Andrew Cavill took home the award for Best Relationship with a Processor at the South Australian Dairy Awards 2021 at Adelaide Oval on August 25.
He has been in the industry most of his life, and even after 42 years, his love for the industry is as strong as ever.
“I’ve seen a huge amount of change – I remember milking cows by hands when I was a child,” he said.
“It’s been a passion of mine to make sure I well remember our roots and where we came from – all the difficulties and challenges and the great things about the dairy industry.
“I’m more passionate now than I’ve ever been – It’s a great industry and it’s been great to us.”
He has even passed his love for the industry on to his children, having raised five children on the dairy farm, with two of his sons now working in the industry as well.
His passion for the industry has helped him to form good, strong relationships with his processors – Limestone Coast Cheese Company and UDC – The Union Dairy Company.
“We have a great working relationship – I communicate with them what’s happening with me, and I can always ring them up for a chat, so that works well,” he said.
“It’s been very important to me to have good relationships with them.
“The industry went through a period when Murray Goulburn collapsed that everyone hated processors and there were difficult relationships with processors but at the end of the day we are all on the same team, we’re all in the same game.
“We produce the highest quality milk to get the highest price and processors produce the highest quality product to send out to where they are selling it to to get the highest price and they can’t do it without us and we can’t do it without them.
“It’s always been important to me to have a good working relationship with the processors, it seems to be a no-brainer – For me, it easier to be easy to get on with rather than difficult to get on with.”
SA Dairyfarmers’ Association president John Hunt congratulated Mr Cavill.
“What’s happening in South Australia’s dairy industry is very exciting and these award winners clearly represent that,” he said.”Whether it’s improving relations between farmers and processors or implementing cutting edge technology to improve operations, our producers are doing amazing work.”
