The crisis within Victoria’s peak farming body has deepened following the revelation that dairy farmer members have set up a breakaway group.
Key points:
- Dairy farmer members of the VFF have set up their own advocacy group
- The plan to split was formulated in February
- The UDV says it is not trying to “blow up” the VFF
On Friday the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) rejected a resolution from disaffected grain growers that could have seen the board dumped.
Now dairy farmer members, who make up about a third of the VFF’s membership and about contribute $1 million in fees, have established an organisation to represent them.
United Dairy Farmers of Victoria (UDV) president Mark Billing told the Victorian Country Hour plans to form a new body were hatched in February this year, that a draft constitution had been created and that there were “some foundation members working behind the scenes”.
On July 6 Mr Billing registered an incorporated association called Dairy Farmers Association of Victoria Inc with Consumer Affairs Victoria.
He said the drastic step had been taken because dairy farmers were not getting sufficient value out of their VFF membership fees.
“At the moment, we don’t have any staff dedicated to UDV,” Mr Billing said.
“It’s been very difficult for us to do any project work because of the lack of staff.”
No aim to ‘blow up the VFF’
Mr Billing acknowledged the long history of the UDV as a founder of the state body and said there was no intention to undermine it.
“Our aim is not to blow up the VFF,” he said.
Mr Billing insisted the organisation would “work with and beside the VFF and support the VFF with the cross-commodity work that they do”.
Mr Billing said the VFF would have lost many disaffected dairy farmer members if action had not been taken.
“Hopefully this will stem the tide,” he said.
“My aim is to get at least 1,000 dairy farmers, at some point, signing up with the new organisation.”
VFF stop paying national fees
The Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF) national body has revealed the VFF has not paid its membership fees since October last year.
Mr Billing said a request had been made to the VFF to ask the ADF to review the amount Victorian dairy farmers paid in membership fees.
He said the VFF stopped paying fees after the first quarter of the last financial year.
VFF dairy farmer membership levies make up more than 60 per cent of ADF’s membership revenue.
“When this all washes out, we’ll have to sit down with ADF and work out what is an acceptable number for payment on behalf of Victoria dairy farmers,” Mr Billing said.
VFF president Emma Germano was contacted for comment.
The developments come less than a week before the VFF’s conference on July 24-25 in Melbourne.
