
Around 60 representatives from transport and food production organisations, including Fonterra, Lactalis and Saputo, heard Michael Harvey, Senior Analyst, at RaboBank share data insights on market trends across Australia and the world.
With Dairy Australia set to release an industry report on environmental factors on Monday, analysis showed that focus remains on sustainability and environment, driven by regulation and industry leaders. Many attendees agreed that reducing emissions in the supply chain was an important issue, however the cost of mitigating CO2 remains a barrier.
John Droppert, Industry Insight Manager at Dairy Australia, reported that the combination of strong farm gate prices and increases in pasture growth led to strong returns for the year. However, at this stage dairy production volumes have not risen.
The discussion moved to ways that Australia can return to previous higher milk production levels.
Robust domestic consumer demand and population growth continue to provide positive signals for farmers. Participants expected that longer term pricing contracts between processors and farmers would lead to herd investments and production volume increases.
