The UDV leadership has launched a membership consultation following some unrest over the body's stance on the Australian Dairy Plan.
UDV president Paul Mumford has told Dairy News Australia it will not be making any major decisions on the plan until it can engage face-to-face with members when COVID-19 restrictions ease.
He said the online "roadshow" late last month engaging all branches across the state was to bring members up to date on a range of issues, and agreed the dairy plan was one of the hot topics of conversation.
He said work was being carried out on a model for advocacy, but no proposal had been developed.
The UDV was favouring a voting system on the plan, which would give one person one vote, rather than the historic model of tying voting numbers to kilograms of milk solids produced.
Asked if other stakeholders were prepared to wait for the UDV face-to-face consultation, Mr Mumford said at the end of the day, for the plan to be successful, farmers had to have their say.
The consultation comes following a number of resignations in the state's west.
UDV Wannon branch policy councillor Oonagh Kilpatrick has resigned from Policy Council and vice-president and deputy policy councillor Bernie Free has resigned from the UDV.
Branch president Bruce Knowles said he was disappointed by the resignations, but he understood and shared their concerns.
In her letter of resignation, Mrs Kilpatrick said she had struggled with a “lack of accountability and transparency back to members throughout Victoria, especially with the Australian Dairy Plan (ADP)”.
Mrs Kilpatrick said a united dairy farmer-only advocacy body was needed, but would not be achieved by the ADP.