I think it is only
@tomuchtime that, ideally, wants it back as a co-op and wads of cash to be thrown at them as well. That just wont happen.
However there is a lot of things underneath the whole IPO that irked many farmers and those that stayed are locked in or have capital locked in to MGC not entirely of their own making and their issue is Unit holders that purchased in the IPO or on-market afterwards should have been better informed as to what the Unit actually were and what the real risks were (not the ones on the IPO, which some have eventuated anyway). these Unitholders are free to exit their capital and redeploy elsewhere whereas those farmers that are locked in to MGC cannot and have dead capital at this point. And that is one of their main rubs.
As David Williams quite rightly said ages ago "this will end in tears"...and it is.
As for farmers doing best for few years...I will let the farmers comment on that as many have had their farm operations so distorted by aggressive MGC tactics (MGC is not alone by the way) that it will take some of them many years to bring the farm back to operating on a natural cycle and be profitable again, if ever.
Let me suggest this also, Australia has had a declining milk production for some time and this will continue in to the forseeable future and will cause competition amongst processors for milk source so they can keep the stainless steel working but it will also force some change in the industry above and beyond whatever the government puts in place post the ACCC Inquiry. I suspect we will see a rise of farmer co-operatives, CBG's and commercial farm aggregators as they seek to garner better contractual terms and cleaner pricing regimes for their collective milk and some processors may well be left out in the cold as a result. MGC is at risk here due to its of late treatment of its dairy farmers and they have deep and long memories. It may also see the rise of a new dairy business model but that is for another day.
Many look across the ditch and wonder how the Australian dairy industry and government got it so wrong and yet across the ditch they got it so right. What a bugger aye.
