Confidence in the daily industry’s future has increased significantly during the past 12 months but one quarter of respondents to the National Dairy Farm Survey in western Victoria remain negative.
The Situation and Outlook report released by Dairy Australia found western Victorian farmers were considerably more confident in their own business thanks to favourable seasonal conditions, milk prices and ongoing demand.
An increasing proportion of respondents have recorded an operating profit during the past three years, and 93 per cent are expecting to be profitable this financial year.
Consistent with 2020 results, 56 per cent of respondents’ herd sizes remained static during the past year and a similar proportion expect this will continue during the next three years.
About 79 per cent were confident in their own business future, and 92 per cent invested on-farm between 2019 and 2021.
Fewer than the national average expected to increase production in the future and a similar proportion were not planning to increase herd size.