Fonterra Australia managing director, Rene Dedoncker has called for industry solidarity and urged dairy farmers to play a pro-active role in the future of the industry.
Speaking at the Australian Dairy Conference,Mr Dedoncker urged farmers to play an active role in the development of a national dairy plan.
."If the nay sayers get up and we are silent as a majority , it wont' work.
He said Fonterra wanted to have an active role in the plan.
WE have to do something about that. I am willing to put it on notice that Fonterra wants to play a role in that.
He was responding to a question about: "what keeps me awake at night?"
He listed drought, energy prices and water as some of the domestic issues and mentioned , China and trade issues.
He said that while he was proud of his company, in a likely reference to the price claw-back a few years ago, acknowledged he was not proud of every single moment in the company's history.
"When you sit here and you are in control you have a whole range of skills and repertoires available to you, sitting with a great leadership team it's pretty impressive.
"But when the pressure rises and you are under the pump, your repertoire shrinks.
"If you don't recognise that and in everyone else, you make poor decisions.
We have recognised that. We are not great yet, but we are getting better at it''.
From a personal perspective I am pushing hard to make a difference in how we show up.