Dairy farmer says Woolworths pays ‘a fair price’ and is not misleading customers
AUGUST 4, 201610:41AM
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Dana McCauley
news.com.au
@Dana_Adele
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A DAIRY farmer from Victoria has spoken out about the milk label that sparked confusion among Woolworths shoppers.
Farmers’ Own Milk, stocked at Woolies for the past two years, looks like an independent, farmer-owned product and sells for about $3.25 for two litres, against the $2 price for home brand.
Some shoppers were surprised to read the fine print and learn that the product was, in fact, packed for Woolworths, including a caller to Sydney’s 2UE radio.
But Pauline Grimmer, a Victorian dairy farmer whose family supplies the Farmers Direct brand, assured news.com.au that the supermarket chain was paying “a fair price for a premium product”, which she was “proud to supply”.
“Of course we would like to be paid more, who doesn’t want to be paid more?” Ms Grimmer said. “But at least we are in a situation where we can plan ahead.”
She said the labelling was not misleading and that the brand had been launched with a “copious amount of advertisements in print and electronic media”.
Camperdown Dairy, which processes the product, this year won a gold medal at the Australian Dairy Association Industry Awards for Farmers Own full cream homogenised milk, plus a silver medal for the label’s unhomogenised milk, among 28 medals the processor won for a variety of products.
Farmer's Own full cream milk.
Farmer's Own full cream milk.Source:News Corp Australia
Straight from the farm to your supermarket.
Straight from the farm to your supermarket.Source:Supplied
Consumers have taken a renewed interest in the plight of dairy farmers this year as stories emerged of those struggling to make ends meet in the face of plummeting farmgate milk prices.
Earlier this year, a boycott on private label milk put the big supermarkets on notice that Australian shoppers wanted farmers to get a fair deal.
While Coles announced plans for a new, slightly more expensive home brand product that will support struggling farmers, Woolworths’ Farmers Own came under criticism.
Gympie dairy farmer John Cochrane accused the Woolworths of “tricking” consumers with the “misleading” label.
“It is very sneaky. The ill-informed customer thinks they’re helping the farmer and they are to a certain point,” Mr Cochrane told the New Daily. “But the supermarket gets a lot more.”
Mr Cochrane chairs the Premium Milk group, which collectively bargains on behalf of 150 producers to supply Parmalat.
Last year, he expressed disappointment that Woolworths had snubbed most of his members.
“We approached Woolworths and would’ve liked them to have taken milk from all of the Premium group and give some sort of a margin across 200 people,” Mr Cochrane told the ABC.
Dairy farmers Rhonda and David Tanis celebrate the signing of their three-year contract with Woolworths with managers James Horan and Wanita Chamberlain and their children Jack, Amelia and Georgia.
Dairy farmers Rhonda and David Tanis celebrate the signing of their three-year contract with Woolworths with managers James Horan and Wanita Chamberlain and their children Jack, Amelia and Georgia.Source:News Corp Australia
Woolworths spokesman Sean Ottley said the milk solids used to make Farmers’ Own milk were purchased direct from the farmer on more favourable contract terms.
“Farmers’ Own milk is exclusive to Woolworths and is the first time a national supermarket negotiated directly with farmers to provide white milk products,” Mr Ottley said in a statement to news.com.au.
“The relationship gives the farmers end-to-end transparency from shed to shelf, a longer term contract and a closer relationship with their customers.”
The milk solids used to make Woolworths’ private label milk were purchased from processors, he said, so meaning the retailer had “no control over farmgate prices” for these products.
It is processors like Murray Goulburn and Fonterra that supply the milk solids for this $1-a-litre private label product, and decide how much to pay farmers — and sparked outrage when they dropped the price below the cost of production earlier this year.
Farmers on three-year contracts — like Victorian dairy farmers David and Rhonda Tanis, who signed up to supply the Farmers Direct brand almost two years ago — enjoy the benefit of locked-in prices.
“It is a premium (price) compared to everyone else,” Mr Tanis told The Weekly Times in 2014.
“It is the security of knowing we can pay our bills and it’s an income we can exist on. We could expand if we wish.”
Mr Ottley said Woolworths was conscious of customers’ desire to give farmers “a fair price for their product” and that the direct relationship between Woolworths and Farmers’ Own dairy farmers was delivering this.
“The farm gate price is negotiated directly with farmers and both parties are happy with the agreement,” he said. [email protected]
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