Dairy Australia managing director David Nation encouraged attendees at the event to think more broadly about the sector during the tough period it was facing.
“Everyone is acutely aware of the situation we are all in,” Mr Nation said.
“We have recently revised our expectations at Dairy Australia, with milk production this year to be down by 7 to 9 per cent.
“That is quite a substantial drop and it is expected to be the same sort of drop which happened in 2002 with the millennium drought.”
Mr Nation said it was important for farmers to stay positive — with dairy remaining one of the biggest agriculture industries.
“The dairy industry is massive globally, with one billion people deriving some part of their livelihood from cows being milked,” he said.
“Each farmer needs to look at opportunities in front of them and see something positive.”
Mr Nation addressed a question often posed to the industry by the wider community: whether there was still a place for livestock. “I like to put it into perspective — 10 years ago, 5 per cent of the milk market was non-dairy grown,” Mr Nation said.
“Now it is 7 per cent.
“I don’t think that is the number we would expect, given all of the noise around plant-based milk.”
The issue of dairy’s impact on the environment was also discussed, with Mr Nation noting the collective footprint had dropped.
“Dairy Sustainability Framework commissioned a report on the footprint — and you would be pleased to know that, in the last decade between 2005 and 2015, it has reduced by 11 per cent,” he said.
Mr Nation said despite the industry’s structural changes and challenges, it was still moving forward.
“Regardless of the noise there is a massive and positive growing international market for dairy,” he said.